By with to & from; a Lincoln Kirstein reader, edited Nicholas Jenkins

by Nicholas Jenkins

The head of the New York City Ballet, poet, and novelist presents a collection of essays on dance, painting, photography, theater, politics, and literature, discussing Balanchine, Hemingway, Hart Crane, James Cagney, and others

Genres: Essays, Art

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kirstein had an awesome range of interests. This selection of his writings shows him intimate with so many areas. He co-founded the NYC Ballet, so of course there are essays on dance (a dry but trenchant history of the development of dance technique, then a wonderfully idiosyncratic essay explaining how Russian Orthodox demonology informs Balanchine's choreography), and essays on the photography of Walker Evans, on the paintings of Cadmus and Siqueros, the poetry of Auden, Japanese music and theater, a memoir of the JFK inaugural, an appreciation of James Cagney and gangster films, historical studies of Henry Adams's marriage and black soldiers in the Civil War. He published Pound and Eliot in a literary magazine that he started while an undergrad at Harvard. During WWII he was part of the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section, a unit that was responsible for rescuing and repatriating art looted by the Nazis. He's tirelessly insightful, it seems, about everything. I only started reading him in May, and he's already one of my favorite writers.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirstein had an awesome breadth of knowledge. This selection of his writings shows him intimate with so many areas. He co-founded the NYC Ballet, so of course there are essays on dance (a dry but trenchant history of the development of dance technique, then a wonderfully idiosyncratic essay on how Russian Orthodox demonology informs Balanchine's choreography), and essays on the photography of Walker Evans, on the paintings of Cadmus and Siqueros, the poetry of Auden, Japanese music and theater, a memoir of the JFK inaugural, an appreciation of James Cagney and gangster films, historical studies of Henry Adams's marriage and black soldiers in the Civil War. He published Pound and Eliot in a literary magazine that he started while an undergrad at Harvard. During WWII he was part of the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section, a unit that was responsible for rescuing and repatriating art looted by the Nazis. He's tirelessly insightful, it seems, about everything. I only started reading him in May, and he's already one of my favorite writers.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating life and writings of a unique personality responsible for the much of modern American culture particularly dance through his part in founding the New York City ballet, bringing George Balanchine to New York and the founding of the American Ballet school. His writings on art, artists and other cultural areas is well known.