Dancers: Devi Dja by Max Pollak

Dancers: Devi Dja by Max Pollak

Dancers: Devi Dja

Max Pollak

Please call us at 707-546-7352 or email artannex@aol.com to purchase this item.
Title

Dancers: Devi Dja

 
Artist

Max Pollak

  1886 - 1970 (biography)
Year
c. 1937  
Technique
graphite and color crayon preparatory drawing 
Image Size
16 x 12 1/2" image size 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
 
Annotations
pencil titled above signature 
Reference
etching at the FAMSF, acquisition no. T&D1962.154 
Paper
cream laid with "Hand Made" watermark 
State
 
Publisher
 
Inventory ID
24067 
Price
$450.00 
Description

While in Austria Max Pollak was part of the avant-garde dance scene. He did a series of intaglio portraits of dancers, usually costumed and posed, from one of their noted performances. He sketched the dancers during perfomances and used the fluid drawings to create the etchings, which print in reverse when etched on a copper plate.

This image is preparatory drawing for the print titled "Devi Dja, Javanese Dancer". Devi Dja was born on the island of Java and trained in traditional Legong dancing in Bali. The Legong dance is meant to be performed by prepubescent children; however, Dja continued to dance in a non-ceremonial capacity after she'd reached puberty, inspired by the ballerina Anna Pavlova. She was discovered by the symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski who had been traveling in Bali. At his encouragement, then 16-year-old Dja assembled a troupe of musicians and dancers to tour throughout the world.

She eventually settled in Hollywood, California, and appeared in various films as a dancer, including "The Picture of Dorian Gray." By the end of her career she had established herself as one of the first people to introduce Balinese dance and theater to much of the world. She died in Northridge, California, on January 20, 1989.

 

Please call us at 707-546-7352 or email artannex@aol.com to purchase this item.