Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery
The
George Balanchine
partners Tanaquil Le Clercq in Symphony in C, while Francisco Moncion
watches, 1948.
Photograph
by George Platt Lynes
Exhibition enlargement 3
ft. 10 in. x 3 ft. 4 in.
The choreographer
frees his mind from the limitations
of practical time in
much the same way the dancer
has freed his body.
Letter from Morton Baum
to Lincoln Kirstein congratulating New York City Ballet on completing a
successful season and inviting the company to become a resident organization at
City Center of Music and Drama, November 13, 1948.
Carbon paper impression
on onionskin, 11 in. x 8 ½ in.
Gift of Lester Baum
Lincoln Kirstein and
George Balanchine in Kirstein’s home, ca. 1948.
Photograph by Tanaquil Le
Clercq
Gelatin-silver print, 10
in. x 8 in.
Ballet Society
Seven performance
programs, 1947-1948, a schedule of events 1946-1947, and a summary of
activities, 1948.
Letterpress, variously
9-7/8 in. x 7 ¾ in.
Gifts of Mary Ellen
Moylan and Baird Hastings
Maria Tallchief, Tanaquil
Le Clercq, Marie-Jeanne, Mary Ellen Moylan and Ruthanna Boris in George
Balanchine’s Symphony in C, music by Georges Bizet, costumes by Leonor
Fini, Ballet Society, 1948.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Gelatin-silver print, 14
in x 13 in.
Courtesy of New York City
Ballet Archives, Ballet Society Collection
Letter from George
Balanchine to Lincoln Kirstein, written in Paris, [1947].
Color photocopy of
original, ink on paper, 9 in. x 12 in.
Gift of the George
Balanchine Trust
NEW YORK CITY BALLET AT CITY CENTER 1948-1964
Melissa Hayden, Frank
Hobi and Patricia McBride in George Balanchine’s Serenade, costumes by
Barbara Karinska, New York City Ballet, ca. 1950.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Exhibition enlargement 4
ft. 5 in. x 3 ft. 4 in.
Nicholas Magallanes and
Tanaquil Le Clercq in Orpheus.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Gelatin-silver print, 10
in. x 8 in.
Advertisement of New York
City Ballet season featuring Orpheus.
Copy photograph from an
unidentified newspaper, 10 in. x 6 in.
Maria Tallchief in George
Balanchine’s Orpheus, music by Igor Stravinsky, scenery and costumes by
Isamu Noguchi, New York City Ballet, 1948.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Gelatin-silver print,
6-5/8 in. x 7 ½ in.
Gran Teatro del Liceo,
Barcelona, Portugal
Poster for New York City
Ballet, featuring Maria Tallchief in Orpheus, 1952.
Offset lithography, 21
in. x 14 ¼ in.
Gift of Lincoln Kirstein
Diana Adams, Tanaquil Le
Clercq and dancers of New York City Ballet in George Balanchine’s Concerto
Barocco, Sadler’s Wells Theater, London, 1952.
Photograph by Roger Wood
Gelatin-silver print, 6 ¼
in. x 8 –3/8 in.
Diana Adams and Tanaquil
Le Clercq rehearse Concerto Barocco, as George Balanchine confers with
Leon Barzin, musical director of New York City Ballet, 1953.
Photograph by Larry
Colwell
Gelatin-silver print,
13-7/8 in. x 10-7/8 in.
Arthur Mitchell
rehearsing with George Balanchine in his Four Temperaments, msusic by
Paul Hindemith, New York City Ballet, ca. 1958.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 7 ¾
in. x 9 ½ in.
Courtesy of New York City
Ballet Archives, Ballet Society Collection
André Eglevsky with Diana
Adams, Maria Tallchief and Tanaquil Le Clercq in Apollo, New York City
Ballet, 1951.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Gelatin-silver print, 7 ½
in. x 9-3/8 in.
Maria Tallchief in George
Balanchine’s Firebird, music by Igor Stravinsky, scenery and costumes by
Marc Chagall, New York City Ballet, 1948.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Gelatin-silver print,
9-3/8 in. x 7 ½ in.
Maria Tallchief and
Francisco Moncion in Firebird.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Gelatin-silver print,
9-7/8 in. x 8 in.
Two costumes for the
ballerina of Firebird
Red tutu designed by Marc
Chagall, executed by Karinska.
Blue tutu with gold
bodice designed by Barbara Karinska, worn by Gelsey Kirkland, 1970.
Courtesy of New York City
Ballet
Maria Tallchief and
Michael Maule in George Balanchine’s Firebird, music by Igor Stravinsky,
costumes by Marc Chagall, at Jacob’s Pillow, summer 1951.
Film by Carol Lynn,
transferred to videotape from l6mm. film, with sound added in 1995, Dianne
Chilgren, pianist..
Jerome Robbins Archive of
the Recorded Moving Image, Ron Honsa of Pensa Communications, The George
Balanchine Foundation, with the cooperation of the S.I. Newhouse Foundation,
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Robert Gottlieb and the Dance Division of The
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Perhaps the eye does
not see motion, but only
secondary positions,
like single frames in a cinema
film, but memory
combines each new image
with the preceding
image, and the ballet is created by
the relation of each
of the positions, or movements,
to those which precede
and follow it.
Tanaquil Le Clercq in La
Valse, 1951.
Photograph by Walter E.
Owen
Exhibition enlargement 4
ft. 5 in. x 3 ft. 4 in.
La Valse costume, designed by Barbara Karinska, worn by
Marnee Morris.
Tanaquil Le Clercq and
Francisco Moncion in the foreground, and Edward Bigelow, in George Balanchine’s
La Valse, to Valses nobles et sentimentales and La valse by Maurice
Ravel, costumes by Barbara Karinska, New York City Ballet, 1951.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Gelatin-silver print, 13
¼ x 11-1/8 in.
Pointe
shoes signed by Tanaquil Le Clercq
New York City Ballet
Souvenir program, June
1951 and November-December 1951.
Duplicate copy of
November-December program is open to two-page spread showing photographic
sequences by George Platt Lynes of George Balanchine’s Bourrée Fantasque
and La Valse
Letterpress, with
glassine cover wraps, 11 ¾ in. x 9 in.
Jerome Robbins in George
Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, music by Sergei Prokofiev, scenery and
costumes by Georges Roualt, New York City Ballet, 1950.
Photograph by George
Platt Lynes
Gelatin-silver print,
9-3/8 in. x 7 ½ in.
New York City Ballet
Souvenir program, 1955,
open to photographs of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins by Radford Bascome,
and congratulatory correspondence about the company’s 1955 European tour.
Letterpress, 11 ¾ in. x 9
in.
Biennale di Venezia, Italy
New York City Ballet,
1953
Letterpress, 39 in. x 13
½ in.
Three photographs of
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, music by Tchaikovsky, scenery and
costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, New York City Ballet, 1954.
Mr. Balanchine surrounded
by students of the School of American Ballet in Act One.
The Kingdom of Snow.
Mother Ginger and the
Polichinelles in the Kingdom of the Sweets.
Photographs by Fred Fehl
Portrait of George
Balanchine, ca. 1955.
Photograph by Tanaquil Le
Clercq
Exhibition enlargement 5
ft. x 3 ft. 4 ½ in.
George Balanchine and
Igor Stravinsky during rehearsals of their ballet Agon, New York City
Ballet, 1957.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Exhibition enlargement 2
ft. 4 in. x 3 ft. 4 in.
George Balanchine and
Igor Stravinsky confer with pianist Nicholas Kopeikine, during rehearsals for Agon,
New York City Ballet, 1957.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 7 ½
in x 9-3/8 in.
Diana Adams and Arthur
Mitchell in rehearsal for Agon and in performance, New York City Ballet,
1957.
Photographs by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver prints, 10
in. x 10 in. and 10 in. x 8 in.
Melissa Hayden, Richard
Rapp and Earl Sieveling in Agon.
Photograph by Fred Fehl
Gelatin-silver print, 7
in x 9 in.
George Balanchine
demonstrates how a ballerina, Diana Adams, is partnered to a group of children
visiting backstage, ca. 1955.
Photograph by John
Loengard
Gelatin-silver print, 13
¼ in. x 8-7/8 in.
Courtesy of New York City
Ballet Archives, Ballet Society Collection
Choreographic movement
is an end in itself,
and its only purpose
is to create the impression
of intensity and
beauty.
Melissa Hayden and
dancers of New York City Ballet in George Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes,
music by John Philip Sousa, arranged by Hershy Kay, scenic design by John Hays,
costumes by Barbara Karinska, New York City Ballet, premiered 1958, this
performance ca. 1960. Among the men are
Arthur Mitchell, Anthony Blum and Richard Rapp.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 10
in. x 13 in.
Nicholas Magallanes with
Victoria Simon, Carol Sumner, Allegra Kent, Rosemary Dunleavy and Sara Leland
in George Balanchine’s Episodes, music by Anton Webern, New York City
Ballet, 1960.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver prints, 10
½ in. x 13 ½ in.
Production designs for
the gigolo, the family, and the mother in George Balanchine’s Seven Deadly
Sins, music by Kurt Weill, New York City Ballet, 1958.
Drawings by Rouben
Ter-Arutunian
Ink and watercolor, 8 ½
in. x 3 ½ in, 7 ½ in. x 6 ¾ in. and 10 ½ in. x 3 ¾ in.
Gift of Lincoln Kirstein
Allegra Kent and Lotte
Lenya, with the singers who portray the family, in The Seven Deadly Sins.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 7 ½
in. x 9 ½ in.
George Balanchine in
rehearsal with Allegra Kent for The Seven Deadly Sins.
Photograph by Gordon
Parks
Gelatin-silver print, 13
½ in. x 9 ½ in.
Letter from Lincoln
Kirstein to the Ford Foundation, October 14, 1959, acknowledging a $150,000
grant to Ballet Society to support scholarships for students nationally at
School of American Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet School.
Morton Baum, Records of
the New York City Center
Carbon paper impression
on onionskin, 11 in. x 8 ½ in.
Gift of Lester Baum
Suzanne Farrell with
other dancers in the first national scholarship class funded by a Ford
Foundation grant at the School of American Ballet, 1960.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 7 ½
in. x 9 ½ in.
Pointe shoes signed by
Suzanne Farrell.
Maria Tallchief in a New
York City Ballet rehearsal at School of American Ballet studios, Broadway at 82nd
Street, ca. 1957.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 9
in. x 8 in.
Edward Villella
surrounded by Bettijane Sills, Victoria Simon, Carol Sumner, Suki Schorer,
Teena McConnell and Suzanne Farrell, in George Balanchine’s Donizetti
Variations, music by Gaetano Donizetti from the opera Don SEbastian,
women’s costumes by Barbara Karinska, men’s costumes by Esteban Francés, New
York City Ballet, 1960.
Photograph by Fred Fehl
Gelatin-silver print,
8-1/8 in. x 9 ¼ in.
Melissa Hayden and
Jacques d’Amboise in George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux,
costumes by Barbara Karinska, New York City Ballet, 1960.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 9 ¾
in. x 7 ¾ in.
School of American Ballet
25th
anniversary catalog, 1959
Offset lithography, 9 ½
in. x 7 in.
School of American Ballet
Announcement for Summer
Course 1960
Offset lithography, 5 ½
in. x 8 ½ in.
Put a man and a girl
on stage and there is already a story;
a man and two girls,
there is already a plot.
George Balanchine
partnering Suzanne Farrell, with Jacques D’Amboise looking on, during
rehearsals for Movements for Piano and Orchestra, music by Igor
Stravinsky, New York City Ballet, 1963.
Photograph by Martha Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 7 ½
in. x 10 in.
George Balanchine
rehearses in the studio with Violette Verdy for his Electronics, music
(electronic tape score) by Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala, New York City Ballet,
1961. Looking on are Gloria Govrin, Mimi
Paul and Patricia Neary.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 5 ¾
in. x 7 ½ in.
Violette Verdy and
Nicholas Magallanes in Liebeslieder Walzer, music by Johannes Brahms,
scenery by David Hays, costumes by Barbara Karinska, New York City Ballet,
1960.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 8
in. x 10 in.
Valentina Kozlova and
Cornell Crabtree in Liebeslieder Walzer, New York City Ballet, ca. 1990.
Photograph by Paul Kolnik
Gelatin-silver print, 10
in. x 8 in.
Melissa Hayden and Jonathan
Watts, Violette Verdy and Nicholas Magallanes, Diana Adams and William Carter
in Liebeslieder Walzer, 1960.
Photograph by Fred Fehl
Gelatin-silver print,
9-1/8 in. x 7-3/8 in.
Berliner Festwochen 1956
Poster for New York City
Ballet
Designed
by H + R Albitz
Offset lithography, 23 ¼
in. x 33 in.
George Balanchine teaches
class at the School of American Ballet during a seminar for a selected group of
ballet teachers from across the United States, a project supported by funds
from the Ford Foundtion, 1961.
Photographs by Nancy
Lassalle
Three gelatin-silver
prints, each 10 in. x 8 in.
Courtesy of New York City
Ballet Archives, Ballet Society Collection
Gloria Govrin as
Hippolyta in Midsummer Night’s Dream, music by Felix Mendelssohn, scenic
design by David Hays, costumes by Barbara Karinska, New York City Ballet, 1962.
Photograph by Fred Fehl
Exhibition enlargement on
masonite, 10-1/8 in. x 13 in.
George Balanchine
rehearsing Edward Villella and Roland Vasquez in Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Photograph by Fred Fehl
Gelatin-silver print, 5
in x 7 in.
Photograph
by Fred Fehl
Gelatin-silver print, 7
in. x 8 ¾ in.
George Balanchine
rehearses students of the School of American Ballet for Midsummer Night’s
Dream, while Patricia Neary watches, 1962.
Photograph by Nancy
Lassalle
Gelatin-silver print, 8
in. x 10 in.
Karin von Aroldingen and
Robert Weiss in Midsummer Night’s Dream, ca. 1975.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 8
in. x 10 in.
Arthur Mitchell as Puck
in George Balanchine’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Photograph by Martha
Swope
Gelatin-silver print, 10
in x 8 in.
Arthur Mitchell as Puck,
surrounded by butterflies in Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Photograph by Fred Fehl
Gelatin-silver print, 10
in x 8 in.
George Balanchine and
dancers of New York City Ballet preparing for the George Balanchine/Igor
Stravinsky dance drama Noah and the Flood, with sets and costumes by
Rouben Ter-Arutunian, commissioned by CBS Television and broadcast June 14,
1962. One photograph shows Balanchine
working with the dancers in the studio, the second photograph is the dress
rehearsal.
Photographs by Ernst Haas
Exhibition enlargements
on masonite, 17 in. x 11-3/8 in. and 13 ½ in. x 20 in.