The Ballets Russes and Its World

by Lynn Garafola (Editor), Ms. Nancy Van Norman Baer (Editor)

This lavishly illustrated book surveys the dance, art, music, and cultural worlds of the Ballets Russes, the preeminent dance company that helped to define the avant-garde in the early part of the twentieth century. The book explores the life of founder Serge Diaghilev, his relationship with Igor Stravinsky and other famous artists who worked with the Ballets Russes, the legacy of the company in the United States and England, and much more.

432 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 1999

Reviews

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ballets Russes is currently my obsession of the moment. Introduced to it several years ago by the documentary of the same name I'm just now beginning to fully grasp how much of an integral role it played in the European artistic and cultural imagination during the first several decades of the 20th century, a nexus that brought together the brightest lights of all the artistic mediums, from visual artists (Picasso, Matisse, Cocteau, de Chiraco, Braque, Tchelitchev), composers (Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov , Debussy, Prokofiev), choreographers (Nijinsky, Nijinska, Massine, Balanchine, Fokine), and, of course, the dancers themselves (countless). And those who weren't directly involved eagerly attended the performances and drew direct inspiration from them--I can't seem to read anything from this period these days without multiple intersections with the Ballets.

This lavish volume, which primarily focuses on the Diaghilev era, presents numerous essays focusing on different facets of the ballets and the often turbulent creative forces behind their creation. And if they vary in their insightfulness (several, quite frankly, are just not well written), when words fail there are numerous images to pore over, ranging from posed stills to contemporary photographs to conceptual material from the artists involved. If the ballets themselves can no longer be seen in their original glory, such archival material will have to do.