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The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 
Current | Upcoming | Past | Online Be sure to check library hours and holidays for important information. Exhibition Hours: Tues, Wed & Fri: 11 to 6; Mon, Thurs: 12 to 8; Sat: 10 to 6 Living Legacy: Portraits of NEA National Heritage Fellows, 1982 - 2008, photographed by Tom Pich  The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships, initiated in 1982, are the federal government's highest form of recognition of folk and traditional artists for their contributions to our nation's living cultural heritage. NEA heritage fellows are nominated by the public and a panel of experts convened by the agency reviews these nominations using the criteria of artistic excellence, significance within an artistic tradition, and contributions to cultural heritage. On display here are portraits by Tom Pich, who, since 1991, has visited and photographed the Fellows in their living rooms, workshops and community settings. In 2007, the NEA developed an exhibition of photographs to mark the 25th anniversary of the program. Those images have been augmented with photographs selected to represent fellows in the performing arts and in the New York metropolitan area for the display at the New York Public Library for the Perofrming Arts. They include singers, musicians, instrument makers, dancers, puppet artists, basket makers, and weavers from a world of traditions and cultures. Image: Etta Baker, guitarist and 1991 National Heritage Fellow. Photograph by Tom Pich 40 Years of Firsts: Dance Theatre of Harlem In 1969, writing about Dance Theatre of Harlem, Clive Barnes, dance critic for The New York Times, began his article, “Black is beautiful, classic ballet is beautiful, so why are the two so rarely found together?” That changed when Arthur Mitchell, accomplished artistic director, astute educator, talented choreographer and extraordinary dancer, co-founded Dance Theatre of Harlem with his mentor, the renowned ballet teacher, the late Karel Shook. Inspired by the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Arthur Mitchell wanted to make a difference; by doing what he knew best, which was the focus and discipline of dance, he brought the art form of ballet to Harlem. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Dance Theatre of Harlem are proud to collaborate on a multi-media exhibition that will bring these 40 years of art and accomplishment to Lincoln Center and then to museums and performance centers across the country. Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files Katharine Hepburn’s elevation to the status of “icon” was due undoubtedly to her singular success on the screen. But her acting career began on the stage and it was there that she honed the skills that would later serve her so well in Hollywood. Yet even after her stature as a screen actress was solidified, she returned repeatedly to the stage, where each time she found new challenges, new audiences, new risks, and, more than once, failure. Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath, curated by dance historian Lynn Garafola, celebrates the legendary company that transformed 20th-century ballet and made it modern. Founded in 1909 by the Russian impresario extraordinaire Serge Diaghilev, the Ballets Russes taught audiences to hear, see, and respond to the art of the moving body in unprecedented ways. For the 20 years of its existence, a new repertory came into being—now-classic works like Michel Fokine's Les Sylphides and Petrouchka, Vaslav Nijinsky's L'Après-midi d'un Faune, and George Balanchine's Apollon Musagète and Prodigal Son—choreographed by artists whose talents Diaghilev was quick to discern and passionate to guide. He carried his quest for new expressive forms to music and design, commissioning scores from Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Manuel de Falla, Erik Satie, Francis Poulenc, and Darius Milhaud, thus creating a new body of work both for ballet and for the concert hall. The list of his painters, headed by Pablo Picasso, Natalia Goncharova, and Henri Matisse, reads like a who's who of international modernism, underscoring the fact that Diaghilev's stage also served as a gallery of modern art. |