Arthur Mitchell:

Columbia University Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery

in collaboration with

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University

Presents

Arthur Mitchell: Harlem’s Ballet Trailblazer

JANUARY 13– MARCH 11, 2018

Harlem’s Ballet Trailblazer will feature objects from Mitchell’s archive, including the telegram from Lincoln Kirstein to Mitchell inviting him to join the New York City Ballet, an Al Hirschfeld drawing of Suzanne Farrell and Mitchell in Balanchine’s Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Mitchell’s 1952 Four Saints in Three Acts souvenir program and  posters from the 1961 Spoleto Festival, where Mitchell both choreographed and performed. Other highlights are photographs of Mitchell and fellow dancers by Anthony Crickmay, Peter Basch, Martha Swope and Antony Armstrong-Jones (Lord Snowdon), and an eight-foot-long Dance Theatre of Harlem puzzle, created by Frank Bara in 1991, that chronicles the first two decades of the company’s history with illustrative detail of its artists, heroes and friends. Dancer Charmaine Hunter’s costume and headpiece designed by Geoffrey Holder for Firebird (1982), one of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s signature works, will be on view, as well as performance footage from the New York Public Library’s Jerome Robbins Dance Division and elsewhere.

“I am a political activist through dance,” said Mitchell, who received a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Columbia in May of 2016. “I believe that dance, and the arts more broadly, can be used as a catalyst for social change—this is why I started the Dance Theatre of Harlem. With my archive at Columbia, artifacts of American dance history and African American history are accessible to young scholars, academics and the general public. The exhibition at the Wallach Gallery will further this push for change.”

Presented with support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Wallach Gallery Information

HOURS

Wednesday – Friday             noon  – 8 pm

Saturday & Sunday               noon – 6 pm

Closed Monday/Tuesday and on these major holidays:  New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day

The Gallery will be closed from December 18, 2017 through January 12, 2018.

ADMISSION

The Wallach Art Gallery is free and open to the public.

CONTACT THE GALLERY

Email:   wallach@columbia.edu

DIRECTIONS

Subway:

Take any of the following lines to 125^th Street

Broadway: 1 (The Wallach Art Gallery is ½ block west of the station)

8th Avenue: A, B, C, D (The Wallach Art Gallery is 3 blocks west of the station)

7th Avenue:  2, 3 (The Wallach Art Gallery is 6 blocks west of the station)

Lexington Avenue: 4, 5, 6 (The Wallach Art Gallery is 10 blocks west of the station)

Bus:

BX-15, M-4, M-5, M-11, and M-104

PARKING

The Gallery does not have on-site parking.

RESTAURANTS

The Gallery does not offer on-site dining.