Ivanov \i-'va-noA, Lev (Ivanovich) (b. Feb. 18, 1834, Moscow, Russia—d. Dec. 24, 1901, St. Petersburg) Russian dancer and choreog¬ rapher. He joined the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg in 1852 and became lead dancer in 1869. In 1885 he was appointed assistant ballet master under Marius Petipa. He is best known for his choreography of The Nut¬ cracker (1892) and parts of Swan Lake (1895), which he based closely on the structure and emotional content of the music rather than empha¬ sizing virtuoso technique.
Ivanov Xi-'va-noA, Vyacheslav Ivanovich (b. Feb. 28, 1866, Moscow—d. July 16, 1949, Rome) Russian philosopher, scholar, and poet. He studied in Berlin and spent much of his life abroad, especially in Italy, where he converted to Roman Catholicism. His first volume of lyric poetry, Pilot Stars (1903), immediately established him as a key fig¬ ure in the Russian Symbolist movement, a position strengthened by later works, including the important Cor Ardens (1911). He also produced poetic dramas, essays, criticism, and translations.
Ives, Burl orig. Charles Icle Ivanhoe Ives (b. June 14, 1909, Jas¬ per county, Ill., U.S.—d. April 14, 1995, Anacortes, Wash.) U.S. singer and actor. Ives began performing at age four and learned Scottish, English, and Irish ballads from his grandmother. He left college to hitchhike around the U.S., collecting songs from hoboes and drifters. Soon after his post¬ war concert debut in New York City, he was hailed by Carl Sandburg as “the mightiest ballad singer of this or any other century.” He recorded more than 100 albums and had hits with “I Know an Old Lady (Who Swallowed a Fly),” “The Blue Tail Fly,” “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “A Little Bitty Tear.” He appeared in many films—including East of Eden (1955), Desire Under the Elms (1958), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof( 1958), and The Big Country (1958, Academy Award)— and on Broadway.
Ives, Charles E(dward) (b. Oct. 20, 1874, Danbury, Conn., U.S.—d. May 19, 1954, New York, N.Y.) U.S. composer. Ives claimed to be the product of training by his father, George, a highly imaginative former Union Army bandmaster. He received a solid classical grounding and began composing and performing at an early age. At Yale University he studied with the academic composer Horatio Parker (1863-1919) and composed his first symphony. Under the influence of Transcendentalism, he decided to forgo a music career, and in 1907 he founded a successful insurance firm. With music as a “sideline,” he felt free to pursue his unusual interests, though he suffered from his amateur status and a lack of intelligent critiques. A heart attack in 1918 curtailed all activities, and he stopped composing c. 1926. His music is tonal despite much disso¬ nance, atmospheric, and nostalgic, and it runs the gamut from sentimen¬ tal or quirkily humorous songs to exciting tone poems ( The Fourth of July, 1913) and weighty meditations ( Concord Sonata, 1915). He apparently made many remarkable tonal innovations, though questions have been raised about whether he later predated his works to give a misleading impression. His music was rediscovered late in his life; the third of his four symphonies won a Pulitzer Prize in 1947.
IVF See IN VITRO FERTILIZATION
ivory Hard white substance, a variety of dentin, that makes up the tusks of such animals as elephants, walruses, and preserved mammoths. It is prized for its beauty, durability, and suitability for carving. In ancient times it was treasured as highly as gold and precious stones. Most ivory used commercially once came from Africa; sales of ivory declined in the 20th century as the populations of African elephants shrank, and worldwide concern about endangered elephant populations have led to bans on the export and import of ivory. The once-thriving markets of Europe have shifted to South Asia, where skilled artisans, often trading illegally, carve ivory into figurines and other objects.
Ivory, James (Francis) (b. June 7, 1928, Berkeley, Calif., U.S.) U.S. film director. While directing a documentary on India in the 1960s, he
met a local producer, Ismail N. Merchant (b. 1936), beginning cinema’s longest-lasting partnership. They made several films written by Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala before their first international success, Shakespeare Wallah (1965). It was followed by a series of well-received adaptations of noted literary works, including The Europeans (1979), The Bostonians (1984), A Room with a View (1986, Academy Award), Maurice (1987), Howards End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993). Ivory’s films were noted for their attention to period detail and excellent acting.
ivy Any of about five species of evergreen woody vines (rarely shrubs) that make up the genus Hedera in the ginseng family, commonly grown as ground covers and on stone walls, especially English ivy ( H. helix), which climbs by aerial roots with adhering disks that develop on the stems. The tough, dark-green leaves of English ivy have three to five lobes and tend to droop horizontally from the stem. Unrelated plants called ivies include Boston ivy ( Partheno - cissus, or Ampelopsis, tricuspidata ), a clinging woody vine in the grape family whose leaves turn bright scar¬ let in autumn, and poison ivy.
Ivy League Group of eight univer¬ sities in the northeastern U.S., high in academic and social prestige, that are members of an athletic confer-
English ivy (Hedera helix).
SVEN SAMEUUS
ivory-billed woodpecker Black-and-white woodpecker (Campephi-
lus principalis) with a flaring crest (red on the male) and a long whitish bill. The largest North American woodpecker, it was thought to be extinct, though there were uncon¬ firmed sightings of the bird in the southern United States in the late 1990s; a small population on Cuba was last seen in the late 1980s. In 2005, however, researchers announced that it had been sighted in eastern Arkansas. The species’ decline coincided with the logging of virgin forest, where it subsisted on deadwood insects. A subspecies, the Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker, is also believed to be extinct. A related species, the imperial woodpecker of Mexico, is critically endangered. All these birds appear to have required large trees and isolation from distur¬ bance.
ivory carving Carving of ivory into decorative or utilitarian objects. It has flourished since prehistoric times. Most Stone Age carvings have been found in southern France, in the forms of small nude female figures and animals. A masterpiece of early Egyptian carving is an ivory statuette of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyra¬ mid. In China ivory carvings have been found in the tombs of the Shang dynasty (18th—12th century bc). The major artistic use of ivory in Japan was for netsukes, toggles used as fas¬ teners on men’s clothing. The early Inuit (Eskimos) produced such utili¬ tarian objects as harpoon shafts and bucket handles out of ivory and often etched them with geometric or curv¬ ing patterns. See also scrimshaw.
Ivory Coast See Cote d'Ivoire
Ivory-billed woodpeckers (Campephilus principalis ).
KENNETH W. FINK FROM ROOT RESOURCES
"An Elopement" (sometimes called "Lancelot and Guinevere"), ivory mir¬ ror case, French Gothic, 14th century
COURTESY OF THE LIVERPOOL MUSEUM, ENGLAND
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
970 I Iwo Jima ► Izvolsky
ence for intercollegiate gridiron football dating to the 1870s. It consists of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, and Cornell universities, the University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth College.
Iwo Jima Island, the middle of the three Volcano Islands, Japan. Situ¬ ated in the western Pacific, it is about 5 mi (8 km) long, 800 yards to 2.5 mi (730 m-4 km) wide, and has an area of 8 sq mi (20 sq km). It was under Japanese control until 1945, when it was the scene of one of the severest campaigns of World War II.