Astrid's Work - Ballet Dancers

Male Dancer 1984 Female Dancer 1996

Finally free from Gardner’s work Astrid could concentrate on other things. Lincoln Kirstein, impressed with Astrid’s work, commissioned a 22” high male ballet dancer.

Tom Schoff of the School of American Ballet best describes the exact sequence of events.

“The first figure was a male (modelled on the dancer Wayne Sleep, I believe) and Kirstein dates it 1985. It was meant as "a companion to [Giovanni da Bologna's] MERCURY; contrasting the frontality of a Balanchine profile, with the spiral of basic baroque" and it was kept in the same room in his house here in New York as a small Mercury.

In the late 80s the School began an annual fundraising dinner at which it gave awards -- one to a corporate leader and one to a distinguished person in the dance world. The School, with the artist's full compliance, had replicas made of the male dancer (from the original moulds) and they were used as the actual awards -- always with the recognition plaque on the back of the marble base.

After several years, and especially as it became clear that many of the awardees would be women, Kirstein commissioned another statue of a female dancer as a companion to the male. A young girl who was at the time a student here at the School was the model. Once again, we had multiple castings made.

The original of the male dancer was bequeathed to an individual and I don't know its whereabouts at this time. There really is no "original" of the female dancer. As far as I know, all of the statues except the one awarded to Nureyev are in the hands of their original recipients”.

The one awarded to Nureyev was auctioned 12 Jan 1995 by Christies in New York after his death and realised $13,225

Curiously, the same statue was again auctioned in November of the same year by Christies in London and realised only £1.092. Initially Christies in London had denied that any such statue had been auctioned in New York.

However the statue would have been clearly identifiable since it was stamped ‘AZ 1984 12/15’ It is 55cm high on a marble base with separate tag inscribed ‘School of American Ballet Lifetime Achievement Award Rudolf Nureyev 1991’

Where this particular statue is we have no idea, but it is estimated that some 18 copies would have been made of the male dancer and six of the female dancer.

Resin casting of male dancer Height 25” Photograph anon

(ID11) Ht 24.5” Bronze casting. Photograph anon. This was based upon a series of photographs taken by David Cockroft.