Martha Joan Swope (February 22, 1928 – January 12, 2017) was an American photographer of theatre and dance.

Early life and education

Born in

Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...

, she studied at

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

, before becoming a student at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

in the 1950s.

Career

Her photography career started in 1957, when

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

invited her to photograph rehearsals for ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

''. Soon afterwards, Lincoln Kirstein hired her as the first official photographer for the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

. She photographed figures in the dance world including

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

, Michael Bennett, Joe Papp, and David Merrick. She was known for taking photos onstage while posed in the fourth position. She documented over 800 productions in her lifetime. To her, rehearsals were "where you see the creativity and the interchange, how it grows to what it comes to be onstage". She stopped taking photos when she retired in 1994, saying that "now I think it's somebody else's era".

Death

Swope died from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

on January 12, 2017, at the age of 88.

In media

Her photographs have been featured in many newspapers and journals, including ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. She donated her archive of 1.5 million images to the

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

in 2010.

Awards and achievements

In 2004, Swope received a Tony Honor for Excellence in Theater award, and in 2007, she was given a lifetime achievement award from the League of Professional Theater Women.

Legacy

Swope's photographs were displayed in multiple books: ''Baryshnikov on Broadway: Photographs'', Tanaquil Le Clercq's ''Mourka: The Autobiography of a Cat'', Kenneth Laws's ''Physics and the Art of Dance'', and Denny Martin Flinn's ''What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of A Chorus Line''.

Personal life

She lived in a

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Ty ...

on 72nd Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She used her bathroom as a darkroom and her closet was her film developing room. Besides ballet and photography, Swope had an immense passion for animals and travel. She rescued and took care of stray dogs. One of her dogs was named "Topo". When she later moved to the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex on West 43rd Street, she adopted a greyhound mix named "Bert". She also visited a sundry mix of places, such as Africa, Switzerland, and Italy. Although Swope had a lively and caring spirit, she was also very private about her personal life and actually avoided going to the theatre "because of crowds".

References

External links

Martha Swope photographs, circa 1955 – circa 2002 (bulk 1957–1994)
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swope, Martha Joan 1928 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American women photographers 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American women photographers 21st-century American photographers Ballet photographers Baylor University alumni Deaths from Parkinson's disease in New York (state) People from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan People from Tyler, Texas Photographers from New York City Photographers from Texas School of American Ballet alumni Theatrical photographers