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Sunami, Soichi, photog.

[An inscribed photograph of African American dancer Edna Guy].

New York, [ca. 1931]. Warm-toned silver print, 9.5” x 7”. Inscribed at upper left. Photographer’s blind-stamp at lower right and ink stamp on verso.

An exceptionally rare inscribed photograph of Edna Guy, a pioneer of African American modern dance, taken by Japanese-American photographer Soichi Sunami, and inscribed “To Mrs. Smith ‘A Promise’ from Edna Guy.”

Born in Summit, New Jersey in 1907, Edna Guy (1907–1982) developed an interest in modern dance as a teenager, begging her mother to take her to a performance by Ruth St. Denis in Greenwich Village. Thrilled by what she had seen, Guy immediately sent a note to St. Denis backstage asking to meet her and the two became friends. Guy sought admission to Denishawn, the influential modern dance school founded by St. Denis and her husband Ted Shawn, but St. Denis considered her unprepared and encouraged her to first seek experience elsewhere. Guy applied to other schools of modern dance and was admitted to one, but was forced to leave because "some of the other girls didn't like a colored girl in their class." She also sought work as a chorus girl, but was rejected as too dark. In 1924 St. Denis relented and Guy was admitted to Denishawn. Although she was a favorite of the teachers there, she was not allowed to dance in public with the group due to the color barrier, and was relegated to the role of company seamstress. At the same time, Guy began creating dances to Negro spirituals with her friends. As a result of a misunderstanding, Guy left Denishawn in 1930, ultimately connecting with Hemsley Winfield and immersing herself in the Harlem Renaisance. In April 1931 Guy and Winfield co-directed the “First Negro Dance Recital In America” in which she performed the piece A Figure From Angkor Wat. Later that year she choreographed a concert at Harlem’s 138th Street YWCA, which concluded with a St. Denis lecture entitled Dance as an Art. Guy continued to dance and organize, and in 1937 co-produced Negro Dance Evening with Allison Burroughs, featuring Katherine Dunham’s company performing works reflecting the African diaspora—a watershed moment in African-American dance.

Modernist photographer Soichi Sunami (1885–1971) was born in Okayama Prefecture, Japan and emigrated to the U.S. in 1905. Arriving in Seattle in 1907, he worked for photographer Ella McBride and became a member of the Seattle Camera Club, which consisted mainly of Japanese-American photographers. Aspiring to a career as a painter, Sunami moved to New York in 1922 and enrolled in the Art Students League, studying with John Sloan. Ultimately recognizing that his greatest talent lay in photography, Sunami opened a studio on Fifteenth Street, specializing in photographs of dancers. Highly regarded, he became the official photographer for the Museum of Modern Art, a position he would hold for forty years. The connections thus formed helped him to avoid internment during World War II.

This photograph was recently discovered among the family papers of John Evans and Claire Spencer, the son and daughter-in-law of Mabel Dodge Luhan. The “Mrs. Smith” addressed in the inscription is novelist Claire Spencer, who, at the time, was married to publisher Harrison Smith. The phrase “A Promise” would seem to suggest that Guy had indeed promised to send a signed photograph to Smith.

Photographs of Edna Guy are exceptionally rare. None are recorded in OCLC, nor have we been able to trace any at auction. A google search yields but one image of her. Inscribed photographs are all but unheard of.

A touching and rare photograph of this beautiful and determined woman who ushered in an era of greater freedom for African American dancers.

REFERENCES: Clark, Susan. “Free to Dance.” Humanities, January/February 2001, Vol. 22, No. 1 at www.neh.gov; Perron, Wendy. “Dance; The Struggle of the Black Artist to Dance Freely.” New York Times, 17 June 2001; Soichi Sunami photographs, circa 1940–1959 at rchiveswest.orbiscascade.org; Soichi Sunami at getty.edu.

CONDITION: Very good, bit of wear at edges, minor spotting.

Item #4627

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