Gatja Helgart (G.H.) Rothe (1935-2007), was a German-American artist known for her printmaking, especially using mezzotint. She was also a draftswoman and painter who combined knowledge from studies in anatomy, art history, goldsmithing, and drawing. She notably developed an original process that allowed her to achieve detailed transparencies with mezzotint.

The artwork by Rothe presented here exemplifies one of her most favored subjects, dancers. With her distinct mezzotint printmaking process, Rothe created nearly fantastical scenes of superimposed dancers in dramatic poses and settings.

Abraham Walkowitz (1880-1965) was a Russian-American painter often grouped in with early 20th century Modernist artists, who championed free and personal artistic expression over traditionalism. Over the span of his career, the artist produced thousands of drawings of one subject – the dancer, Isadora Duncan.

Walkowitz’s drawings of Isadora Duncan, at times, resemble the movement studies now referred to as gesture drawings, where quick line work is used to capture a model’s form in motion.