NEW YORK.- The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts presents Mirrors to the Past: Ancient Greece and Avant-Garde America, through January 8, 2005. This exhibition is part of the Library's Hellenic Festival, made possible by a generous grant from the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation. The Hellenic Festival presented by The New York Public Library in association with the Queens Library and other arts organizations. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the leadership support of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Additional support for exhibitions has been provided by Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg and the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Foundation.

American artists have long been moved by the august cultures of ancient Greece. Motivated by the enlightened minds that produced works of incomparable beauty and emotional resonance, the creative artists in turn gleefully discarded rules and radically redefined their art forms.

Mirrors to the Past draws on rare material housed in the Research Divisions of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The liberating force of archaic and classical Greece was adopted as inspiration by 20th century American choreographers, theater artists, composers, visual artists, and designers, represented in the exhibition.

At the turn of the last century, “Greek revivalism” inspired many arts and designs, including architecture, fashion, and dance. All three were focused on aspects of balance and symmetry, as found in Hellenic statuary and vase painting. People attempted to live within these Hellenic ideals in their daily lives, and to promote them in performance. Isadora Duncan and her family were among those attached to the Greek revivalism movement popular in the San Francisco area. Images of her dancing reveal her continuing interest in balance and the poses from Hellenic art. Photographs of students at the various Duncan schools in Europe reveal the commitment to Greek revivalism. Rare examples of textiles created by Raymond Duncan illustrate his attachment to classical and archaic Hellenic culture.

Theatres that reproduced the settings of the Athenian festivals were built on both coasts of the United States. The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, and the Lewisohn Stadium in New York City were erected as public monuments on university campuses. Many of the performers associated with those theatres were also inspired by Hellenic ideals.

The exhibit focuses on touring companies that presented Greek plays and Hellenic-inspired dance performances in these arenas. Rival productions by Lillah McCarthy, with director Granville Barker, and Margaret Anglin, with composer/conductor Walter Damrosch, drew huge audiences for the tragedies in 1915 – 1921.

Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn were concert dancers whose students Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham and Charles Weidman, developed American modern dance. Their joint company Denishawn staged pageants and dance works inspired by Hellenic and other ancient deities and myths. Shawn’s later all-male company presented similar themes in more abstract choreography and design.