Scope and arrangement
The Max Waldman photographs, which date from 1959 to 2014, trace Waldman's career from its commercial advertising beginnings through his death as a distinguished performance photographer and beyond. Approximately 1,200 black-and-white photographic prints, dating from 1965 to 1981, comprise the bulk of the collection. Also present are professional files relating to the management of Waldman's studio, both during and after his lifetime; daybooks dating from 1966 to 1981, and video recordings.
The black-and-white prints are mounted on 11 x 14" boards and depict dance and theater works performed in Waldman's small studio rather than at public venues before live audiences. Some prints are close-up character studies or portraits of dancers, performers, and actors. Among the performance images are a small set of Polaroid camera test prints and other small contact proof prints. Waldman assigned unique index numbers to his images beginning with a number indicating the year the image was shot. These index numbers appear on the prints and are noted in the container list. With Oh! Calcutta! (1969), for example, the index number of 691- is listed as a "local call number" under the title. Productions Waldman photographed include Natalia Makarova in The Dying Swan, Merce Cunningham in Winterbranch, Judith Jamison in Cry, Carla Fracci in Giselle, the Martha Graham Dance Company's staging of Clytemnestra, Carolee Schneemann's Illinois Central, Peter Brook's Marat/Sade, Jerzy Grotowski's The Constant Prince, and The Performance Group's Dionysus in 69.
The collection also includes a section of portraits and a sampling of Waldman's early commercial work. The portraits are mounted black-and-white prints and include the comic actor Zero Mostel, mime artist Marcel Marceau, poet Dame Edith Sitwell, and a group of professional football players. The commercial images, which frequently depict product shots and models posed for advertising purposes, are laminated 11 x 14" color prints and large format color transparencies. The collection does not contain any work prints, negatives, contact sheets, or 35mm slides.
Professional files hold documents and correspondence relating to exhibitions, publication projects, grant applications, biographical material, and the day-to-day management of Waldman's photography studio. Notable correspondents include Morris Carnovsky, Richard Cragun, Merce Cunningham, Carla Fracci, Jerzy Grotowski, Beaumont Newhall, Alwin Nikolais, Gus Solomons, Jr., Edward Steichen, and Eli Wallach. Some files in this section were amassed by Waldman's studio manager, Carol Greunke, after his death.
Yearly daybooks from 1966 to 1981 are present. With very few exceptions, entries in these daybooks chronicle the regular and routine details of Waldman's work as a professional photographer. Entries typically contain handwritten lists of names, brief notes on telephone calls, to-do lists, and reminders of appointments.
Video recordings dating from the 1970s are also included in the collection. Some of the recordings were made by Waldman of dancers performing as part of a New York State Council on the Arts grant-funded project. Other recordings may be interviews or material Waldman used for reference purposes. Notable names appearing among these recordings include: Dana Wolfe, Louis Falco, Rudy Perez, Paul Sanasardo, Larry Ree, Morris Carnovsky, Alwin Nikolais, Joan Miller, Phillis Lamhut, Rina Yerushalmi, Manuel Alum, and Yuriko Kimura.
Arrangement
The Max Waldman photographs are arranged in four groupings: Prints, Professional Files, Daybooks, and Video Recordings. Prints, which comprise the bulk of the collection, and Daybooks are arranged chronologically by year. Within each year, Prints are additionally arranged according to shoot numbers Waldman assigned them. Professional Files and Video Recordings are arranged alphabetically by title.