Barbara Morgan's 1940 “Letter to the World (Kick)” deftly captures the disappointment articulated in poem no. 441 by Emily Dickinson, as depicted in Martha Graham's seminal performance. Smithsonian Magazine says it may be the most famous photograph ever taken of an American dancer, ranked in honor of Ansel Adam's photograph (Acocella). The kick move depicted is part of a series of Graham's original choreography, intended to interpret the climax of Dickinson's Despair Because the World Doesn't Recognize His Talent. The title is taken from Dickinson's line "This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me." The photograph shows the mother of modern dance wearing a floor-length white dress with three-quarter length sleeves. His torso is parallel to the floor; the left arm went beyond the hips, along the same horizontal line. Graham's right arm forms a triangle with his head; the wrist rests on the forehead, forming a right angle with the hand. The fingers of both hands bend towards the palms. Her legs are wrapped under the voluminous skirt. The right leg supports the dancer's body at a forward angle of almost 30 degrees; the left leg, kicked back and up above the horizontal, imitates the angle. The bodice of Graham's dress is fitted. The opening of the skirt, which touches the floor at the level of the right foot, extending from the floor both backwards and upwards, above the horizontal axis of the body, creates a crescent moon. The folds of the fabric accentuate the arc of the dancer's high, backward kick. The horizontally extended left arm and the tense area of the neck and shoulders suggest considerable tension throughout the dancer's body. The intensity of her physicality dissipates, spreading along the length of her elongated skirt. The... center of the card......rformance, which later says: "I have conceived two Emilys, dressed alike... Throughout the dance the Emily speaker would witness the other Emily, myself, who danced the inner landscapes of poetry” (BAM). Morgan's timeless photography illustrates the symbiotic relationships between different works of art. It is the expert culmination of the creative imagination of three great artists: Dickinson, Graham and Morgan Each complements the other. While Dickinson's talent remained largely unrecognized during her lifetime, her art was empyreally immortalized through Graham's expert choreography and performance that prompts a deeper understanding of the intensity that first manifested itself in Dickinson's poetry. Even the viewer unfamiliar with the art of Dickinson and Graham will not be able to help but feel the emotion captured by Morgan's photography..
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