: George Platt Lynes Photographs of the Balachine
Dancers
"Pas de Deux: George Platt Lynes Photographs of George Balanchine
and His Dancers," an exhibition of photographs from The Kinsey
Institute's renowned art collection on view at the Neuberger
Museum of Arts February 29-May 2 features 30 works by the
Twentieth Century American photographer George Platt Lynes. "Pas
de Deux" includes portraits of George Balanchine, the
legendary Russian-born choreographer who co-founded the School of
American Ballet and New York City Ballet, and many of his
favorite dancers - including Vera Zorina, Maria Tallchief,
Alexandra Danilova and Mary Ellen Moylan.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Balanchine's birth and
the exhibit invokes memories of his transformation of classical
ballet. Balanchine upturned the fundamentals of the 400-year-old
language of academic dance by heightening, quickening and
streamlining its style and energy. All the major classical ballet
companies throughout the world now perform Balanchine ballets.
This exhibition provides the opportunity to view a series of
commissioned images that depict a major artistic figure at work
with the dancers he made famous.
Lynes is probably best known today for his male nudes, but in the
1930s and 1940s, Lynes was one of New York's most successful
fashion and portrait photographers. His work was influenced by
Surrealism and visual interpretations of mythology and Greek
legends. Lynes met Balanchine in the 1930s and photographed him
and his dancers through the early 1950s. In 1956, following
Lynes' premature death a year earlier, Balanchine hailed the
photographer's work as "all that will be remembered of my
repertory in a hundred years."
The exhibition is organized by the Kinsey Institute for Research
in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, and the Office of Research and
the Dean of Faculties Office at Indiana University, Bloomington,
Ind. It is presented at the Neuberger Museum in conjunction with
the Purchase Dance Corps Spring Concert at Purchase College. The
concert, featuring choreography by dance masters, old and new,
will be presented at The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College
on April 23, 24, 30 and May 1 at 8 pm, with matinee performances
at 3 pm on April 25 and May 2. Tickets will be on sale at the box
office. Ticket prices are $15 general admission with discounts
for students and seniors. For information, 914-251-6200.
In honor of Balanchine 100, the Purchase Dance Corps will be
performing "Serenade," choreography by George Balanchine ©The
George Balanchine Trust. Conservatory of Dance ballet faculty
member Bettijane Sills, a former soloist with the New York City
Ballet, who has worked with the master himself, will be the
rehearsal director of this work.
The Neuberger Museum of Art is at Purchase College, State
University of New York, 735 Anderson Hill Road. For information,
914-251-6100 or www.neuberger.org.
