Barbara Morgan Original Silver Gelatin Photograph “Valerie Bettis - Desperate Heart 1944” Photomontage

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Barbara Morgan Original Silver Gelatin Photograph “Valerie Bettis-The Desperate Heart 1944” is titled and dated by Morgan’s hand in pen … Read more Barbara Morgan Original Silver Gelatin Photograph “Valerie Bettis-The Desperate Heart 1944” is titled and dated by Morgan’s hand in pen on the verso, with copyright stamp on verso. This photomontage work was done by renowned modern dance photographer Barbara Morgan in 1944. Measurements are 8”W x 10”H. Morgan took the original photograph in 1944. This was printed later- most likely between 1972- 1980 based on the photo paper it is printed on.
Incorporating two negatives in one print, the photographer recorded both poetry and dance. Although it is now one of Morgan's iconic works, Desperate Heart was not originally intended for publicity or documentation. Morgan's image of her movement becomes an icon for the dancer herself. I believe this particular photograph to be rare as I have not seen another one elsewhere.
In addition to the photograph I will include a rare bifold 4 page brochure of some of Barbara Morgan’s photograph that shows the photograph numbers, names, when they were originally taken, and when they were copyrighted. In the brochure you will see Valerie Bettis from the Desperate Heart along with other iconic Barbara Morgan photographs.
Measurements of the “Barbara Morgan Photographs” brochure are 8.5”W x 11”H.
The brochure is in excellent condition.

Barbara Morgan (American 1900-1992): Born in Buffalo, Kansas, Barbara Morgan moved with her family to California shortly after her birth. She studied at the University of California at Los Angeles, then taught high school and college art courses after her graduation in 1923. In 1925 helped Edward Weston install an exhibition of his work at the UCLA Gallery. With her husband, the photographer Willard Morgan, she moved to New York City in 1930, and concentrated on painting until 1935, when the birth of a child brought her to photography, a medium that could be practiced quickly and efficiently. Her first book was Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs. Al
While Morgan is best known for the vibrancy of her dance photographs, equally characteristic of her diverse work is her ability to capture ephemeral gesture. In the mid-1930s, her choice of abstract photographic styles set her apart from the preponderance of American documentary photographers. Along with Ansel Adams, Beaumont Newhall, Dorothea Lange, and five others, Morgan will be remembered as a co-founder of Aperture magazine in 1951, one of the few publications at the time to nurture a dialogue among photographers and treat photography as a fine art.
Valerie Elizabeth Bettie (1919-1982)
As a young dancer/choreographer, Valerie Bettis burst on the stage with such vividness that she was compared to both Merce Cunningham and Pearl Primus. In 1943 came her breakthrough as a dancer/choreographer. Bettis premiered The Desperate Heart, with original poetry by John Malcolm Brinnin, at the Humphrey-Weidman studio….an exploration of the longing for a past love, Bettis's performance had a tremendous impact upon New York audiences and critics when she first performed it in 1943. After she premiered The Desperate Heart in 1943, Edwin Denby wrote that her "vitality on the stage, her technical facility are astonishing, and her composition unusual." Louis Horst called the piece "the finest modern dance solo of this decade." Doris Hering dubbed the young dancer "a wild wind" in Dance Magazine.
Margaret Lloyd, author of The Borzoi Book of Modern Dance, wrote that the dance was "like a haunting melody ... deeply emotional, changeful, and with the modulations of feeling amplified by words." John Martin of The New York Times clearly felt she overshadowed the other two dance artists on the program-Erick Hawkins and Pearl Lang: "She has speed without precedent in the modern field, and a temperament that can make the atmosphere fairly sizzle." He gave the dance his critical award of the year.
Provenance: I purchased this photograph from the personal collection of Dr. Curtis L. Carter. Dr. Curtis Carter co-curated multiple exhibitions of Barbara Morgan’s photography throughout the years and was a close personal friend of hers.
Curtis L. Carter is a professor of Philosophy at Marquette University, focusing on aesthetics. He received a PhD from the University of Boston. His greatest accomplishment at Marquette was the creation of the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art. Carter was the founding director from 1984-2007. Haggerty Museum attempts to build a greater appreciation for the arts in the Milwaukee and Marquette Community. He teaches several classes on the philosophy of art.
Carter serves as an associate professor at Marquette University's Les Aspin Center in Washington DC. At the Aspin Center, Carter teaches a class titled "Arts in a Democratic Society". Carter currently serves as vice president of the International Association for Aesthetics. See less