The papers of American dancer and painter Hubert Julian Stowitts, including biographical materials, correspondence, and exhibition/performance related materials.

Hubert Julian Stowitts was born in Rushville, Nebraska on June 26, 1892. His family later moved to California and eventually settled in Los Angeles. Stowitts attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated in 1915, and where he first began to study dance. While performing in Berkeley's Greek Theatre, he was discovered and recruited by Anna Pavlova of the Ballets Russes. He became one of the star dancers of the company, performing in various productions until the early 1920s. After a brief career as a solo dancer, Stowitts retired from ballet and began to pursue other interests, including figure painting, choreography, costume and set design, motion picture performance, travel and traditional dance of other cultures. His scholarly studies and painted depictions of traditional Indonesian and Indian dance and costume enjoyed wide popularity in the 1930s. In 1936, while in Berlin accompanying an exhibition of his figure paintings of American Olympic athletes, Stowitts assisted Leni Reifenstahl on her documentary Olympia. Riefenstahl protected Stowitts from persecution for being gay, but his exhibition was closed by the Nazi regime because of their objection to the manner in which Stowitts depicted Jewish and African-American athletes. Stowitts continued to lecture on Indian and Javanese culture and to paint privately for the remainder of his life. Hubert Julian Stowitts died in San Marino, California on February 8, 1953.

5 linear feet (2 cartons, 5 boxes, 4 volumes)

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