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Creator
Garafola, Lynn
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 518
Physical description
2.75 linear feet (7 boxes)
Language
Multiple languages; The majority of the collection is in English, with some materials in French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Preferred Citation
Lynn Garafola collection on Hubert Stowitts, (S) *MGZMD 518. 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.

Dance historian Lynn Garafola gathered the materials for this collection while in the process of writing a biography about Stowitts. The majority of the collection consists of copies of his correspondence, articles, exhibition guides, photographs and other materials, as well as her accompanying research notes.

Biographical/historical information

Hubert Stowitts (1892-1953) was an American dancer and painter most notable for being the only American partner of the Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova. A 1915 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Stowitts abandoned plans to attend graduate school at Harvard University in order to focus on ballet. During his time as a dancer he performed not only as a member of Pavlova's company but also with Ruth Page and as a soloist. In addition he traveled the world while painting, working as a choreographer, and designing sets and costumes. Stowitts retired from dance at the age of 33 and devoted the rest of his life to painting. As a visual artist, he is perhaps best known for his series entitled American Champions, a collection of paintings featuring male American athletes in the nude. The works were meant to be shown at the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, but the show was forcibly closed by the Nazi party. Despite this he continued to work as a visual artist, focusing on portraying dance in a visual medium, such as in his series Vanishing India. In addition to this work as an artist, Stowitts also had a career in film, most notably appearing in the Greta Garbo feature The Painted Veil.

Lynn Garafola (born1946) is an American dance historian, lecturer, and educator. She graduated from Barnard College in 1968, and received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from City University of New York in 1985. Her dissertation topic focused on the Ballets Russes, and she later published it as a book, titled Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, in 1989.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of research materials collected by the dance historian Lynn Garafola in the process of writing a biography about Stowitts. The vast majority of the collection consists of photocopies of correspondence, articles, exhibition guides, photographs and other materials that were gathered during her research process, as well as her accompanying research notes. Of particular interest are notes taken from interviews of subjects that knew Stowitts, such as Michael Powell, Chester Hale, Francis Lederer, and Boris Kochno. There is also original correspondence from Stowitts, mostly to his mother and sister. The materials in this collection pertain to Stowitts' career as a dancer and as an artist. There are also materials that only concern Anna Pavlova. There is a small amount of material related to Stowitts' interest in esoteric philosophies and his student career at University of California, Berkeley.

The Lynn Garafola collection on Hubert Stowitts are arranged in three series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Lynn Garafola, 2019.

Processing information

Processed by Stacey Ference in 2020.

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