Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels examines the Ballets Russes through visual, documentary, and recorded materials from various divisions of The New York Public Library. Serge Diaghilev's career as the indefatigable director of the Ballets Russes, his passionate quest for new forms, commitment to developing young talent, and far-ranging influence are evoked through the Jerome Robbins Dance Division's important collections of designs, drawings, photos, souvenir programs, rare books, scrapbooks, magazines, and archival documents, including one of Diaghilev's "black books," in which he jotted notes about repertory and other matters. Several scores by Igor Stravinsky, on loan from The Juilliard School, include sketches from Petrouchka, and early versions of Firebird, Apollo, and Les Noces with handwritten corrections by the composer. This section includes costumes and designs of such artists as Pablo Picasso, Léon Bakst, Mikhail Larionov, and André Derain, who were invited by Diaghilev to work for his company.
Drawing on the rich resources of The Library's Slavic and East European Collections, which include treasures from the collections of Diaghilev's two great Imperial patrons, Grand Dukes Vladimir and Sergei, the exhibition traces Diaghilev's St.Petersburg career as an exhibition curator, author, and the founding-editor of the important art journal Mir iskusstva. The 1899-1900 Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters, edited by Diaghilev, is among the materials on display in this section.
The exhibition concludes with materials from the two successor companies, Colonel Wassily de Basil's Ballets Russes and Serge Denham's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, among the numerous ballet troupes that have been influenced by the Diaghilev company.
The films and videos in the exhibition include excerpts from documentaries about the Ballets Russes, revivals of its works by later companies, and rare footage from the Dance Division's Massine Collection of the choreographer's works of the 1930s danced by the de Basil company. An excerpt from the 1939 film Nobilissima Visione, St. Francis will be shown in the 1981 version that was restored and enhanced with added sound. The ballet, choreographed by Leonide Massine, is performed by the original cast of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in practice dress. The cast features Leonide Massine (St. Francis), Frederic Franklin (knight and wolf), Michel Panaieff, Roland Guerard and Marcel Fenchel (St. Francis' companions). Other rare dance footage included in the exhibition are excerpts from the 1915-1916 film The Dumb Girl of Portici, starring the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, and the 1959 documentary The Sleeping Ballerina: The Story of Olga Spessivtzeva, the ballerina who starred as Diaghilev's Sleeping Princess before her career was tragically cut short by mental illness. The exhibition will also showcase dance footage from the BBC, including excerpts from The Royal Ballet's productions of Les Sylphides, The Firebird, Petrushka, and Les Noces; and from Channel Thirteen/WNET, including excerpts from The Joffrey Ballet's productions of Petrouchka and Parade.
In addition to the artifacts from the Library's Jerome Robbins Dance Division and The New York Public Library's Slavic and East European Collections, the exhibition will include objects from The Library's Music Division, and a small number of private and institutional lenders. The exhibition is curated by Lynn Garafola, Professor of Dance at Barnard College and author of several books, including Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
Serge Diaghilev (1872 - 1929) and the Ballets Russes (1909 - 1929)
Serge Diaghilev was born into a wealthy Russian family and grew up in the city of Perm. In 1890, he was sent to study law in St. Petersburg. But his ambition was to be a composer and he also studied music until it became clear that he his talent in this area was, at best, mediocre. During his student days in the Russian capitol, he joined a small circle of friends that included Alexandre Benois and Léon Bakst. With them, he developed his knowledge of fine arts and became an art critic and historian. He curated numerous art exhibitions and was the founder-editor of Mir iskusstva (The World of Art), Russia's first modern art journal that championed symbolism, post-impressiosm, and other new movements. In 1899, he went to work as a special assistant to the director of the Imperial Theaters where he edited the Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters. He was dismissed in 1901 after refusing to continue editing the theater annual because of disagreements about the ballet Sylvia, which he had been assigned to produce.
In 1906, Diaghilev organized and brought a huge exhibition of Russian art to Paris. The following year he returned to the French capital with a concert series of Russian music. Then in 1908, he made his debut as a theater producer by taking the opera Boris Gudonov to Paris, where it was a triumph in its first engagement outside of Russia. With this success under his belt, he returned to Paris in 1909 and took the city by storm with a company of 100 ballet dancers and a repertoire of five unique ballets. The critics and audiences were wildly enthusiastic; they had never before seen dancers of this caliber or ballets of such artistic integrity. Diaghilev's career as a ballet impresario was launched and his taste, choices, and influence in the creation of ballets for his company would have a profound effect on the arts. With its amazing dancers and inventive repertoire of ballets that melded dance, drama, music, and art in new and exciting ways, the Ballets Russes was a beacon with a sensational twenty-year run.
After Diaghilev's death in 1929, his legacy was most closely identified with the companies directed by Sergei Denham and Colonel Wassily de Basil. They adopted similar names and some of the repertory and personnel associated with their great predecessor.
Even today the influence of the Ballets Russes remains powerful throughout the dance world. Over the years, dance companies absorbed different aspects of its identity-its exoticism, experimentalism, collaborative approach, modernism, nationalism, and multiple layers of Russianness. From the Paris Opéra to La Argentina's Les Ballets Espagnols, Rolf de Maré's Ballets Suédois, Ballet Theatre, Ballet Rambert, Adolph Bolm's Ballet Intime and Chicago Allied Arts, Lincoln Kirstein's Ballet Caravan, Ninette de Valois's Vic-Wells Ballet, Aurelio Milloss's Budapest Opera Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the influence of Diaghilev has been as diverse as it is pervasive.
Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath is on view fromJune 26 through September 12, 2009 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. Exhibition hours are: Monday and Thursday from 12:00 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.; andSaturday from 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; closed Sundays and holidays. Admission is free. For exhibition information, call 212.870.1630 or visit the Library's website at www.nypl.org/lpa.
