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A Long Embrace
A beautifully illustrated, innovative look at the rich and
rhythmic dialogue between the arts, illuminating American
culture through portrayals of dance in visual culture
From ballet to burlesque, from the frontier jig to the jitterbug, Ameri-
cans have always loved watching dance, whether in grand ballrooms,
on Mississippi riverboats, or in the streets.
Dance and American Art
is
an innovative look at the elusive, evocative nature of dance and the
American visual artists who captured it through their paintings,
sculpture, photography, and prints from the early nineteenth century
through the mid-twentieth century. The scores of artists discussed
include many icons of American art: Winslow Homer, George Caleb
Bingham, Mary Cassatt, James McNeill Whistler, Alexander Calder,
Joseph Cornell, Edward Steichen, David Smith, and others.
As a subject for visual artists, dance has given new meaning to
America’s perennial myths, cherished identities, and most powerful
dreams. Their portrayals of dance and dancers, from the anonymous to
the famous—Anna Pavlova, Isadora Duncan, Loïe Fuller, Josephine
Baker, Martha Graham—have testified to the enduring importance of
spatial organization, physical pattern, and rhythmic motion in creating
aesthetic form.
Through extensive research, sparkling prose, and beautiful color
reproductions, art historian Sharyn R. Udall draws attention to the
ways that artists’ portrayals of dance have defined the visual character
of the modern world and have embodied culturally specific ideas about
order and meaning, about the human body, and about the diverse
fusions that comprise American culture.
is an art historian, author, and
independent curator who has written, taught, and
lectured widely on nineteenth- and twentieth-
century American and European art. She is the
author of six previous books, as well as the editor
of many catalogs and scholarly articles. Her
scholarly interests include women in the visual
arts, American modernism, and the creative
connections among visual artists, performing
artists, and writers. She lives in Santa Fe, New
Mexico.
“By exploring the continual dialogue
between art and dance, Udall not only probes
dance’s own cultural meanings, she also casts
new light on visual artists’ persistent reliance
on dance to invent new forms, revitalize
technique and style, and better understand
the human body and movement.”
—Andrea Harris, editor of
Before, Between,
and Beyond: Three Decades of Dance Writing
July 2012
LC: 2011042650 N
456 pp. 7 x 10 143 color illus.
Cloth $60.00 s
ISBN 978-0-299-28800-6
e-book $29.95 s
ISBN 978-0-299-28803-7
Of related interest
Three Decades of Dance Writing
Edited and with an introduction by Andrea Harris
Forewords by Joan Acocella and Lynn Garafola
“An excellent overview of Banes’s career. . . . Banes’s depth of focus on dancing as an art and a
process—and her unfailing nerve—make this book a treasure.”—
Dance Magazine
Published May 2007
LC: 2006031770 GV 400 pp. 6 x 9
ISBN 978-0-299-22154-6 Paper $29.95 s ISBN 978-0-299-22153-9 e-book $14.95 s
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THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
• SPRING 2012 •
Dance / Art / American Studies / Cultural Studies
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