Baryshnikov Shows Off His Art Collection
A couple of weeks ago I went to the ABA Gallery, off Union Square in New York, and saw “Art I’ve Lived With,” an exhibit of the work that dancer/impresario Mikhail Baryshnikov has purchased over the years. For the first time, at the insistence of his friend Irina Antonova, director of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Misha had agreed to show a significant number of the works he has picked up here and there over the course of his dancing career. His first two purchases set a course for his collecting, which has tended toward small, elegant pieces, often with some connection to the world of the theatre. I can’t say I share much of Barshynikov’s taste — can you really look at Natalia Goncharova’s “Untitled” (below) and tell me you love it? But the show was a fascinating window into the soul of a great artist.
