NYPL Given Treasure Trove of Ballet Photos and Artifacts

Photographer Roger Urban, who documented Rudolf Nureyev’s 1978 US tour with the Dutch National Ballet, donated the complete collection of his photographs, along with original set and costume sketches from the tour, to the Library’s Dance Division. These never-before-seen photographs, which will also be released to the public in a new book, Life Behind the Metaphor, include the only personally authorized in-performance images of Nureyev during a 15-year period.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Jerome Robbins Dance Division has acquired a collection of never-before-seen, in-performance and behind-the-scenes photographs of ballet great Rudolf Nureyev. “I first saw these photographs just weeks before my retirement as curator of the New York Public Library Dance Division and immediately knew I wanted them for our collection,” says Curator Emerita Madeleine Nichols. “You can imagine my excitement, as I felt the movement behind the pictures, and relived the moment of first seeing Nureyev dance.” The Dance Division will display, from the donated collection, a set of limited-edition, museum-size platinum prints at New York City’s Lincoln Center in the fall of 2007. And a new book containing select photographs, Life Behind the Metaphor, will be published in October.