![CUNNINGHAM, Merce (1919-2009). Autograph manuscript, n.p., [1969].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_15785_0141_001(cunningham_merce_autograph_manuscript_np_1969014520).jpg?w=1)
![CUNNINGHAM, Merce (1919-2009). Autograph manuscript, n.p., [1969].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_15785_0141_002(cunningham_merce_autograph_manuscript_np_1969014529).jpg?w=1)
![CUNNINGHAM, Merce (1919-2009). Autograph manuscript, n.p., [1969].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_15785_0141_003(cunningham_merce_autograph_manuscript_np_1969014538).jpg?w=1)
![CUNNINGHAM, Merce (1919-2009). Autograph manuscript, n.p., [1969].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_15785_0141_000(cunningham_merce_autograph_manuscript_np_1969091903).jpg?w=1)
Details
CUNNINGHAM, Merce (1919-2009). Autograph manuscript, n.p., [1969].
Three matted leaves under tissue (355 x 277 mm), each signed ("Merce Cunningham") in pencil on the mat.
Autograph dance score of Cunningham’s ballet Canfield, which premiered at Nazareth College and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1969. Cunningham was a towering figure of both the American modern dance movement and the larger avant-garde art world. This ballet provides a microcosm of Cunningham’s milieu with a score by the post-war electronic composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros, a set by conceptual sculptor Robert Morris, and costumes by the iconic American artist Jasper Johns. Canfield was inspired by the card game of the same name—a type of solitaire with a low probability of winning, invented by the casino owner Richard Canfield. The original production in Brooklyn coincided with an electrician’s strike, resulting in the ballet being performed without music. It reappeared, with Oliveros’s score, later that year. While the reviews in the New York Times display a somewhat typical antipathy to radical new forms of art, the reviewer still notes that: "Yet what 'Canfield' shows more than anything else is Mr. Cunningham's marvelous command of the human body...He understands what movement is about, the shifts and changes of his choreography have a zest and beauty rarely encountered.”
Three matted leaves under tissue (355 x 277 mm), each signed ("Merce Cunningham") in pencil on the mat.
Autograph dance score of Cunningham’s ballet Canfield, which premiered at Nazareth College and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1969. Cunningham was a towering figure of both the American modern dance movement and the larger avant-garde art world. This ballet provides a microcosm of Cunningham’s milieu with a score by the post-war electronic composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros, a set by conceptual sculptor Robert Morris, and costumes by the iconic American artist Jasper Johns. Canfield was inspired by the card game of the same name—a type of solitaire with a low probability of winning, invented by the casino owner Richard Canfield. The original production in Brooklyn coincided with an electrician’s strike, resulting in the ballet being performed without music. It reappeared, with Oliveros’s score, later that year. While the reviews in the New York Times display a somewhat typical antipathy to radical new forms of art, the reviewer still notes that: "Yet what 'Canfield' shows more than anything else is Mr. Cunningham's marvelous command of the human body...He understands what movement is about, the shifts and changes of his choreography have a zest and beauty rarely encountered.”