The Fugitive Gesture: Masterpieces of Dance Photography

by William A. Ewing

A tribute to a major photographic genre's success in capturing in permanent form the most ephemeral of the arts. Over 200 reproduced duotone plates reveal dance in all its aspects - from many countries and periods, from classical ballet to rock and roll - photographed wherever dancers waltz, tango, tap-dance, pirouette, stomp, jive or kick up their heels for joy. The great dancers are here - Nijinsky, Fred Astaire, Pavlova, Fonteyn and Isadora Duncan among other immortals; but so too are the anonymous, captured in a Parisian nightclub or at the Roxy, New York, an Amsterdam street cafe or simply dancing alone by the seashore. The wide range of photographers include Gordon Anthony, Barbara Morgan, Beaton, Degas, Genthe, Steichen, Horst, Man Ray and Helmut Newton. Introductions to each chapter and detailed notes on the photographs provide essential background about the dancers and photographers.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

William A. Ewing is a Canadian art historian specializing in photography. He served as the director of the Musée de l'Élysée in Lausanne from 1996 to 2010 and has been a research professor in the art history department at the University of Geneva, where he has focused on the history of photography. He has curated numerous international exhibitions and authored several books on the photographic representation of the human body. He is also the founder of the Todi Circle, an annual think tank on photography held in Todi, Italy. His publications include The Body, Le Siècle du Corps, and Edward Steichen: Carnet Mondain.

Reviews

[Deirdre Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of the dance greats are here, as well as obscure figures who now loom large in a book meticulously analyzing the paradoxical relationship between the moving body and the still image. William Ewing, a Canadian who ran an important photography museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an expert in the field and his nuanced analysis enlightens and entertains.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful photography collection that spans the history of dance.