Lincoln Kirstein

Lincoln Kirstein is among the most influential figures in American dance. He was born in Rochester, New York, and earned a BA and MA from Harvard University, where he was active in the arts. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was part of the 345 Monuments Men who recovered art works stolen by the Nazi regime. An art critic and a consultant to the Museum of Modern Art, he is known for having cofounded the New York City Ballet Company.

Kirstein produced art criticism and published many volumes about dance, including What Ballet Is About, Movement and Metaphor, and The New York City Ballet (revised as Thirty Years: Lincoln Kirstein's The New York City Ballet).

Kirstein’s poetry collections include Low Ceilings (1935), Rhymes of a Pfc. (1963), which includes experiences and reflections from his years in the U.S. Army during World War II, and The Poems of Lincoln Kirstein (1987). Critic John Gross, in his New York Times review of that book, referred to it as a “remarkable achievement” and “a permanent contribution to the literature” of the Second World War.

A former publisher of The Nation, Kirstein was awarded the American Medal of Freedom in 1984. His papers are held at the New York Public Library.