An American writer, impressario, art connosseur, philanthropist.
Born in Rochester, New York, the grandson of a successful Rochester clothing manufacturer, he grew up in a wealthy Jewish Bostonian family; his father was president of Filene's Department Store when Lincoln entered Harvard.
In 1927, while an undergraduate at Harvard, he convinced his father to finance his own literary quarterly, the Hound & Horn, with professional editors, which published everyone from Edmund Wilson and Katherine Anne Porter and William Carlos Williams to T. S. Eliot and James Agee. It would become an important publication in the artistic world and lasted until 1934.
In early 1929, his junior year at Harvard, in early, he founded the "Harvard Society for Contemporary Art", which anticipated much of Modernism while adding film, photography, and design into the mix of painting and sculpture. Exhibit goers could see a model of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House, Alexander Calder's impromptu wire sculptures, Henri Matisse's paintings, Walker Evans' photographs, designs by Donald Deskey, among a variety of other pieces. These exhibitions which took place on the second floor of the Harvard Coop now look like a template for the Museum of Modern Art, which was founded eight months later.
His interest in George Balanchine and ballet started when he saw Balanchine's Apollo performed by the Ballet Russe. He became determined to get Balanchine to America. Together with Edward M. M. Warburg (a classmate from Harvard), they started the School of American Ballet in Hartford, Connecticut, in October 1933. The studio moved to the fourth floor of a building at Madison Avenue and 59th Street in New York City in 1934. Warburg's father invited the group of students from the evening class to perform at a private party. The ballet they did was "Serenade", the first major ballet choreographed by Balanchine in America. Just months later Kirstein and Warburg founded, together with Balanchine and Dimitriev, the American Ballet.
In 1941 married Fidelma Cadmus, the sister of the artist Paul Cadmus. Kirstein was the primary patron of Fidelma's brother, the artist Paul Cadmus, buying many of his paintings.
Kirstein commissioned and helped to fund the physical home of the New York City Ballet: the New York State Theater building at Lincoln Center. He served as the general director of the ballet company from 1948 to 1989.
On March 26, 1984, President Ronald Reagan presented Kirstein with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to the arts.
In his later years, Kirstein struggled with bipolar disorder- mania, depression, and paranoia. He sometimes was in a straitjacket for weeks at a psychiatric hospital. His illness did not generally affect his professional creativity until the end of his life.
He received the following honors:
Presidential Medal of Freedom, US.
National Medal of Arts, US, 1985.
Royal Society of Arts, Benjamin Franklin Medal, UK, 1981.
National Society of Arts and Letters, National Gold Medal of Merit Award, US.
National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame inductee, 1987.
Born in Rochester, New York, the grandson of a successful Rochester clothing manufacturer, he grew up in a wealthy Jewish Bostonian family; his father was president of Filene's Department Store when Lincoln entered Harvard.
In 1927, while an undergraduate at Harvard, he convinced his father to finance his own literary quarterly, the Hound & Horn, with professional editors, which published everyone from Edmund Wilson and Katherine Anne Porter and William Carlos Williams to T. S. Eliot and James Agee. It would become an important publication in the artistic world and lasted until 1934.
In early 1929, his junior year at Harvard, in early, he founded the "Harvard Society for Contemporary Art", which anticipated much of Modernism while adding film, photography, and design into the mix of painting and sculpture. Exhibit goers could see a model of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House, Alexander Calder's impromptu wire sculptures, Henri Matisse's paintings, Walker Evans' photographs, designs by Donald Deskey, among a variety of other pieces. These exhibitions which took place on the second floor of the Harvard Coop now look like a template for the Museum of Modern Art, which was founded eight months later.
His interest in George Balanchine and ballet started when he saw Balanchine's Apollo performed by the Ballet Russe. He became determined to get Balanchine to America. Together with Edward M. M. Warburg (a classmate from Harvard), they started the School of American Ballet in Hartford, Connecticut, in October 1933. The studio moved to the fourth floor of a building at Madison Avenue and 59th Street in New York City in 1934. Warburg's father invited the group of students from the evening class to perform at a private party. The ballet they did was "Serenade", the first major ballet choreographed by Balanchine in America. Just months later Kirstein and Warburg founded, together with Balanchine and Dimitriev, the American Ballet.
In 1941 married Fidelma Cadmus, the sister of the artist Paul Cadmus. Kirstein was the primary patron of Fidelma's brother, the artist Paul Cadmus, buying many of his paintings.
Kirstein commissioned and helped to fund the physical home of the New York City Ballet: the New York State Theater building at Lincoln Center. He served as the general director of the ballet company from 1948 to 1989.
On March 26, 1984, President Ronald Reagan presented Kirstein with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to the arts.
In his later years, Kirstein struggled with bipolar disorder- mania, depression, and paranoia. He sometimes was in a straitjacket for weeks at a psychiatric hospital. His illness did not generally affect his professional creativity until the end of his life.
He received the following honors:
Presidential Medal of Freedom, US.
National Medal of Arts, US, 1985.
Royal Society of Arts, Benjamin Franklin Medal, UK, 1981.
National Society of Arts and Letters, National Gold Medal of Merit Award, US.
National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame inductee, 1987.
An American writer, impressario, art connosseur, philanthropist.
Born in Rochester, New York, the grandson of a successful Rochester clothing manufacturer, he grew up in a wealthy Jewish Bostonian family; his father was president of Filene's Department Store when Lincoln entered Harvard.
In 1927, while an undergraduate at Harvard, he convinced his father to finance his own literary quarterly, the Hound & Horn, with professional editors, which published everyone from Edmund Wilson and Katherine Anne Porter and William Carlos Williams to T. S. Eliot and James Agee. It would become an important publication in the artistic world and lasted until 1934.
In early 1929, his junior year at Harvard, in early, he founded the "Harvard Society for Contemporary Art", which anticipated much of Modernism while adding film, photography, and design into the mix of painting and sculpture. Exhibit goers could see a model of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House, Alexander Calder's impromptu wire sculptures, Henri Matisse's paintings, Walker Evans' photographs, designs by Donald Deskey, among a variety of other pieces. These exhibitions which took place on the second floor of the Harvard Coop now look like a template for the Museum of Modern Art, which was founded eight months later.
His interest in George Balanchine and ballet started when he saw Balanchine's Apollo performed by the Ballet Russe. He became determined to get Balanchine to America. Together with Edward M. M. Warburg (a classmate from Harvard), they started the School of American Ballet in Hartford, Connecticut, in October 1933. The studio moved to the fourth floor of a building at Madison Avenue and 59th Street in New York City in 1934. Warburg's father invited the group of students from the evening class to perform at a private party. The ballet they did was "Serenade", the first major ballet choreographed by Balanchine in America. Just months later Kirstein and Warburg founded, together with Balanchine and Dimitriev, the American Ballet.
In 1941 married Fidelma Cadmus, the sister of the artist Paul Cadmus. Kirstein was the primary patron of Fidelma's brother, the artist Paul Cadmus, buying many of his paintings.
Kirstein commissioned and helped to fund the physical home of the New York City Ballet: the New York State Theater building at Lincoln Center. He served as the general director of the ballet company from 1948 to 1989.
On March 26, 1984, President Ronald Reagan presented Kirstein with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to the arts.
In his later years, Kirstein struggled with bipolar disorder- mania, depression, and paranoia. He sometimes was in a straitjacket for weeks at a psychiatric hospital. His illness did not generally affect his professional creativity until the end of his life.
He received the following honors:
Presidential Medal of Freedom, US.
National Medal of Arts, US, 1985.
Royal Society of Arts, Benjamin Franklin Medal, UK, 1981.
National Society of Arts and Letters, National Gold Medal of Merit Award, US.
National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame inductee, 1987.
Born in Rochester, New York, the grandson of a successful Rochester clothing manufacturer, he grew up in a wealthy Jewish Bostonian family; his father was president of Filene's Department Store when Lincoln entered Harvard.
In 1927, while an undergraduate at Harvard, he convinced his father to finance his own literary quarterly, the Hound & Horn, with professional editors, which published everyone from Edmund Wilson and Katherine Anne Porter and William Carlos Williams to T. S. Eliot and James Agee. It would become an important publication in the artistic world and lasted until 1934.
In early 1929, his junior year at Harvard, in early, he founded the "Harvard Society for Contemporary Art", which anticipated much of Modernism while adding film, photography, and design into the mix of painting and sculpture. Exhibit goers could see a model of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House, Alexander Calder's impromptu wire sculptures, Henri Matisse's paintings, Walker Evans' photographs, designs by Donald Deskey, among a variety of other pieces. These exhibitions which took place on the second floor of the Harvard Coop now look like a template for the Museum of Modern Art, which was founded eight months later.
His interest in George Balanchine and ballet started when he saw Balanchine's Apollo performed by the Ballet Russe. He became determined to get Balanchine to America. Together with Edward M. M. Warburg (a classmate from Harvard), they started the School of American Ballet in Hartford, Connecticut, in October 1933. The studio moved to the fourth floor of a building at Madison Avenue and 59th Street in New York City in 1934. Warburg's father invited the group of students from the evening class to perform at a private party. The ballet they did was "Serenade", the first major ballet choreographed by Balanchine in America. Just months later Kirstein and Warburg founded, together with Balanchine and Dimitriev, the American Ballet.
In 1941 married Fidelma Cadmus, the sister of the artist Paul Cadmus. Kirstein was the primary patron of Fidelma's brother, the artist Paul Cadmus, buying many of his paintings.
Kirstein commissioned and helped to fund the physical home of the New York City Ballet: the New York State Theater building at Lincoln Center. He served as the general director of the ballet company from 1948 to 1989.
On March 26, 1984, President Ronald Reagan presented Kirstein with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to the arts.
In his later years, Kirstein struggled with bipolar disorder- mania, depression, and paranoia. He sometimes was in a straitjacket for weeks at a psychiatric hospital. His illness did not generally affect his professional creativity until the end of his life.
He received the following honors:
Presidential Medal of Freedom, US.
National Medal of Arts, US, 1985.
Royal Society of Arts, Benjamin Franklin Medal, UK, 1981.
National Society of Arts and Letters, National Gold Medal of Merit Award, US.
National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame inductee, 1987.
Gravesite Details
His ashes were scattered over the pond on his property in Weston, Connecticut.
Martin B. Duberman, The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein (New York: Knopf, 2007), p. 624.
