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costume design for Oliver Twist; illustration of a man in orange trousers and blazer
Vincente Minnelli’s Oliver costume design for Oliver Twist
A painting of a woman outlined in green and surrounded by the arc of the orange scarf she holds as she begins to ascend a red staircase. She wears a spiky crown and a stylized, angular dress composed of many rectangles in shades of gray and blue

Alexandra Exter’s costume design for Salomé

three panels featuring Lou Reed in black and white portrait in the center; surrounded by two gold panels with cut out text
Photo © Mick Rock 1972, 2019. Photograph by Robert Kato
Mick Rock (1948–2021)
Mock-up for Lou Reed’s Transformer

ca. 1972
Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center

Mock-up for Lou Reed’s Transformer

The iconic rock photographer Mick Rock designed this record jacket using his most famous shot of singer and songwriter Lou Reed (1942–2013). The photo, which went out of focus during development in the darkroom, struck both Rock and Reed as an ideal cover image for Reed’s landmark solo album, Transformer (1972). The design exemplifies the synthesis of careful planning and happy accident that so often define the most enduring artistic expressions, although the special seven-inch record for which it was prepared was never released. This extraordinary artifact came to the Library as part of the Lou Reed Archive, which the Library acquired in 2017.

: Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy an…

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Not currently on view

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Items in Performance

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  • Detail of photograph of Juddan Dancing Girl, from the series Beauties of Lucknow, Calcutta 1874

    Performance Introduction

  • costume design for Oliver Twist; illustration of a man in orange trousers and blazer

    Vincente Minnelli’s Oliver costume design for Oliver Twist

    Not currently on view

  • three panels featuring Lou Reed in black and white portrait in the center; surrounded by two gold panels with cut out text

    Mick Rock’s mock-up for Lou Reed’s Transformer

    Not currently on view

  • A painting of a woman outlined in green and surrounded by the arc of the orange scarf she holds as she begins to ascend a red staircase. She wears a spiky crown and a stylized, angular dress composed of many rectangles in shades of gray and blue

    Alexandra Exter’s costume design for Salomé

    Not currently on view

  • Set model for the Broadway production of Sunday in the Park with George;  scene shows a woman standing on her own in a lush green park

    Set model for the Broadway production of Sunday in the Park with George

    Not currently on view

  • Gray box reading Image not Available

    Bob Dylan’s “The Changing of the Guard”

    Not currently on view

  • Vintage poster featuring illustration of Harry Houdini, clad only in swimming briefs, with his hands and ankles tied

    “America’s Sensation! Harry Handcuff Houdini” poster

    Not currently on view

  • Detail of photograph of Juddan Dancing Girl, from the series Beauties of Lucknow, Calcutta 1874

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