Lincoln Kirstein's Modern

(Hardback)

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Lincoln Kirstein was an omnivorous writer, critic, curator and impresario: a key connector and an indefatigable catalyst who drove and supported American artists and institutions in the 1930s and 40s. While he is perhaps best known as the founder of the New York City Ballet, he is also a crucial figure in The Museum of Modern Art's own history: he shaped exhibitions on topics ranging from mural design to Magic Realism; acquired Latin American works for the collection under the auspices of the Inter- American Fund; established the Museum's short-lived Dance Archives and curatorial department of Dance and Theater Design; and contributed an alternative vision to a Museum known for its devotion to abstraction. Published in conjunction with an exhibition devoted to the overlapping networks around Kirstein, this volume examines the Museum's collection from an alternative approach, one that champions figuration, decadence and interdisciplinarity over abstraction, reduction and medium specificity.

Reviews

"Lincoln Kirstein's Modern" illustrates what Keynes called "the variable spectra of taste" by showing Kirstein's position on painting in a context where it is merely one item in the vast range of his eclectic interests.--Barry Schwabsky "The Nation"
If there is a lesson that Lincoln Kirstein has to teach us, it is that an infatuation with the ephemeral can only be justified by a hunger for the eternal.--Jed Perl "New York Review of Books"
Lincoln Kirstein's Modern takes a close look at a period when patriotism was distinct from nationalism, populism did not equal demagoguery, and left-wing radicalism was the coin of the aesthetic realm.--Thomas Micchelli "Hyperallergic"
The 200-work showcase discovers Kirstein's development of the art of dance, integrating music, movement, and design.-- "L'Officiel"