The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation’s archives

La photothèque Noureev au Centre National du Costume de Scène
Quartier Villars – Route de Montilly
03000 Moulins
Tel. 04 70 20 76 20
Link to the website

The photo library inventory, digitization and preservation project was selected as part of the Ministry of Culture’s 12th “Written Heritage” call for projects and also received sponsorship from the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation. The collection was thus fully processed in 2020 and 2021 in order to offer it suitable conservation conditions to best preserve the dancer’s heritage.

In addition to the stage costumes, clothing, furniture and works of art, the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation donated to the CNCS works, various archives and a large fund of more than 4,800 photographic documents related to The Rudolf Nureyev Collection. All the pictures come from a panel of more than 250 photographers: some very famous and active in the artistic and fashion world from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as Richard Avedon, Jürgen Vollmer, Linda and Jack Vartoogian, Michael Peto , Lord Snowdon and the Francette Levieux fund.

 

BNF – Inventaire général des fonds du département de la Musique
58, rue de Richelieu
75002 Paris
Lien vers le site

For any request concerning this collection, write to the following address: musrich.archives@bnf.fr
Archives, correspondence, programs, press clippings.

 

FILMS ARCHIVES

From an early age Rudolf Nureyev was passionately interested in film. The Rodina cinema in Ufa was a source of endless pleasure and established for him an early appreciation of film as an important medium for entertainment, education, information and record. It was here that he first saw Charlie Chaplin, who remained a continuous influence on his approach to comedy. And so it went on throughout his life as he seized every opportunity to see films and to use film and video as a means of widening public interest in dance, mostly through television broadcasts, in performance or in interview.

From his own viewpoint as a performer film gave him the means of checking style and technical correction in rehearsal and performance. Productions he could not easily get to, and which he wanted to see, could sometimes be available by these means. The first time he saw Martha Graham was on film.

Film mattered hugely to him, and on his death it was quickly realised that a way of perpetuating his memory was to ensure that every relevant film or video concerning Rudolf was collected in an archive and not only preserved for posterity but made available, as far as copyright conditions permitted, for students and dance scholars to view.

Wallace Potts, a close friend of Rudolf’s and a film maker himself, was engaged in 1993 by the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation as Film Archivist, a position he held until his death 2 years ago. He has been succeeded by Rosalind Bentley, a widely experienced film archivist. Wallace collected every known, and some unknown, commercial and private films involving Rudolf in rehearsal, performance, interview and at leisure. It has been a long and painstaking task arriving at a point where a major institution, equipped with conservation facilities and the means of meeting the Foundation’s demands for public access, could be approached and asked to accept this important and compelling archive.

This is now housed in the New York Public Library at the Lincoln Centre, with part of the collection also available at the Centre Nationale de Dance in Paris. Details of how this can be accessed can be found at the following web sites:

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
40 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023-7498
Tel: (212) 870-1657
Fax: (212) 870-1869
dance@nypl.org
Detailed catalogue available on this link : http://catnyp.nypl.org/search/

Rambert - Rudolf Nureyev Foundation archives

RAMBERT -Maude Lloyd and Wallace Potts Archive
99 Upper Ground
London SE1 9PP

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8630 0600
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8747 8323

Rudolf Nureyev Foundation Collection Films: Copies held at Rambert Archive for viewing

The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation is delighted to have contributed to Rambert’s new headquarters on the South Bank by funding its Maude Lloyd and Wallace Potts Archive. This has been named in honour of Maude Lloyd, a leading dancer in the early days of Rambert and subsequently a close friend of Rudolf Nureyev, and Wallace Potts, his close friend and archivist. The Foundation is grateful to Rambert for permitting it to house some titles from their film collection in this Archive.

A selection has been made to provide private viewing access to a number of full length ballets featuring Rudolf Nureyev. These include his performances in Agon”, “Apollo”, “Bayadere”, “Giselle”, “Le Spectre de la Rose”, “Manfred”, “Nutcracker”, “Paradise Lost”. “Romeo and Juliet”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Songs of a Wayfarer”, “Swan Lake” “The Tempest”, “Tristan” “Two Brothers” and “Washington Square”. There are also several documentaries, television appearances and some home movie footage.

The footage will be accessible on the same basis as the main Rudolf Nureyev Foundation collection housed in the New York Public Library. This is for private study only on a one to one basis. Applications for this access should be made via our contact page

ROH Collections Online – Collections Catalogue
Collection details available on line : CLICK ON THIS LINK

ROH Collections Online – Performance Database
Database details available on line : CLICK ON THIS LINK

 

CND – Centre National de la Danse

1, rue Victor Hugo 93500 Pantin
Tel : 00 33 1 41 83 98 00
Opening hours : from Monday to Friday : 1pm to 7pm

mediatheque@cnd.fr

Detailed Archives Catalogue