Scope and arrangement
The Mikhail Mordkin Photographs document the life and career of ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher, Mikhail Mordkin (1881-1944), and span from approximately the 1860s to 1978.
The collection consists of mostly black and white photographs, some sepia photographs and a few color snapshots covering the professional and personal life of Mordkin. Included are a number of early ballets in which he appeared, such as L'Automne Bacchanale (circa 1910-1928), Aziade (The Legend of Azyiade) (circa 1910-1927), as well as photographs of Mordkin in costume and with various partners, including Anna Pavlova.
Also contained are numerous photographs of the 1937-1939 Mordkin Ballet productions, including Dionysus, La Fille Mal Gardée, Giselle, (The) Goldfish, (The) Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Trepak, and Voices of Spring; stars included Patricia Bowman, Lucia Chase, Nina Stroganova, and Leon Varkas. Photographers include Delar, Lucas-Pritichard, Ira L. Hill's Studio, Harold Swahn, and Benjamin Woolf.
There are numerous family photographs, especially of Mordkin's wife, ballerina and teacher, Bronislava Pozhitskaia, through her later years, and their son, Michael, Jr.
Arrangement
Alphabetical by subject.