Scope and arrangement
The Charles Payne collection documents the performances and activities of the American Ballet Theatre as well as other well-known ballet companies from 1929 to 1983. The collection is arranged alphabetically in three series: Photographs, Promotional Materials, and Designs. The items in this collection were collected by Charles Payne throughout his career at the American Ballet Theatre. The photographs, designs, and mock-ups contained in this collection now serve as an important pictorial history of the company.
Series I, Photographs, predominantly represents the American Ballet Theatre's repertory and a broad range of its dancers and personnel, but also includes a small portion of photographs of other American and European companies such as Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris, National Ballet of Canada, and Royal Ballet of England. Photographic formats included are prints, black and white negatives, transparencies, slides, and contact sheets. The photographs were produced by a number of notable 20th century photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Gjon Mili, George Platt Lynes, and Richard Avedon; as well as photographers who specialized in dance photography such as Fred Fehl, Martha Swope, Kenn Duncan, Jack Mitchell, Maurice Seymour, and Bruce Marks.
Series II, Promotional Materials, contains printed matter pertaining to the publicity and promotion of the American Ballet Theatre. This includes souvenir programs, posters, ephemera, and newspaper clippings. Also included are the publication awards which were presented to Charles Payne for the souvenir programs he produced each season of the Ballet Theatre.
Series III comprises designs for publicity and advertising, costumes, and sets and scenery. The advertising and publicity designs include mock-ups, original collages, and artwork that was used in Payne's award-winning publications for the American Ballet Theatre. Additionally, there are both facsimile and original sketches for costumes and sets in a variety of visual media such as ink, pencil, and watercolor.
The Charles Payne collection is arranged in three series:
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1929-1983 [bulk 1940-1974]
The photographs series is arranged alphabetically by company, followed by individual performers, and television performances. The majority of the content is the American Ballet Theatre's repertory as well as its personnel including dancers, administrators, conductors, and supporters of the company. Also included is documentation of rehearsals, studio photoshoots, group portraits, and overseas tours. At the end of the sub-series are general subject files including autographs, candids, publicity, and special events photographs. Some of American Ballet Theatre's classic productions represented are Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Pillar of Fire, and Les Sylphides.
Prominent dancers and choreographers from the American Ballet Theatre who are featured within the collection are Irina Baranova, Erik Bruhn, Fernando Bujones, Lucia Chase, Eleanor D'Antuono, Agnes De Mille, Carla Fracci, Nora Kaye, Ted Kivitt, John Kriza, Hugh Laing, Alicia Markova, Enrique Martinez, Mikhail Mordkin, Ivan Nagy, Jerome Robbins, Lupe Serrano, Antony Tudor, Violette Verdy, Igor Youskevitch, and Gayle Young.
A unique component of the series is the personal photograph album of dancer John Kriza. The album contains photographs of Kriza's friends, family, and colleagues at the American Ballet Theatre. There are many portraits of Kriza in costume throughout his career including some of him as a child. There are a number of pictures inscribed to him by close friends and fellow performers. In addition to Kriza's dance world, the album also depicts his leisure activities such as beach outings, dinner parties, and travels around the world.
Following the American Ballet Theatre are photographs of performances from several American and European dance companies. These companies include the Australian Ballet, Ballet Rambert, Glen Tetley Company, and the Netherlands Dance Theatre. Two boxes comprise oversize mounted photographs of Contact Improvisation performances, a modern and experimental dance form created in the 1970s.
At the end of the series are photographs of ballets performed on television programs throughout the 1960s. These include a 1963 performance of Coppélia on NBC's Bell Telephone Hour, Swan Lake on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, and Flower Festival in Genzano from 1962. Dancers such as Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Carla Fracci, and Erik Bruhn performed in these televised events.
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1955-1971
The materials in Series II consist of various items that promoted and advertised the American Ballet Theatre's performances and events.
The clippings collected are from newspapers and periodicals such as The Boston Monitor from 1940, The Seattle Star from 1943, and Vogue from 1949. There is also an article from a 1966 American Ballet Theatre Friends newsletter which features a photo of the Chairman of the National Council on the Arts presenting a check to then Ballet Theatre Foundation president, Dr. Harold Humphrey.
Ephemera includes a marked up 1976 rehearsal schedule from the American Ballet Theatre's school, a cumulative list of the Giselle casting from years 1939 through 1975, and a 1964 letter from photographer Annemarie Heinrich to Charles Payne.
The posters are mainly facsimiles of Ballet Theatre and Mordkin Ballet designs with the exception of one original poster advertising an appearance of Ballet Theatre at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. There are also three reference posters, including an advertisement for stage-front improvement, a promotional poster for a book about ABT written by Payne, and a Royal Opera Covent Garden program.
Also present are awards presented to Charles Payne and the Ballet Theatre Foundation for outstanding printed souvenir programs from the New York Employing Printers Association, Inc. and the Printing Industries of Metropolitan New York, Inc.
Highlights from the souvenir publications include a 1964 mini calendar published by Dance Magazine featuring Ballet Theatre dancers Lupe Serrano and Bruce Marks and an announcement brochure for the 1977 film The Turning Point which featured Mikhail Baryshnikov and included special thanks to co-directors Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith.
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Advertising and publicity designs include facsimile designs used for the souvenir programs released each season by the Company. Many of these are marked up with notes and crop marks for the printer. There are also copies of art featured in the programs by artists such as Picasso, Cecil Beaton, and Pavel Tchelitchew. Original mock-up designs are also of particular interest. These include original collages featuring images of founder and dancer Lucia Chase.
The costume designs are mostly undated and unsigned, however, many are identified by their production title which include Concerto Waltzes, Bluebeard, Billy the Kid, Aleko, and Les Sylphides. Some of the original sketches in ink and pencil include costumes for Designs for Strings and Peter and the Wolf.
The set designs include facsimiles of sketches from artist Salvador Dali and scenic designer Boris Aronson as well as original sketches by William Pitkin, Marcel Vertes, and Jürgen Rose.