| reviews & features | galleries | art museums | schools & universities | other museums | hot links |

Behind the scenes

Sets, music, and costumes of the Ballets Russes

by Leon Nigrosh

DESIGN, DANCE AND MUSIC OF THE BALLETS RUSSES, 1909-1929 at the Wadsworth Atheneum, 600 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut, through December 28.

Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes are synonymous -- neither could have survived without the other. But when Diaghilev, the self described "apple-cheeked young country bumpkin," arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1890, he had little idea where his future would take him. Diaghilev was involved with a group of young artists, including Léon Bakst and Nicholas Roerich, who, though boisterous, were serious about their art. Although Diaghilev was not adept at any of the Muses himself, he was a good organizer and facilitator. He realized that the only way these young Russians would gain recognition was to break out of the provinces and into the world art scene.

During the early 1900s, Diaghilev arranged exhibits of Russian art in Paris. He also presented Russian musical concerts along with established Russian opera and ballet. Tiring of these crusty traditional works, impresario Diaghilev commissioned several young Russian composers and choreographers to create entirely new ballets. By 1914, his group had coalesced into the Ballets Russes and propelled such talented artists as composer Igor Stravinsky and dancer/choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky onto the world stage.

When World War I and the Russian revolution effectively ousted Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes from their homeland, they came to the United States and continued to perform brilliantly. During this time, and subsequently upon returning to Europe, Diaghilev enlisted the services of non-Russian artists to design the costumes and stage sets for his imaginative presentations. Although the Ballets Russes died with Diaghilev in 1929, the legacy he left behind was not so much the performances, but a rich collection of original work from many avant-garde artists who would go on to become acknowledged masters of contemporary art.

The current exhibit at the Wadsworth Atheneum showcases works by many of these remarkable artists. It is a virtual encyclopedia of modern art, but hardly a stodgy presentation. The exhibit dives headlong into the fantastic world of ballet theater. Upon entering through a brightly painted proscenium archway, we are immediately surrounded by the familiar ballet music of Stravinsky, Debussy, or Rimsky-Korsakov -- three of Diaghilev's favorite young composers. Theatrical spotlights direct our attention to a dozen gaily festooned costumes from the original production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Princess, first performed in London in 1921. Take the time to compare the costume for a court lady with Bakst's original graphite, tempera, and silver paint drawing.

Diaghilev called upon the well-known French Fauvist painter Henri Matisse to design the sets and costumes for Le Chant du Rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale), which debuted in 1920. Matisse created his designs with colored paper. Four of his original kimonos are on exhibit, including a Chamberlain's costume decorated with Matisse's own hand-painted patterns.

Enamored of their respective surrealist styles, Diaghilev asked Spanish artist Joan Miró and German painter Max Ernst to collaborate on the scenic drops for a 1926 production of Romeo and Juliet in Monaco. Four of their original paintings in the exhibition are readily recognizable for their flowing signature designs. At the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, Naum Gabo designed costumes and sets for La Chatte with his highly geometric Constructivist approach. Two of Gabo's original designs for the costumes, made of plastic sheet and silver cloth, are drawn with precision on graph paper.

Among the 100 drawings and paintings, works by other artists are easy to spot as well. Georges Rouault's set designs consist of his typical thick black outlines, filled in with bright colors. And Fernand Legér's blocky Cubist style is perfect for the set of Creation du Monde, an adaptation of the ancient African myth about the creation of the world.

After Diaghilev died, his principal dancer/choreographer and intimate friend, Serge Lifar, kept all these paintings and added to the collection with other works by Picasso, Ernst, and Miró, which are also on display. Lifar set up his own ballet company and tried to emulate his mentor by employing the skills of artists like Giorgio de Chirico and Alexandre Benois to create imaginative costumes and sets for his own original ballets. Their characteristic paintings are also being shown.

In 1910, Diaghilev set out to turn the moribund world of ballet upside down by creating new links between music, decorative design, and choreography. Judging from the examples in this exhibition, the results have been certainly far greater than even his expectations.

The Wadsworth Atheneum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (860) 278-2670.