Lincoln Kirstein was an omnivorous writer, critic, curator and impresario: a key connector and an indefatigable catalyst who drove and supported American artists and institutions in the 1930s and 40s. While he is perhaps best known as the founder of the New York City Ballet, he is also a crucial figure in The Museum of Modern Art’s own history: he shaped exhibitions on topics ranging from mural design to Magic Realism; acquired Latin American works for the collection under the auspices of the Inter- American Fund; established the Museum’s short-lived Dance Archives and curatorial department of Dance and Theater Design; and contributed an alternative vision to a Museum known for its devotion to abstraction.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition devoted to the overlapping networks around Kirstein, this volume examines the Museum’s collection from an alternative approach, one that champions figuration, decadence and interdisciplinarity over abstraction, reduction and medium specificity.