With friend Varian Fry (who met his wife Eileen through Lincoln's sister Mina), he convinced his father to finance the Hound & Horn, a new literary quarterly.

The publication gained prominence in the artistic world and ran until 1934 when Kirstein decided to focus his energy and resources on the career of George Balanchine and the development of the School of American Ballet.

In October 1933, together with Edward Warburg, a classmate from Harvard, and Vladimir Dimitriew, Balanchine's manager, they started the School of American Ballet in Hartford, Connecticut.

Just months later, Kirstein and Warburg founded, together with Balanchine and Dimitriew, the American Ballet, which later became the resident company of the Metropolitan Opera.

He enlisted in 1943, and before going overseas, started working on a project gathering and documenting soldier art for a prospective exhibit and book titled Artists Under Fire.

He also wrote about other subjects that interested him, including Hollywood stars, the cats in fairy tales, tap dancers, and Buddhist temples.

[10] Kirstein wrote about enjoying sex with various men, including Harvard undergraduates, sailors, rentboys, and casual encounters in the showers at the 63rd Street YMCA.

[18] Kirstein and his wife enjoyed an amicable if sometimes stressful relationship until her death in 1991, but she withdrew from painting and then from life, suffering breakdowns that eventually were more serious than his.

"[19] The New York art world considered Kirstein's bisexuality an "open secret", although he did not publicly acknowledge his sexual orientation until 1982.

These included Glenway Wescott, George Platt Lynes, Jared French, Bernard Perlin, Pavel Tchelitchev, Katherine Anne Porter, Barbara Harrison, Gertrude Stein, Donald Windham, Cecil Beaton, Jean Cocteau, W.H.

[citation needed] English critic Clement Crisp wrote: "He was one of those rare talents who touch the entire artistic life of their time.

"[citation needed] Kirstein helped organize a 1959 American tour for musicians and dancers from the Japanese Imperial Household Agency.

[20] Despite its conservative modernist exterior, the glittery red and gold interior recalls the imaginative and lavish backdrops of the Ballets Russes.

Before his death in 1996, Kirstein also donated his personal papers, artworks, and other materials related to the history of dance and his life in the arts to the division.

Kirstein was also the primary patron of the artist Paul Cadmus, Fidelma's brother, buying many of his paintings and subsidizing his living expenses.