Product details
- ISBN 9781526113030
- Weight: 386g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 24 Oct 2017
- Publisher: Manchester University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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Four Saints in Three Acts by Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson was a major avant-garde phenomenon of the 1930s, an experimental opera that nonetheless achieved remarkable popular success. Photography was a key element of that success, but its complex roles in the construction, representation and dissemination of the opera have hitherto received little critical attention. The photographic recording of the all-African American cast in particular affords a unique insight into the complexities of Four Saints in relation to the Harlem Renaissance and the New York avant-gardes of the time.
This book, published in collaboration with The Photographers' Gallery, London, presents a wide selection of photographs of the cast, performances, and other material – many images reproduced for the first time – alongside essays by an international range of scholars exploring different aspects of the opera, including dance, fashion, music, and avant-garde writing, as well as photography.
Patricia Allmer is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Edinburgh
John Sears is an independent scholar
