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Source Description
Gregory sculpted human and animal figures in eclectic styles ranging from realistic to highly stylized, as seen in this ceramic sculpture. It depicts Gilda Gray, a dancer notorious for her “bodyshaking . . . wicked torso movements” performed to jazz or blues music. In the 1925 Ziegfield Follies, Gray added exotic South Seas dances to her repertoire, including the “nautch dance,” named after the nautch—a traditional, East Indian, form-fitting, pleated dress—she wore during the performance. Although Gray refused the sculptor’s request for a personal modeling session, she did provide him with an onstage seat in the wings, from which he carefully studied her movements during several performances in Cleveland.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
111542
label
Nautch Dancer
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
111542
contentType
object
title
Nautch Dancer
description
Gregory sculpted human and animal figures in eclectic styles ranging from realistic to highly stylized, as seen in this ceramic sculpture. It depicts Gilda Gray, a dancer notorious for her “bodyshaking . . . wicked torso movements” performed to jazz or blues music. In the 1925 Ziegfield Follies, Gray added exotic South Seas dances to her repertoire, including the “nautch dance,” named after the nautch—a traditional, East Indian, form-fitting, pleated dress—she wore during the performance. Although Gray refused the sculptor’s request for a personal modeling session, she did provide him with an onstage seat in the wings, from which he carefully studied her movements during several performances in Cleveland.
date
c. 1930
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80003818
creators
18592
681237
genreSpecific
Ceramic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 44.2 x 21.3 x 12.1 cm (17 3/8 x 8 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.)
cul
America, Ohio, Cleveland
accession
1930.118
Source extras
tec
ceramic
tombstone
Nautch Dancer, c. 1930. Waylande Gregory (American, 1905–1971), Cowan Pottery Studio (America, Rocky River, Ohio, 1920–1931). Ceramic; overall: 44.2 x 21.3 x 12.1 cm (17 3/8 x 8 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1930.118
collection
Decorative Arts
inscriptions
inscription
left side of base: "Waylande Gregory"; on back of base: "COWAN."
formerAccessionNumbers
1559.1930
citations
citation
Basset, Mark and Naumann, Victoria. <em>Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland School</em>. Atglen: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1997. pp. 136-7.
citation
American Craft Museum. <em>Craft in the Machine Age: The History of Twentieth-Century American Craft (1920–1945).</em> New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995. p 16.
citation
Hawley, Henry. “Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 76, no. 7 (September 1989): 238–263.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 248-249, fig. 14
citation
Robinson, William H., et. al. <em>Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946: Community and Diversity in Early Modern America</em>. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 172
citation
Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney, and Martin P. Eidelberg. Gifts from the Fire: American Ceramics, 1880-1950 : from the Collection of Martin Eidelberg. New York : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 172-173
creditline
Dudley P. Allen Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:54:24.152000
sourceId
111542
dept
Decorative Art and Design
coll
Decorative Arts
med
ceramic
creatorTags
May Show
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
e5320babe610b916