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Creator
Charlip, Remy
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 536
Physical description
54.44 linear feet (125 boxes, 32 oversize folders, 5 tubes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Remy Charlip papers, (S) *MGZMD 536. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Remy Charlip (1929-2012) was an American dancer, choreographer, theater director, costume and set designer, educator, visual artist, and children's book author and illustrator. The Remy Charlip papers, dating from the 1900s to 2016 (bulk dates 1940s-2016), chronicle his multi-faceted career and personal life with subject files, original choreography drawings, costumes, children's book illustrations, professional writings, notebooks and journals, artwork and poster designs, teaching materials, photographs, press clippings, programs, correspondence, and audio and moving image recordings.

Biographical/historical information

Remy Charlip was born on January 10, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York to Lithuanian Jewish parents. He enjoyed drawing as a child, and after attending Straubenmuller Textile High School, enrolled at The Cooper Union, receiving a fine arts degree in 1949. Charlip subsequently decided to become a dancer. He studied under choreographer Bonnie Bird at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he also met his longtime friend, composer Lou Harrison. In 1950, Charlip returned to New York and took classes with the New Dance Group at the Juilliard School.

At Harrison's encouragement, Charlip began attending Black Mountain College in North Carolina in 1951. It was there that he met dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham; Charlip was a founding member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, working as a dancer from its inception in 1953 to 1961. He also designed costumes, fliers, and posters for the company. While at Black Mountain College, Charlip met and occasionally collaborated with such artists as John Cage, Morton Feldman, Ray Johnson, and Jacob Lawrence.

Charlip performed with and choreographed for other avant-garde theater groups during the 1950s to the 1960s, notably the Living Theater and Judson Dance Theater. He designed sets and costumes and choreographed shows at The Joyce Theatre, Dance Theatre Workshop, and Cherry Lane Theatre, working with Jean Erdman, Katherine Litz, and Sabina Nordoff, among others. In 1958, Charlip co-founded the Paper Bag Players, a theater company of adults inspired by New York's avant-garde scene that performs for children.

During the early to mid-1970s, Charlip directed plays for the National Theater of the Deaf Company and held residencies with the Scottish Theatre Ballet Company, Welsh Dance Theatre, The Dance Company (NSW [New South Wales]), and Taller de Danza de Caracas. Additionally, he choreographed for the Joffrey Ballet, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Metro Theatre Circus, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and numerous educational institutions, such as Mills College and Stanford University. In 1970, Charlip staged and performed in Robert Rauschenberg's Experiments in Art and Technology at the Japan World Exposition in Osaka.

In 1971, Charlip invented a new form of choreography. While in Paris, he was late in choreographing a dance for his friend, Nancy Lewis, and sent her a series of postcards with drawings of human figures in various positions. Charlip told Lewis that she could dance the drawings in any order she wished. "Instructions from Paris" was the first of many Air Mail Dances, as Charlip called them; he subsequently created and sent hundreds of Air Mail Dances to soloists and dance companies around the world, who in turn become co-creators for each piece when they interpret Charlip's choreography. Air Mail Dances continue to be performed internationally.

Another of Charlip's best-known works is Remy Charlip Dances, a series of mostly solo pieces that premiered on the Frames of Reference program on WGBH-TV Boston in 1977. The series included a biographical dance, "Glow Worm," based on Charlip's childhood. He performed Remy Charlip Dances around the country with his group, the International All-Star Dance Company, through the 1980s to critical acclaim. Other notable works include Ten Imaginary Dances; Amaterasu, a theater piece performed at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles in 1988; and "Meditation," a solo dance. During the 1980s and 1990s, Charlip collaborated with such dancers as Lucas Hoving, Neil Marcus, and June Watanabe.

Throughout his career, Charlip was an instructor to people of all ages. He primarily taught dance, often incorporating healing modalities such as the Alexander Technique. Charlip taught choreography at the New School for Social Research from 1967 to 1969, and founded the children's theater program at Sarah Lawrence College, where he taught from 1967 to 1971. Charlip was a visiting lecturer or fellow at Yale University (1968-1969), Bennington College (1976), Harvard University (1982), University of California, Santa Barbara (1989), and Hofstra University (1991). He conducted many creativity and dance workshops for adults and children across the United States. Charlip also contributed to the international dance journal, Contact Quarterly.

In addition to careers in dance, theater, and education, Charlip was a prolific children's book author and illustrator. He began illustrating dust jackets and book interiors while at Black Mountain College, including those by Margaret Wise Brown, Ruth Krauss, and Betty Miles. Charlip's first children's book that he wrote and illustrated, Dress Up and Let's Have a Party, was published by Young Scott Books in 1956. He went on to write and/or illustrate more than twenty-five books, notably Where is Everybody? (1957), Fortunately (1964), Arm in Arm (1969), Harlequin and the Gift of Many Colors (1973), Thirteen (1975), Handtalk Birthday (1987), Sleepytime Rhyme (1999), and A Perfect Day (2006). Charlip's books utilize different art styles, structures, and writing forms, and many have been translated into other languages.

In 1989, Charlip moved from New York to San Francisco, California, where he lived for the rest of his life. He continued to choreograph dances; his production Ludwig and Lou, a tribute to Lou Harrison, was performed by the Oakland Ballet in 1994, and he was a featured choreographer at the 2001 San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Dance Festival. Charlip also mentored students at the San Francisco Arts Education Project. In 1999, the San Francisco Public Library hosted Remy Charlip's World: Books into Theater/Theater into Books, a commemorative exhibition.

Charlip received many awards, honors, and grants for his dance and theater work, as well as for his books. He won four Isadora Duncan Awards and two Obie Awards. He received a three-year choreography grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; a dance fellowship from the Japan-United States Friendship Commission; an Asian Cultural Council fellowship to study mythology and folklore in Japan for children's books and dances; and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship. In 1997, the Library of Congress hosted A Celebration of Remy Charlip, an exhibition of paintings from Arm in Arm that also featured Charlip in performance. For his children's books, Charlip won The New York Times "Best Illustrated Children's Book" award three times.

Charlip suffered a stroke in 2005 shortly after receiving his Guggenheim fellowship. Despite never completely recovering, he continued to draw, design, and publish books. He also served as a model for illustrations of George Méliès in Brian Selznick's 2007 book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Remy Charlip died on August 14, 2012 in San Francisco.

Scope and arrangement

The Remy Charlip papers, dating from the 1900s to 2016 (bulk dates 1940s-2016), emphasize Charlip's wide-ranging creative output as a dancer, choreographer, costume designer, visual artist, writer, and children's book author and illustrator. The collection features his extensive notes about dance and theater projects, hundreds of choreography drawings and associated dance artwork, as well as costumes he designed for performances. Charlip's original illustrations for children's books are present, along with both published and unpublished writings on a variety of subjects.

The collection also holds administrative files related to Charlip's dance and publishing activities, teaching materials, photographs, press clippings and programs, personal files, and correspondence. Audio and moving image recordings, numbering in the hundreds, relate mostly to Charlip's dance and theater projects.

Original folders and folder titles, many of which are in Charlip's hand, are maintained whenever possible.

The Remy Charlip papers are arranged in nine series:

  • Series I: Dance and Theater
    1940s-2010

    Dance and theater materials, dating from the 1940s to 2010, address Charlip's extensive activities as a dancer, choreographer, costume and set designer, theater and dance director, and playwright. The files span the near entirety of his career, and consist of administrative materials, notes, correspondence, original choreography illustrations, drafts of plays, and costumes.

    Because Charlip's creative roles and interests frequently overlapped, materials related to dance and theater are present throughout the collection. This series pertains to the creative and administrative production of dance and theater pieces. Meanwhile, series IV features illustrations of dancers and designs for dance programs; series VI contains photographs of Charlip dancing and directing; series VII holds press and publicity materials covering Charlip's dance and theater career; while series IX holds audio and moving image recordings of dance performances and rehearsals.

    Series I is arranged into four subseries: Subject Files, Choreography, Plays, and Costumes.

  • Series II: Children's Books
    1955-2012

    Series II holds materials related to Charlip's children's books. Dating from 1955 to 2012, it is alphabetically arranged into: Book Files, Royalties, and Administrative Files.

    The book files contain materials for the vast majority of Charlip's books, including those for which he was only an illustrator. Book files largely concern the production of Charlip's books. There are contracts and agreements for most books, correspondence between Charlip and his publishers or co-authors, sketches and original art, layouts, storyboards, dummy copies, proof pages, manuscripts and original text, and notes.

    Highlights of the book files include: Charlip's first sketches and a penciled draft for Arm in Arm; sketches and drafts for David's Little Indian, Charlip's first illustrated book; French, Spanish, and Italian translations of Fortunately from 2011; storyboards and original artwork for I Love You; layouts for Little Old Big Beard and Big Old Little Beard; sketches, outlines, and reference art for A Moon or a Button; sketches and a dummy copy of Mother Mother I Feel Sick Send for Doctor Quick Quick Quick; layouts and storyboards for Peanut Butter Party; original artwork for Sleepytime Rhyme; designs for This is the Age of the Bookmobile, an activity book published by The Children's Book Council; layouts and redone artwork for Where is Everybody?; and a storyboard for Which Witch is Which?

    Also present are dust jackets Charlip designed, chiefly for other authors' books from the 1950s and 1960s. There are proposals, sketches, and outlines for several unpublished books: a book version Amaterasu, Any Body Can Dance, Animated Movies, Bookworm, Dancing Alphabet, Hearts Entwined, and Moon and Stars. Additionally, there are short stories and illustrations sent to Charlip by high school classrooms inspired by Fortunately and Peanut Butter Party, filed with materials for those books.

    Charlip's book royalties span from 1980 to 2012 and consist of invoices from all major publishers with which he was contracted. In particular, there are many royalties from Harper Collins Publishers, Macmillan Publishing, and Simon and Schuster.

    Administrative files contain notes, schedules, and correspondence regarding agents, publishers, book sales, and events Charlip attended in his capacity as a children's book author. While some contracts and agreements are held here, the majority are held with the book files; administrative files generally do not correspond to specific books. Series VIII holds some similar correspondence and notes related to publishing administrative matters.

  • Series III: Writing
    1960s-2000s

    Charlip's professional writings, unpublished writing projects, and notebooks and journals feature in series III. These writings are distinct from Charlip's children's books, and are generally not aimed at young audiences. They are also distinct from the plays in series I; theatrical works are not held here, save for some writings and notes about theater. This series is arranged into two subseries: Alphabetical Files, and Notebooks and Journals.

    Writings date from the 1960s to the 2000s and cover a wide variety of topics and formats. Included here are nonfiction works about dance and performing, short fictional stories, story ideas, poetry, and speeches. Notebooks and journals similarly touch on many subjects, and contain Charlip's substantial notes and writings on dance, choreography, set and costume design, theater, teaching, book publishing, travel, and personal affairs.

  • Series IV: Artwork
    1940s-2012

    Series IV contains Charlip's visual artwork, including designs for posters, programs, and cards; and sketches, drawings, and paintings not used in the creation of specific dance, theater, book, or publicity projects. Several hundred works are present. The artwork here is distinct from Charlip's choreography drawings in series I and the illustrations and sketches for his children's books in series II. Many works in this series have never been exhibited or published. Arranged alphabetically by title or topic, with artwork by other artists ordered at the end, series IV dates from the 1940s to 2012.

    The majority of artwork, which is ordered at the beginning of the series, is untitled and undated. When a piece of artwork is titled, or multiple works grouped by topic, they are listed alphabetically. When multiple versions of artwork are present, such as drafts, different size pieces, or photocopies, they are grouped together whenever possible.

    The vast majority of Charlip's artwork is on paper. There are paintings, as well as works drawn in pencil, pen, marker, and charcoal.

    The content of Charlip's artwork varies. There are drawings of dancers and individuals, abstract works, sketches of various items and scenes, and more. Some artwork contains nudity and sexual imagery.

    Poster and program designs are for Dan Wagoner's dance company, the Harvard Summer Dance program, Metro Theater Circus, the Parachute Fund, Theater for the New City, and the Viola Farber Dance Company, among others. There are also many of Charlip's designs for the Dancers for Disarmament program in 1982. Charlip's card and invitation designs, chiefly for the AIDS Project Los Angeles Writers' Workshop, Dance Theater Workshop, and National Endowment for the Arts, are numerous.

    There are several self-portraits in this series, including one that Charlip drew while a student at Cooper Union in 1947. Also of interest is a flip book Charlip made for artist Ray Johnson, Richard, and Helen (likely Richard Lippold and Helen Balfour Morrison). Two sketchbooks are present as well; similar sketches can be found in the notebooks and journals in series III.

    Art by other artists is usually signed. Most works were likely given to Charlip as a gift or courtesy. Box 44 contains a napkin drawing by John Cage, while box 121 contains a drawing by Merce Cunningham.

  • Series V: Instruction, Residencies, and Fellowships
    1970s-2000s

    This series details Charlip's teaching activities, residencies, and fellowships from the 1970s through the 2000s, with emphasis on the 1980s and 1990s. Charlip's grant applications and research, largely for dance-related work, are also found here. The series is arranged alphabetically by subject into Teaching, Residencies, and Workshops; and Grants and Fellowships. A set of Charlip's resumes, biographies, bibliographies, and lists of dance and theater works are filed at the end. Charlip used many of these for applications, and they are useful in establishing a chronology of his career and how he conceived of his work.

    The Teaching, Residencies, and Workshops files contain notes, outlines, correspondence, administrative materials, and course and workshop descriptions. There are files on several institutions Charlip taught at, specifically Hofstra University, Naropa Institute, Sarah Lawrence College, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Wesleyan University. Of special interest are Charlip's contracts and extensive notes for the San Francisco Arts Education Foundation. Also of note are his booklets and manuals on the Jin Shin Jyutsu technique, and Alexander Technique diagrams; Charlip's additional writings on the Alexander Technique are located in series III.

    Prominent among the Grant and Fellowship files are Charlip's applications for the National Endowment for the Arts, dating from 1988 to 1996, and materials for his John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship in 2005. There are many materials related to Charlip's Asian Cultural Council fellowship in Japan, including correspondence, notes, lists of items to ship, schedules, and programs for events that Charlip conducted. Materials for Charlip's Japan-United States Friendship Commission fellowship are prominent as well, and include his grant application and calligraphy he drew during the fellowship.

  • Series VI: Photographs
    1900s-2000s

    The photographs in series VI chronicle Charlip's dance and theater activities, exhibitions, relationships with colleagues in the arts, and personal life. Photographs are alphabetically arranged by subject into: Dance and Theater; Events and Teaching; Family; Other People; Portraits; and Travel. Most photographs are prints of varying sizes, especially 8" x 10", 4" x 6", and 5" x 7". Some negatives and slides are present, chiefly with the Dance and Theater and Travel photographs.

    Dance and theater photographs are numerous, depicting Charlip performing, rehearsing, and choreographing from the 1950s to the 2000s. Included here are hundreds of photographs of Charlip working and performing with various dance and theater companies, notably the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, National Theater of the Deaf Company, Paper Bag Players, and Welsh Dance Theatre. Additionally, there are many photographs from the Remy Charlip Dances program on WGBH-TV. Other photographs depict performances and rehearsals of specific works, such as Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights with the Living Theater in 1951; "Part of a Larger Landscape" at Bennington College in 1976; Charlip's solo dance, "Meditation"; and Ludwig and Lou. A large set of prints titled "Remy Solo" show Charlip performing from the 1970s to the 1990s. Also of note are photographs of dancers posing in costumes Charlip designed for "Galaxy," performed by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

    Photographs of events and Charlip teaching are fewer. They largely highlight exhibits of Charlip's work: A Celebration of Remy Charlip at the Library of Congress, Remy Charlip's World at the San Francisco Public Library, Harlequin: A Movie Proposal at the Junior Art Gallery, and Remy Charlip: Costumes, Posters, and Fliers, 1949-1982 at the Dance Theater Workshop. Photographs of Charlip teaching date from the 1960s to 1990s, and are generally of him teaching children.

    Charlip's family photographs date from approximately the 1900s to the 1950s. There are several portraits and informal shots of his parents, as well as photographs of extended family members at formal and informal events. These photographs are often labeled and dated on the back.

    Photographs of other people portray acquaintances, friends, and collaborators both with and without Charlip, mostly in informal settings. The majority of photographs here feature unidentified people; these are ordered before an alphabetical list of identified individuals. The latter includes Charlip collaborators Jules Beckman, Lucas Hoving, Neil Marcus, and Jerry Joyner. Several photographs of John Cage are also present, including a photograph of him conducing in 1982. Two photographs of Lou Harrison show him in informal settings.

    Portraits consist of professional and non-professional shots of Charlip, and casual photographs of him alone from throughout his life. Many of the portraits depict Charlip in a dance setting. Of special interest are portraits of Charlip taken by Carl Van Vechten in 1951 in conjunction with his performance in Doctor Faustus; and photographs of Charlip as a child, notably a photograph from his Bar Mitzvah in 1942. These are all located in box 61.

    The travel photographs largely date from the 1960s and 1970s. Most were likely taken by Charlip, and most depict nature and urban scenes. There are photographs from Puerto Rico, Italy, Greece, and Nepal. Charlip's 1976 residency in Venezuela and subsequent trip to Guatemala are represented here, as is his 2002 fellowship in Japan.

  • Series VII: Press and Publicity
    1943-2016

    Series VII addresses Charlip's public persona and how he was covered in the media with clippings, programs, fliers, and posters. A set of materials corresponding to Remy Charlip's World: Books into Theater/Theater into Books, his 1999 exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library, is also held here. The series comprehensively documents all aspects of Charlip's career from 1946 to 2016. It is arranged into three subseries: Clippings; Programs, Fliers, and Posters; and Remy Charlip's World: Books into Theater/Theater into Books.

  • Series VIII: Personal Files
    1929-2012

    Charlip's personal files, alphabetically arranged by subject or file type, date from 1929 to 2012, the span of his life. They chronicle Charlip's childhood, personal activities and interests, medical, domestic, and financial matters, and include correspondence with friends and collaborators in the arts. Because Charlip occasionally mixed personal and professional files in the same folders, and because his interests often overlapped, some materials here do pertain to his professional pursuits.

    A large portion of this series consists of "activities" files. These files date from 1990 to 2012, and contain a mixture of correspondence, invitations, clippings, programs and fliers, notes, lists, schedules, and other ephemera that provide a sense of what Charlip was engaged in during these years. While most "activities" files touch on Charlip's personal affairs, some do address his professional work, particularly invitations and fliers and correspondence from the 2000s. Much of this correspondence is between Erika Bradfield, who handled Charlip's personal and professional affairs, and others, often dealing with financial and book publishing matters; series II contains additional book publishing materials.

    A separate, exclusive collection of correspondence similarly accounts for a significant portion of this series. Arranged alphabetically by correspondent or subject, with a chronological set ordered at the beginning, most of this correspondence is between Charlip and his dance and theater collaborators, such as Merce Cunningham, Ronald Dabney, Anna Halprin, and Neil Marcus. Of special interest is a set of postcards to Charlip from Lou Harrison dating from 1950s that are mostly in calligraphy. As with correspondence in the "activities" files, some correspondence here is professional in nature between Erika Bradfield and others regarding Charlip's various obligations. Letters of recommendation, for Charlip and by Charlip for others, are also held here.

    Elsewhere, this series holds Charlip's personal research materials, which largely contain clipped articles on a variety of subjects that interested him. There are two books from Charlip's childhood, including a baby journal with entries written by his parents. Address lists, contact lists, and calendars exist here, largely dating from the 1990s and 2000s.

    Several files pertain to Charlip's medical needs after his stroke: "Caregiver Notes," "Medical Handouts," "Personal Exercise Program," "Plan of Care and Power of Attorney," and "Remy's Visitor Notes" all contain papers addressing Charlip's post-stroke condition. Additionally, there are materials for Charlip's memorial, which include a guest book of entries from friends and colleagues. The "post-mortem files" consist of news clippings, cards and artwork sent by friends, and assorted personal effects that Charlip maintained during the final years of his life.

    An item-level inventory of Charlip's collection, completed by John Held, Jr. in 2007, is located in boxes 122 to 125. It contains Held, Jr.'s biography of Charlip and detailed explanation of the collection content.

  • Series IX: Audio and Moving Image Recordings
    1956-2012

    The audio and moving image recordings in series IX date from 1956 to 2012, and largely correspond to Charlip's dance and theater work. Most of the series consists of recordings of performances and rehearsals, and music and demos Charlip used for dances. Also present are radio interviews and television and film broadcasts featuring Charlip, as well as recordings of Charlip teaching.

    Series IX is ordered into the following subseries: Performances and Rehearsals; Music and Demos; Teaching and Events; Radio and Interviews; Television and Film; and Personal.

    Boxes 99 and 100 contain papers separated from recordings, including track lists, notes, and letters. These papers are listed alongside their corresponding recordings in the container list.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The collection was purchased in 2020 from Jules Beckman and June Ekman, executors of Charlip's estate.

Processing information

Processed by Nathan Evans in 2023 and 2024.

Using the collection

Location

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Access restrictions

Inquiries regarding audio and moving image materials in the collection may be directed to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division (dance@nypl.org). Audio and moving image materials will be subject to preservation assessment and migration prior to access. Costumes are available by appointment only. Please contact dance@nypl.org to arrange to view these items.