This is a great article on a very influential photo book which I had never heard of (it’s said to be at the same level of The Americans by Robert Frank).
(it’s on the NYT which is behind a paywall; see below for a gift-link)
The photos shown in the article are wonderful and very modern for those times (the book was published in 1945).
An interesting paragraph for those of you that appreciate technical details (I was writing “for the photo nerds out there”):
To make the pictures for “Ballet,” Brodovitch would lurk behind the scenes shooting rehearsals; he captured performances from the wings. He used a hand-held 35-millimeter Contax camera and relied on available light. He pushed the medium, slowing down the shutter speed for a blurred effect to capture movement, and stretching the exposure for more grain and contrast. In the darkroom, he dodged and burned for extreme highlights in some areas and deep shadows in others. He intended to foreground shape, blur, contrast, gesture and motion — the atmosphere of dance — in the photographs. “The photograph is not only a pictorial report,” Brodovitch said. “It is also a psychological report.”
For those of you without a subscription the link below is for a “gift” article which (I think) can be used by more than one recipients, so it should work for everybody that clicks on it.