Isadora

by Julie Birmant, Clément Oubrerie (Illustrator)

Isadora arrive à Paris en même temps que PICASSO, mais, à l'Expo Universelle 1900, c'est RODIN qu'elle découvre. Et c'est une révélation. Elle qui ne croyait qu'en la beauté simple des Grecs, veut désormais connaître les passions que Rodin a frappées dans le marbre. Et d'abord l'Extase. Plus facile à dire qu'à faire... Pourtant, au gré de ses rencontres, entre le sculpteur et Loïe Fuller quel que soit le continent qu'elle foule, elle approfondit son art, la danse, et jamais ne renonce à l'absolu. Elle traverse les épreuves, les soubresauts, comme une petite flamme magique, qui ne s'éteint jamais.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Bande Dessinée, Biography, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Historical, France

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 14, 2017

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another of those lame sort of graphic biographies that assume a lot of knowledge about the subject, up to and including how she died. It dully skims through Duncan's adult life, spending most of its time on her love affairs and the Greek mythology that inspired her style of dance. She seems to be an empty-headed bohemian artist for most of the book, taking a stand for communism later in life.

The history seems sloppy or even wrong in places. For instance, the concluding chapter moves her death up two years and misnames the driver of the vehicle, though it just might be a bad attempt at artistic foreshadowing.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art in this one is gorgeous, but I wish there'd been an author's note or a bit more biographical information about Isadora Duncan. Some I knew and some I vaguely recalled, but without anything to go on I think most readers will be lost.

[Milena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dobar deo detinjstva sam provela mrzeći Isadoru Dankan jer zbog nje i njenog glupavog šala smo mi klinci morali naše dobrano da obmotavamo oko guše (stresem se od pomisli na onu vunu koja grebe) i kopčamo zimske jakne preko da se slučajno ne udavimo ako se kraj šala zapetlja u ne znam ti ja koji točak.

O njoj i njenom odnosu sa Sergejom Jesenjinom nisam znala skoro ništa; a ja ipak imam dvadeset godina redovnog čitanja Zabavnika u biografiji, za šta sam verovala da je ekvivalent solidnoj opštoj kulturi ALI nažalost nije.

Uglavnom, prvi deo stripa (“Bilo jednom na Divljem Istoku”) je vrlo dobar, ovaj drugi (“Isadora”) vrlo slab tako da hm, ne preporučujem baš.

[Volker Rivinius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nachtrag vom 31/12/2020 - was hängengeblieben ist: Eine ganz annehmbare, leicht erotisierte Comic-Biographie der Tänzerin Isadora Duncan. Von manchen Goodreads-Kritikern wurde bemängelt, dass der Band nicht biographisch genug sei. Mensch, Leute, das ist ein Comic und kein Geschichtsreferat.

J'ai vu que certains lecteurs râlaient parce que selon eux, l'album n'était pas assez biographique. Franchement. Vous avez internet? (heu ouais...) Vous avez Wikipédia? (heu ouiche...) Alors allez-y faire un tour, bande de moules à gaufres! Ici, on a affaire à une BD et non pas à un exposé d'histoire-géo. Re-franchement.

Et elle est très bien, cette BD, aussi bien du point de vue narratif que de celui des dessins. Après lecture, on aura une idée ce que ça a dû être, l'apparition de cet OVNI Isadora Duncan dans cette société tournant du siècle, passablement coincée, ce qui vaut surtout pour la gente masculine: la jeune danseuse devra faire face à un grand nombre de crétins - oui, même Rodin. A travers ce fameux retour à une Grèce imaginaire, on sent cette soif de liberté, de transgression qui fera de la danseuse une artiste d'avant-garde de corps et d'esprit.

Ah, et on a même droit à un caméo de Lino Ventura en commissaire de police, et cette référence au cinéma français des années 70 n'est peut-être pas aussi gratuite qu'elle en a l'air.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so interesting! The only thing I knew about Isadora was how she died. This book was a fascinating look into her life.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is nice, but the story is patchy and incomplete. It really feels like you are expected to already know a fair bit about the Isadora's life and career, and the period in which she lived more broadly, because there is very little explanation in the story itself; I felt I learned more from browsing through a wikipedia article after I finished this book. And the story skips most of Isadora's life and career: it opens in the 1920's when she is sort of washed up and married to the Russian poet Yesenin, a scene which ends with her reflecting on the tragic loss of her two children years before. Cue flashback to 20+ years earlier, when Isadora first traveled to Europe and started to establish herself, a section which covers the bulk of the book, but only about four years of her life. This section ends deceptively with her in Russia as though it is a natural transition to the final section, back with her married to Yesenin in 1922; but the flashback ends in 1903 (or thereabouts, they are pretty loose about marking time, even if the chapters start with a listed year) and Isadora had a life and career between those points in time (beyond her children referred to in the beginning, she also apparently taught dance at some point and adopted (maybe?) the young women she took as students), just not one that concerned the creators of this work. Likewise at the very end of the work, it suggests that Isadora died not long after learning of Yesenin's death (they were divorced by that point), but it was actually closer to 2 years between their deaths (Isadora's death was apparently as gruesome as that hinted at by the final panels of the story).

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't know much about Isadora Duncan before I read this book. Just that she was a dancer, and the way she died. I don't know a lot more now that I've read this book. The book is snapshots from her life, with little context or connecting information. You get a decent view from when she left the States with her family until she found stardom in Europe, and then it jumps ahead to her marriage, and then to her death. The book touches on the fact that she had two children that drowned in a car accident, but just briefly, so I'm still vague on most of her story. It's piqued my interest enough to either look into a fuller biography, or, perhaps, to simply look her up on Wikipedia, but the book itself didn't really give me a very full view of her life.

[Manon · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai une nouvelle fois adore ma lecture! Je connaissais très peu Isadora Duncan, je l'avais notamment aperçue dans le film "La Danseuse". Ici, on commence par les dernières années de sa vie pour se retourner sur des épisodes (littéralement) qui ont fait sa gloire. Isadora étant largement inspirée par la culture greco-antique, certains mythes sont cites et expliques comme celui de Psyché par exemple (un de mes mythes favoris +++). À la différence de Pablo, ce n'est pas très détaillé, il aurait peut-être fallu le faire en plusieurs volumes car on voudrait à savoir plus. Sinon le dessin et les couleurs sont magnifiques et très poétiques.

[Isabella Hernandez-Aviles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving it a three bc I feel like the book wasn't detailed enough and it left a lot to be desired about her life. I also feel like I was kind of lost throughout the whole book and I didn't feel like I never really got that for comprehension of the story that like pulls you in and sucks u up and wants you to keep reading.

I think because it was lacking that fundamental like piece I couldn't completely get into it and I don't feel like it deserves four stars. It was still beautiful depiction of her life but I loved also how they explained this like I need to dance but I'm sad that I didn't really understand what I was reading about her life and it felt very like short cut short.

[Angela Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tenía muchas ganas de tener este libro, la carátula del libro y la idea de una biografía de Isadora ilustrada me llamo muchísimo la atención, sin embargo, siento que hay muchos elementos de la vida de ella perdidos en la historia. Las ilustraciones tienen momentos mágicos y otros que desentonan en la calidad que esperaba.
Tengo la sensación que esta demasiado enfocado en la historia de sus amores, más que en su vida misma y en su importancia para la historia de la danza.

[NoID · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julie Birmant propose ici une Isadora Duncan emportée par sa soif de vivre, un peu illuminée et capricieuse, obsédée par la gloire et rencontrant le grand monde à la recherche de notoriété.

Malheureusement, peu de danse et d’envolée alors que le dessin de Clément est absolument parfait pour ces représentations.

Une artiste radicale qui tente d’imposer sa vision de la danse, peut-être un peu trop moderne pour l’époque

https://www.noid.ch/isadora/

[LECONTE · Rating 3 out of 5]

Très beau livre, beau papier, belles illustrations, bonne histoire, bien résumé. Je regrette un peu l'idéalisme de l'histoire. La danse, les artistes, les romances passionnées, c'est pas ma tasse de thé. J'aurais préféré qu'on me parle de son travail acharné sur ses techniques de danse plutôt qu'on essaye de me faire rêver avec l'audace qui a fait indirectement son succès...

[Rivière Cécile · Rating 4 out of 5]

De très beaux dessins et un récit qui ne tombe pas dans la simple énumération des faits. J'aurais cependant apprécié que le récit soit divisé en deux tomes comme pour Pablo des mêmes auteurs car le récit est trop dense et difficile à apprécier à sa juste valeur.

[Dana Amico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read for someone who doesn't know too much about Isadora. I wasn't in love with the illustration style, and I wish the piece was less centered around the men in her life, but nevertheless enjoyed this!

[Juliet Michalec · Rating 5 out of 5]

a beautiful book with a quite artistic pictures. I loved the characterisation added to these historical figures, and I think reading this book before International Women’s Day was a perfect fit: Isadora is a big inspiration of mine.

[Anne-Lise · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 I am eager to learn more about Isadora's fascinating life thanks to this graphic novel. I wish it went into more detail at times, but I truly enjoyed the art.

[Aurora · Rating 1 out of 5]

The type was hard to read & the narrative was very disjointed. I didn’t know anything about Isadora before I started reading this and this book didn’t make me want to learn more.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give it a solid 3.5 stars.

[Jenika Ioffreda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
I enjoyed it.

[Miss December · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful art. Don't expect the definitive biography, because it's not here. But it is an interesting story, and it's told at a good pace. A great read.

[Janie Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork. Really better suited for someone already familiar with her work ….

[Wiebke Kuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another interesting story of an important woman in the early 20th century - and I am sure Isidora Duncan was very influential for dance, but this one did not get me as involved as previous graphic autobigraphies I have read.