"Mercier Philip Cunningham was born on April 16, 1919 in Centralia, Wash., the third of four children of Clifford Cunningham, a lawyer, and the former Mayme Joach." Above, Merce Cunningham in "Antic Meet," with design by Robert Rauschenberg, in 1958. Photo: Richard Rutledge/NYT.
Clive Barnes, reviewing the Cunningham company’s 1964 London season, wrote: “Mr. Cunningham is an iconoclast and is welcome in an art that has always suffered from a surfeit of icons and a deficiency of iconoclasts. In performances, night after night for a week, it becomes clear that, as with John Cage and even Robert Rauschenberg, Mr. Cunningham’s importance may primarily be as a propagandist and stimulant.” Above, Mr. Cage, left, Mr. Cunningham, center, and Mr. Rauschenberg in London in 1964. Photo: Douglas H. Jeffrey/The John Cage Trust/NYT.Much more at The New York Times.