Igor Stravinsky, Vaslav Nijinsky, Léon Bakst, Pablo Picasso, and George Balanchine are among the great collaborators who worked in Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, where they changed the face of modern ballet and influenced the course of the arts in the 20th century. Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath, a new exhibition at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, draws on diverse materials from the Library's renowned collections to tell the remarkable story of the company and the impresario who founded it. Autograph scores by Stravinsky, costume and set designs by Léon Bakst, Nijinsky's diary, Diaghilev's notebooks, and hundreds of other treasures chart the trajectory of the legendary company, from its first stirrings within fin de siècle Russia to its astounding opening success on stage in Paris in 1909 and its 20 years of ground-breaking artistry, to its influence on the companies that followed in its footsteps.
Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath, on view June 26 through September 12, 2009, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Ballets Russes and explores the company's historical and cultural context and international influences. At the heart of the company and the exhibition is founder and director Serge Diaghilev, the Russian aesthete whose discerning eye and deep knowledge of the arts allowed him to select the most promising young choreographers, from Michel Fokine and Vaslav Nijinsky to Leonide Massine and George Balanchine; the most talented young composers, from Igor Stravinsky to Manuel De Falla and Maurice Ravel; and artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Natalia Goncharova to design the sets and costumes. This new collaborative process in ballet, stressing the importance of each contributor and offering a fusion of the arts, defined the company throughout its brief history and brought its audiences to their collective feet, sometimes in adoration and other times in anger. Another marvel of the Ballets Russes was its dancers, initially trained in the great Maryinsky Theater of St. Petersburg tradition and among the finest performers ever seen.
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center is located on the Lincoln Center campus at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. Admission is free and exhibition hours are: Monday and Thursday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturday from: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (The Library is closed on Sundays and holidays.) For further information, telephone 212,870.1630 or visit www.nypl.org/lpa.
"Through the combination of art, music, and dance material, Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels emphasizes the collaboration that was central to the Diaghilev aesthetic and artistic process," said exhibition curator Lynn Garafola. "It reveals the Russian background from which Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes sprang; its impact on companies such as the Ballets Suedois and artists such as La Argentina (Antonia Mercé), Anna Pavlova, and Mikhail Mordkin; its influence through the post-Diaghilev Ballets Russes companies, especially The Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo directed by Serge Denham, and stagings in the United States of Ballets Russes-inspired productions, such as The Rite of Spring choreographed by Leonide Massine with Martha Graham in the title role."
"‘Astonish me,' Diaghilev famously challenged the multi-talented Jean Cocteau, who was writing the libretto for the company's new ballet Parade - for which the poet Apollinaire coined the word surreal. And the choreographers, composers, and designers Diaghilev selected for the Ballets Russes did just that for the director and for audiences up until today," said Jacqueline Z. Davis, Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. "We are delighted to display the Library's important and inspiring collection of Ballets Russes materials."
