CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF DIAGHILEV'S BALLETS RUSSES
One of the most significant cultural movements of the twentieth century was Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, which flourished from 1909 to 1929. Knowledgeable about art, music, and dance, Diaghilev (1872-1929) had organized various exhibitions in his native Russia, before beginning in 1906 to introduce the then little known Russian culture and art to the West. A series of operas and concerts over the next few years led to the formation in 1909 of the company known as the Ballets Russes. The dancers whom it presented were members of the well-trained Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg, including the famed Anna Pavlova and the rising star Vaslav Nijinsky.
Diaghilev’s genius was his ability to identify talented individuals and get them to collaborate on producing new and exciting theatrical works. In the early years of the company, Russian artists such as León Bakst, Alexandre Benois, and Nikolai Roerich combined their talents with the composer Igor Stravinsky to present some of the landmark ballets of the twentieth century. After the Russian revolution, Diaghilev turned to many of the young international group of artists living in Paris and employed such diverse talents as Picasso, Matisse, Derain, and Leger to design his ballets.
Although never financially stable, the Ballets Russes continued to produce remarkable evenings of ballet in both Europe and America (where it toured, even to Hartford, in 1916) up until Diaghilev’s death in 1929. Then the company was disbanded, but only after leaving an indelible impression on all who witnessed their performances. One of those who was impressed by their achievement was A. Everett Austin, Jr. who from 1922 on went every year to Europe to see the company. After he became director of the Wadsworth Atheneum, he was not only able to emulate Diaghilev in bringing artists, music, and dance together in Hartford, but he was also able in 1933 to make a most fortuitous acquisition of nearly 160 drawings for productions of the Ballets Russes. This was a portion of Diaghilev’s personal collection with examples by Bakst, Picasso, Derain, Gris, Braque, de Chirico, Larionov, Gontcharova, Tchelitchew, Ernst, and Miró, who all created sets and designs for his productions, and it had been inherited and enlarged by his last protégé, the dancer-choreographer Serge Lifar.
Having brought a dance company to America, which unfortunately was not a success, Lifar was forced to sell the collection then on exhibition at Julien Levy’s New York Gallery. Chick Austin eagerly purchased this group of works for the price of $10,000 and then began adding related pieces, most notably in 1935 the great Bakst drawing of Nijinsky in L’Après-midi d’un faune , belonging to another Diaghilev protégé, Leonide Massine.
Later directors and curators have also continued to add occasionally to the collection. The most significant enhancements came in 1968 and 1996, when a number of sensation original costumes designed by Bakst, Gontcharova, Matisse, Gris, and de Chirico were obtained at auction. The result is a collection of great beauty and international significance, which has been exhibited periodically over the years both in Hartford and other venues.
Now to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Ballets Russes, museums and organizations around the world are planning exhibitions, festivals, and performances. The Wadsworth Atheneum in conjunction with the Ballets Russes Festival 2009 of Boston University will present in Hartford the highlights of its collection in a special exhibition opening in February of 2009. Unlike previous exhibitions, which have provided a chronological survey of the various ballets, this one will be divided into four thematic sections, each devoted to one of the major types of ballets and operas presented by Diaghilev’s company. These are (1) The Classical; (2) Russian; (3) The Exotic; and (4) Modern.
In the first category - The Classical – will be Alexandre Benois’ definitive stage and costume designs for Giselle as well as Bakst’s elaborate costumes for the Sleeping Princess. Classical in mode if not in date is also his Après-midi d’un faune for which the Atheneum posseses not only a drawing of Nijinsky in costume but also the distinctive rose petal costume worn by one of the later performers. Aside from the dancers, perhaps Diaghilev’s greatest discovery was that of the composer Igor Stravinsky, and it was music by this young genius, which was so vital to the series of Russian inspired masterpieces. In the Atheneum’s collection the highlights of this section are Benois’ set and costume designs for Petrushka, Gontcharova’s for The Firebird, and Roerich’s costumes for the revolutionary Sacre de Printemps (Rite of Spring).
One of the quintessential features that marked the debut of the Ballets Russes in 1909 was the rich exoticism of subjects derived from Middle-Eastern and Asian sources. Bakst’s extraordinary costumes and designs for works such as Scherhezade and Le Dieu Bleu will be on view. Both Benois and Henri Matisse were employed by Diaghilev to create the appropriate setting and costumes for different versions of the Chinese fantasy Le Rossignol (The Nightingale), and the results are lush brilliant watercolors and delicate silk robes. Finally it was Diaghilev’s willingness to experiment with different aspects of Modernism that gave his dance company its distinctive edge of excitement from season to season. A wide variety of notable artists from Picasso to Derain and Gris to Rouault, as well as the Surrealists, Miró, Ernst, and de Chirico, all put their unmistakable stamp on diverse ballets, some of which were ephemeral and some, such as The Prodigal Son and Apollo, which continue to be performed to this day.
In addition the museum will present programs of related films and music plus special lectures by a leading Ballets Russes scholar, Lynn Garafola, and the dance critic of the New York Times, Alastair Macauley. For the 2009 Centennial, the Boston Festival will produce a lavish volume of reproductions and essays, including one by Atheneum curator, Eric Zafran, on the Russian Ballet in Hartford, which will be available in the museum shop.
Image Credit:
Michel Larionov
Costume Design for Leonide Massine as the Sun (Yarile), from "Le Soleil de Nuit," 1915
Graphite, crayon, tempera and gold leaf on machine made, woven paper on board
The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1933.491 © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris Funders
Sponsored by Linda Cheverton Wick and Walter Wick,
David T. Langrock Foundation, Mary P. Gibbons in memory of Dr. John M. Gibbons, Jr., Linda Bland Sonnenblick, Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Huber, George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation, and Martha Deming Flanders.
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