Anthony, Gordon

Biography

Born James Gordon Dawson Stannus, December 23, 1902 in Wicklow, Ireland; better known as Gordon Anthony, a theatrical photographer whose work revolved primarily around dance; his sister, Ninette de Valois, danced for Diaghilev and directed the Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden Ballets; his photographs during the ballet revival in England in the 1930s helped the Royal Ballet obtain international prominence; began his career in 1926, photographing students at his sister's ballet school in London; appointed official portrait photographer of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford, 1933; books include Margot Fonteyn (1950), Alicia Markova (1951), and A Camera at the Ballet: Pioneer Dancers of the Royal Ballet (1975); his 1948 publication, Studies of Dancers, was the first book of color photography in Great Britain; died July 21, 1989.

From the guide to the Gordon Anthony Ballet and Theatrical Photograph Albums, 1935-1946, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.)