![]() Her mother’s ideals not only colored Duncan’s image of marriage and relationships, but also cultivated unique qualities in her daughter,which would lead to her groundbreaking career and lifelong dedication to originality. At twelve years old, after her first visit from her father since her parents’ divorce, Isadora recalls “ then and there that I would live to fight against marriage and for the emancipation of women and for the right for every woman to have a child or children as it pleased her, and to uphold her right and her virtue.” She believed that no free spirited woman would be able to exist within the confines of marriage, and that a woman should be just as comfortable having children as she pleased without being encouraged into matrimony. Isadora Duncan, My Life, 1927 (via Project Gutenberg).The divorce of her parents and Mary Gray’s emphasis on self-reliance and individualism are essential in understanding Duncan’s development during her formative years. It was the strong presence and ideas of Mary Gray, and her undying devotion to the cultivation of her children’s talents, that created the necessary environment and freedom for Isadora Duncan to create, unencumbered and unapologetically.Joseph Charles Duncan and Mary Isadora Gray. Her mother, in an unprecedented act of defiance against social norms, denounced Catholicism and the institution of marriage and began reciting to her children from the teachings of popular atheist Bob Ingersoll. ![]() ![]() However, shortly after her birth Duncan’s parents divorced. ![]() Today, college intern Andreia Wardlaw explores the life and legacy of Isadora Duncan, a “mother of modern dance” along with Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, both of whom are featured in Women’s Voices. Duncan appears in the New-York Historical Society’s Arnold Genthe Photograph Collection alongside several other images of modern dance. Isadora Duncan, Arnold Genthe Photograph Collection, New-York Historical Society LibraryA San Francisco Childhood: The “Constant Spirit of Revolt”Isadora Duncan was born in 1877 by the ocean in San Francisco, California, under what she would later describe as “the star of Aphrodite.” “My life and myself were born of the sea,” Duncan wrote in her autobiography, My Life, recounting how the movement of the Pacific Ocean influenced the free-flowing movements that would become characteristic of her repertoire as a dancer.Duncan was born into what began as a traditional family, with three older siblings - Raymond, Elizabeth, and Augustin - and two married parents, musician Mary Isadora Gray and poet and Renaissance man Joseph Charles Duncan. We will also feature their writing on this blog throughout the summer. Today, college intern Andreia Wardlaw explores the life and legacy of Isadora Duncan, a “mother of modern dance” along with Martha Graham and. Their research will be incorporated into many ongoing initiatives, including our digital interactive exhibition, Women’s Voices, and our curriculum guide, Women and the American Story. VisitExhibitionsProgramsLibraryEducationExploreShop Join & Give New Wing Host an Event Dine Admission Tickets Jin Women at the CenterFinding Women in the Archives: Isadora DuncanEditor’s note: We are lucky to have two fantastic summer interns at the Center for Women’s History, who are hard at work “finding women in the archives” of the New-York Historical Society. CensusMembershipFAQsJoin & GiveNew WingHost an EventDineAdmission TicketsAdmission TicketsSuggested TermsVirtual ExhibitionsThe Civil WarU.S. Finding Women in the Archives: Isadora Duncan | New-York Historical Society Skip to contentVisitExhibitionsProgramsLibraryEducationExploreShopSuggested TermsVirtual ExhibitionsThe Civil WarU.S. ![]()
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