Adele Shaw Handmade Artist Book, Isadora Duncan: Daughter of the Sun

Shaw, Adele. Circle A Studio, San Francisco, CA. 

English, Near Fine, softcover, 4" x 7," unpaginated, ~47 pp.

White pulp paper gatefold yarn tied case with interior collaging and natural inclusion paper. Softcover book bound in green natural inclusion paper over thin card, white handmade pulp paper spine, accordion fold pages, approximately 47 unnumbered pages replete with full-color reproductions of Abraham Walkowitz's watercolor paintings of Isadora Duncan, with one page of quotes from Isadora Duncan's memoirs.

Known as the “Mother of Modern Dance”, Isadora Duncan (1877 - 1927) was an American-born dancer and choreographer who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US.  Born and raised in California, she lived and danced in Western Europe, the US and Soviet Russia from the age of 22. She was phenomenally popular, both for her creative movement and for her huge and original personality. Duncan was the quintessence of modernism, shedding the rigid shackles of the balletic form and exploring movement through a combination of classical sculpture and her own inner sources. For Duncan, dance was a distinctly personal expression of beauty through movement, and she maintained that the ability to produce such movement was inherently contained within the body.  Her phenomenal artistry inspired Russian - American painter Abraham Walkowitz (1878 - 1965) to create over 5000 drawings of Isadora.  This artist book presents 46 of Walkowitz' watercolors capturing the magic of Isadora dancing.

Adele Shaw is a contemporary artist, painter and book maker.  Her work is influenced by perception and the power of nature. Bringing these together in her studio fuses her interests in contemporary art, impressionism, abstract and action painting. This is a unique artist book, not reproduced or created in a series.