Martha Swope photographs

circa 1955-circa 2002 [bulk 1957-1994] D

Internationally acclaimed performing arts photographer Martha Swope was born in Waco, Texas and is a graduate of Baylor University. She came to New York to attend the School of American Ballet. Swope's career as the performance photographer of record began when her classmate, Jerome Robbins, asked her to photograph rehearsals of the show on which he was working, West Side story, in 1957. Although self-taught, for almost four decades (ca. 1957-ca. 1994), she created iconic images of theater and dance that communicated the essence and artistry of the performer and the work. Swope lives in New York City. The collection consists of over 1,520,000 images, black and white and color, on contact sheets with corresponding negatives (mostly 35 mm and 120), transparencies, slides, and prints taken by Martha Swope from ca. 1955-2002 (bulk dates 1957-1994). There are also some programs and clippings filed with the images, often illustrating where the image was published or used. It documents Swope's career photographing theater productions, dance companies, such as American Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Martha Graham Dance Company, and New York City Ballet, opera productions, music groups, circus, film, television, individual performers, and performing arts-related personalities.