After four years of collaboration with Peter Martins and the New York City Ballet, Henry Leutwyler was granted
unprecedented backstage access to the Company during the winter of 2012. The resulting book, Ballet, reflects thirty
years of his passion for the art form, realised in thirty days of photography. Leutwyler inhabited the shadows of the
stage and became “invisible”, recording images of the dancers using nothing more than his 35mm Leica. He was able
to explore the performers’ personal space, affording a more abstract portrait – a visual slice of their frenzied existence
in an art form predicated on perfection. Ballet is an homage to the gritty universe from behind the curtain, and a
complement to its ethereal beauty as viewed from the front row.
With impresario Lincoln Kirstein, George Balanchine co-created the New York City Ballet in 1948. What followed is
arguably one the most revolutionary periods in ballet history as he redefined the art form, introducing abstract works
performed with a signature speed, musicality, and precision. Under the leadership of Peter Martins, these are the
hallmarks of the Company to this day.
Henry Leutwyler was born in Switzerland in 1961. He lived and worked in Paris for a decade before finding his way to
New York City in 1995, where he established his reputation as a portrait photographer. Steidl published Leutwyler’s first
book Neverland Lost: A Portrait of Michael Jackson, in 2010. The images from Neverland Lost have been exhibited in
solo shows in Los Angeles (2010), New York City (2011) and Moscow (2011–2012).
Ballet
von Henry Leutwyler
