title: Living autobiographically: Concepts of aging and artistic expression in painting and modern dance.
abstract: This article discusses the ways in which artists have incorporated or failed to incorporate the aging process of their bodies into their art. Using Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and the French painter Claude Monet as cases in point, we explore situations in which physical changes brought about by aging compromises artists' ability to engage with their artistic medium. Connecting Monet's oeuvre and Baryshnikov's dance performances to life writing accounts, we draw on John Paul Eakin's concept of "living autobiographically": In this vein, life writing research does not only have to take into account concepts of identity as they emerge from life writing narratives, but it also needs to explore the somatic, corporeal and material dimensions of these narratives.
authors.affiliation: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, American Studies, Jakob-Welder-Weg 18, 55128 Mainz, Germany. Electronic address: mita.banerjee@uni-mainz.de.
authors.forename: Mita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, American Studies, Colonel-Kleinmann-Weg 2, 55128 Mainz, Germany. Electronic address: wohlmann@uni-mainz.de.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wohlmann
authors.affiliation: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Institute of Molecular Biology GmbH (IMB), Ackermannweg 4, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dahm
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D001154:Art; D001325:Autobiographies as Topic; D003615:Dancing; D006801:Humans; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D010151:Paintings