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| Barbara Morgan Martha Graham in Letter to the World with Merce Cunningham 1940 gelatin silver print Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York |
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| Barbara Morgan Knee (Dancer) 1940 gelatin silver print Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York |
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| Joseph Cornell Homage to the Romantic Ballet 1941 assemblage (box, fabric, printed paper, found objects) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| George Platt Lynes Pas de deux 1941 gelatin silver print (program cover for American Ballet Caravan) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| George Platt Lynes Maria Tallchief in Orpheus 1948 gelatin silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Irving Penn Arthur Murray Dancers, New York 1951 platinum-palladium print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Irving Penn Rockette, New York 1951 platinum-palladium print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| George Platt Lynes Tanaquil Le Clercq and Todd Bolender in Metamorphoses 1952 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Grace Robertson Bermondsey Women's Pub Outing 1954 gelatin silver print Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York |
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| Grace Robertson Bermondsey Women's Pub Outing 1954 gelatin silver print Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York |
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| Garry Winogrand El Morocco, New York 1955 gelatin silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Garry Winogrand El Morocco, New York 1955 gelatin silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Philippe Halsman Maria Tallchief 1956 gelatin silver print National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC |
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| Diane Arbus Lady in a Tiara at a Ball, N.Y.C. 1963 gelatin silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Phillip Leonian Carmen de Lavallade Turning 1968 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Phillip Leonian Carmen de Lavallade Turning 1968 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| André Kertész New York Circus Ballet 1969 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| George Segal The Dancers modeled 1971, cast 1982 painted bronze National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
The books I was thinking of had something more in common than eccentricity, single-mindedness, a willingness to risk tedium, and a willingness to lose readers, and that was the care and interest of the writing.
This must be one of the things that saves the books from tedium or allows us to forgive it. But doesn't that leave out – or does it? maybe not – the intelligence behind the writing? Can there be really fine writing without high intelligence?
So there is the passionate commitment to the peculiar subject combined with the close observation, the intelligence of the writing mind, and the high quality of the writing. But perhaps that list leaves out the heart – warmth, compassion, affection.
– Lydia Davis, from Into the Weeds (Yale University Press, 2025)