COLLECTION DES PLUS BEAUX NUMÉROS DE COMOEDIA ILLUSTRÉ ET DES PROGRAMMES CONSACRÉS AU BALLETS & GALAS RUSSES DEPUIS LE DÉBUT A PARIS 1909-1921

BALLETS RUSSES

Published by M. De Brunoff, 1922

Folio, green silk over thick beveled boards with large inset color illustration from Natalia Goncharova's design for "Firebird". Endpapers color- stenciled with names of the dances, dancers, composers, and choreographers, and in the center that of the impresario Serge Diaghilev. Silk faded; a little edge wear to bottom of front board. An exceptionally nice copy of this magnificent book. A compilation of the most important special issues of the theatrical periodical "Comoedia Illustré" and souvenir programs for the 1909-1921 seasons of the Ballets Russes, compiled by the program publishers themselves, Maurice and Jacques de Brunoff, Explanatory forewords by the critic Valerian Svetlov. Lavishly illustrated with photographs and black and white and splendid color plates, some heightened with gilt and silver, of the dancers, costumes and stage decor. Work by Léon Bakst, Valentine Hugo, André Derain, Alexandre Benois, Mikhail Larionov. Natalia Goncharova, José Sert, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. Dancers include Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara, Karsavina, Michael and Vera Fokine, and Ida Rubenstein. Léon Bakst's brilliantly exotic and vivid designs for costumes and stage design revolutionized theater and fashion in the first quarter of the 20th century, drawing on Neo-Russian, Orientalist, and ancient Greek motifs. The May 1917 issue is devoted primarily to the ballet "Parade". In his introduction, "Parade et l'Esprit Nouveau", Guillaume Apollinaire coins the term "surrealism", laying the foundation for this movement. "Parade" is a collaboration among Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Léonide Massine, and Serge Diaghilev. Picasso's costumes are depicted in two pochoir-colored plates: "Costume de Chinois" and "Costume d'Acrobate". A copy is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (rebound without the original cover plaque by Goncharova) and another copy is featured in the 2019 exhibition "Hymn to Apollo/The Ancient World and the Ballets Russes" at the NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. Seller Inventory # 004588

Bibliographic Details

Title: COLLECTION DES PLUS BEAUX NUMÉROS DE ...
Publisher: M. De Brunoff
Publication Date: 1922
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine