Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe (1916)

 

Illustrations by Léon Bakst

 

 

To the left, we show a copy of Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe,

as illustrated with designs from Léon Bakst and published by

the Metropolitan Ballet Company Inc. (New York) in 1916.

 

This example retains the original decoratively embossed and

gold-stamped card cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the right, we show the decorated Title Page.

 

 

Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe (1916) is a sumptuous souvenir published by the Metropolitan Ballet Company

for the 1916 tour of the Russian company. It is illustrated with many images by Bakst, including the glorious

embossed cover design and the delicate monotone on the title page, 14 costumes from various productions, a

set design from Schéhérazade, and a charcoal illustration depicting Diaghileff himself. In addition, there are

numerous photographs of performers in costume and some interesting examples of vintage advertisements.

 

The Foreword - providing a most flattering introduction to the tour - follows.

 

Artistic unity and harmonious cooperation are the keynotes of the Russian Ballet.

It is important to remember that the supreme technical excellence of individual

dancers is the least remarkable element contributing to the sensational success of

M Diaghileff's organization. The art of his famous maître de ballet would lose

half its significant in a commonplace setting, or accompanied by banal music. On

the other hand, to appreciate properly the genius of a Stravinsky, we must be

assisted by the interpretations of the mimes and dancers. The maquettes of the

great decorators, Bakst, Roerich, Anisfeld and the rest, glow like Persian

miniatures on walls, and art connoisseurs are justified in prizing them highly.

But how much more thrilling their work becomes when magnified on an ample

stage! A perfect performance is essential to intensify the values and originality

of these various elements, and it would seem that the Diaghileff Company

alone can give such performances. America is fortunate in being offered a

dazzling repertoire in which every phase of their amazing versatility will be

given full scope.

 

Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe (1916) also includes introductions to a number of ballets including: 'Le Pavillon

D'Armide'; 'L'Oiseau De Feu'; 'Les Sylphides and Papillons'; 'Le Spectre de la Rose'; 'Narcisse'; 'Schéhérazade';

'Sadko'; 'Thamar'; 'Le Carnaval of Schumann'; 'Prince Igor'; 'Petrouchka'; 'Snégourotchka'; 'Daphne et Chloe';

'L'Après-Midi d'un Faune'; 'Le Dieu Bleu'; and 'Cléopâtre'.

 

The tour itinerary was extensive, as outlined below.

 

The itinerary of Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe, which makes its first American

tour this season after six years of consistent success in Europe, starts with two

weeks' engagement at the Century Theatre in New York. The tournée comprises

also performances at the following cities: Boston, Albany, Chicago, Detroit,

Milwaukee, St Paul, Minneapolis, Kansas City, St Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati,

Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, Philadelphia and Atlantic City. The Diaghileff

troupe spends it last four weeks in America at the Metropolitan Opera House,

New York, where it replaces opera during the month of April.

 

 

Our Greeting Cards and Reproduction Prints

 

We have prepared sets of 14 Greeting Cards displaying each of the Bakst's costume illustrations from Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe (1916) and on the left, we show an example of how these Greeting Cards appear. Ordering one of those sets is as easy as selecting the "Add to Cart" feature below and following the prompts provided with our Shopping Cart secured through PayPal. Multiple purchases will be consolidated by that feature and shipping and handling costs to any destination in the world are accommodated by our flat-rate fee of US$20 for every US$200 worth of purchases.

 

 

Code: LB SDBR CS(14)
Price: US$70.00

 

When presented on Greeting Cards, these images are prepared as tipped-in plates - in homage to the hand-crafted

approach typical of prestige illustrated publications produced in the early decades of the 20th Century.

 

Hand-finishing is used to replicate the visual appearance of a tipped-in plate and the images are presented on

Ivory card stock (in the case of colour illustrations) or White card stock (in the case of monotone illustrations)

with an accompanying envelope. We have left the cards blank so that you may write your own personal

message.

 

Should you wish to order a Reproduction Print or an individual Greeting Card from this suite of images, we

welcome your contact through ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com.

 

In the meantime, enjoy perusing the images from Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe (1916).

 

 

The cover and title pages designs

 

   

Le Dieu Bleu

The Blue God

(Cover)

Unnamed monotone image

   

 

 

 

 

The costume illustrations

 

Schéhérazade

The Blue Sultana

Schéhérazade

Odalisque

Schéhérazade

Adolescent

Schéhérazade

Almée

Schéhérazade

Eunuch

Le Dieu Bleu

Pelerin

Narcisse

Ephebe

Narcisse

Bacchante

Peri

The Peri

L'Après-Midi d'un Faune

Faun

L'Après-Midi d'un Faune

Nymph

Daphnis et Chloe

Shepherd

   

Papillons

Valse Noble

Papillons

Lady

   

 

 

 

 

The set design

 

   

Schéhérazade

Décors

   

 

 

Bakst's charcoal of Diaghileff

 

     

Serge de Diaghileff

et sa Vielle Bonne

     

 

 

The featured performers

 

L'Oiseau de Feu

Xenia Maklezova

Prince Igor

Adolf Bolm

L'Oiseau de Feu

Lubov Tchernichova

and Léonide Massin

Cléopâtre

Flore Revalles

Léonide Massin

Schérézade

Flore Revalles and Adolf Bolm

Lubov Tchernichova Enrico Cecchetti
     
Lydia Sokolova and Nicholas Kremneff      

 

 

The vintage advertising

 

 

Hardman Pianos

The Columbia Grafonola

The American Tobacco Company