Dulac, Edmund.

1085 by 590mm., oil on canvas portrait, signed and dated 'Edmund Dulac | 1916' lower left, framed

Exhibited: Tochigi Prefectual Museum of Fine Arts, "Dance in Japanese Modern Art" exhibition, 9 February - 23 March 2003

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A rare and important Edmund Dulac oil portrait.

Michio Itō (1892-1961) studied traditional dance in Japan before travelling to Europe in 1911. During the First World War he became acquainted with Ezra Pound and Dulac. In November 1915 Dulac began work on this oil painting depicting Ito in the costume of a medieval Japanese daimyo (designed by both Charles Ricketts and Dulac). The artist was working on Yeats' play At the Hawk's Well and R.F. Foster in his biography of W.B. Yeats credits Dulac for bringing to Yeats an 'ideally authentic Noh interpreter... he was the logical interpreter for WBY's new passion...' (see Foster, W.B. Yeats: A Life, Vol II, Oxford, 2003, pp. 38-39).

The portrait was an important work for Dulac. It was exhibited in his first American exhibition (which Dulac promoted with the New York production of At the Hawk's Well).

After dancing the role of The Hawk, Ito moved to the United States (dividing his time between New York and Hollywood) where he choreographed Broadway revues and several films. He also opened several successful dance studios. His teaching and methodology was recognised as a unique synthesis of East and West choreography. Deported from the United States in 1941, Ito returned to Japan where he continued as an influential choreographer and teacher until his death in 1961.