Martha Graham (Satyric Festival Song)

This print is one of a trio depicting the celebrated dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, widely regarded as the “mother of modern dance.” It is based on a photograph of Graham performing Satyric Festival Song (1932), a work inspired by Native North American Pueblo culture and emblematic of her early efforts to develop a distinctly American modern dance vocabulary. Over the course of her career, Graham transformed the field of dance through a powerful, expressive movement language, moving away from formally prescribed methods and often foregrounding ideas of myth and ritual. Graham and Warhol were close friends, bonded by their shared Pittsburgh roots and a mutual admiration for one another’s work. Warhol’s engagement with her image reflects his interest in iconic cultural figures who, like Graham, reshaped their disciplines through innovation and force of personality.

Martha Graham (Satyric Festival Song)

1986

University of Wyoming Art Museum

2014.9.1