Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her influence on dance has been compared with Picasso’s influence on art. This image is entitled “Letter to the World.” This image was based on the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson, particularly from the Dickinson verse “This is my letter to the world/that never wrote to me.”
Photographer Barbara Brooks Morgan spent her career focused on visual arts and the world of dance. She became a photographer in 1935 as a way to spend more time at home with her children. Trained in art at UCLA in 1919-1923, it took many years for her to think of photography as an art. It was only after working on an Edward Weston exhibit that she clearly declared that photography was an art. Her love of dance began after she attended a performance of the young Martha Graham Dance Company. She was immediately enthralled with the art of dance and went on to utilize her newfound love of photography with her love of dance.