May 30, 2008

The Tastemaker

By MINDY ALOFF

Lincoln Kirstein helped set the agenda for American high art, but we're already forgetting the breadth of his contributions

Lincoln Edward Kirstein (1907-96) spoke of himself as having been born in "the 107th year of the 19th century."

Patron of the arts, impresario, polemicist, historian, librettist, bibliophile, editor, poet, novelist, amateur painter and stained-glass maker, and student of the ballet, Kirstein, who was named for Abraham Lincoln, certainly knew his own