Encoded in EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/perform.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2020570132
DACS was used as the primary description standard.
Collection material in English
Gift, Peter Angelo Simon, 2021
Gift, Frazer Pennebaker, 2021
No further accruals are expected.
Stephanie Akau, Libby Smigel, and Jade Vaughan processed the Peter Angelo Simon Performing Arts Images, and Vaughan coded the finding aid, in 2021.
The Peter Angelo Simon Performing Arts Images are described in a Library of Congress blog post titled "Photography Collection Captures Innovation in Performing Arts."
Producer Frazer Pennebaker provided a DVD copy of the documentary film
The Archive of Robert Wilson located at The Watermill Center in Water Mill, New York, is the largest set of materials related to the artistic activity of Robert Wilson. The New York Public Library holds the Merce Cunningham Archive, the Bessie Schönberg Papers, and the Meredith Monk Archive. The Centre Nationale de Danse in Paris formed an archive on Lucinda Childs related to the Centre's co-curated exhibit with the Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery.
For the study of performing arts photography and videography, the Music Division has the
following collections: David Fullard Dance Photographs; Larry
Colwell Dance Photographs; Herta Moselsio Photographs of
Martha Graham's
For the study of opera photography, the Music Division has the following collections: Houston L. Maples Family Collection on Russian Theatre, Opera, and Ballet; National Negro Opera Company Collection; and the Helen Traubel Papers.
Materials from the Peter Angelo Simon Performing Arts Images are governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.) and other applicable international copyright laws.
The Peter Angelo Simon Performing Arts Images are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Music Division prior to visiting in order to determine whether the desired materials will be available at that time.
Certain restrictions on using or copying materials may apply.
Digital files were received as part of the Peter Angelo Simon Performing Arts Images. Access to digital content is currently available onsite only in the Performing Arts Reading Room and requires advance notice. Consult reference staff in the Performing Arts Reading Room for more information.
The digital files in this collection represent a variety of common formats, including .jpg, .mov, .mp4, .pdf, .psd, .tif, .xmf, and .xlsx.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [item, date, container or digital ID number], Peter Angelo Simon Performing Arts Images, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Peter Angelo Simon was born near Philadelphia in 1936. He first gained an interest in photography in high school by taking photographs of items through a microscope. While working as a reporter for a small newspaper in Vermont, he began taking photographs for the newspaper’s editor. In the early 1960s, Simon worked as a documentary writer for the weekly public affairs television program
Simon attended photography workshops in Philadelphia led by Brooklyn-born photographer Harold Feinstein. In 1968, Simon transitioned to working as a professional photographer. He became aware of the work of the pioneers of direct cinema in the United States, such as documentary filmmakers Robert Drew, D. A. Pennebaker, and Richard Leacock, and he was influenced by their style. Simon’s works have been exhibited internationally at galleries and museums. He provided image curation for the
Simon has been recognized with awards from the Clio and Andy awards in advertising, The Art Director's Club of New York, Art Direction Magazine, Communication Arts, and the Eastman Kodak Epcot Center Professional Photographer's Awards. He has issued the books
The Peter Angelo Simon Performing Arts Images span the years 1984 to 2019, the bulk of which date from 1984 to 1998. The materials consist of digital and physical still and moving images that capture the working processes of twentieth- and twenty-first-century artists in opera, dance, theater, and street performance. The slides, negatives, photographs, and video footage illustrate Peter Angelo Simon's innovative style of documenting performance from behind the scenes.
The photographs and videos document works by theater director Robert Wilson, choreographers Lucinda Childs and Merce Cunningham, and unnamed street performers. The Photographs series includes black-and-white contact sheets, slides, and a printed photograph, along with a digital file of scans and documents prepared by Simon to accompany the physical photographic materials. This digital file contains a grouping of digital photographs from
The Videos series contains digital footage from performances and rehearsals of stagings of postmodern dance works:
Simon also contributed photographs and video footage of Meredith Monk for the documentary titled
The collection is arranged in two series:
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2020570132
This series contains black-and-white contact sheets, negatives, slides, digital
photographs, and one print photograph taken by Peter Angelo Simon. Simon also
prepared a digital file of selected scans and documents intended to accompany the
physical photographic materials. Subjects include opera performances, rehearsals,
student artist workshops, and a gala. The collection contains materials that
primarily document work by theater director Robert Wilson. Also of significance
are composer Philip Glass for the operas
Arranged alphabetically by title of work or by workshop location, followed by the digital file that includes selections from all titles.
Arranged by performance or subject.
This series contains digital moving images recorded by Peter Angelo Simon.
Subjects include choreographers Lucinda Childs, Merce Cunningham, and unnamed
street performers. The materials document the rehearsal, performance, and
reception of Childs’s
Video recording footage and photographs by Peter Angelo Simon included in the
documentary film titled
Arranged alphabetically by title of work.