RARE 1922 ANTIQUE BOOK: Ballet Russes and Galas 1909-1921 Paris, Original Theatrical Programs, includes Art, Costumes, Photographs from Ballet and Opera under Director Sergio Diaghilev; Editor Maurice de Brunoff; Featuring Art by Bakst, Picasso, Matisse et al. Very Good Condition.
Title "Collection des plus Beaux Numéros de Comoedia Illustré et desProgrammes Consacrés aux Ballets & Galas Russes depuis le début à Paris1909-1921". Paris: M. de Brunoff and Jacque de Brunoff, [1922]. First Edition. An extraordinary book dedicated to Russian Ballet in Paris. Includes a compilation of original full color Comedia Illustre supplemental theatrical programs and commentary, photographs, concentrating on ballet and opera productions under director Sergio Diaghilev’s Ballets Russe. Book measures 13" X 10.5" X 1.5"d. Beautifully decorated and magnificently illustrated, the collection contains the original theatrical programs, brilliantly colored plates, gilt and embossed borders, prints, pochoir, sketches, photographs, multiple color illustrations of costumes and set designs, portraits. The most notably represented artists are Léon Bakst (costume and set design); with several important submissions by Pablo Picasso (hand colored aquarelle, set designs, portrait sketches), Henri Matisse, André Derain, Natalya Goncharova, Valentine Gross, Mikhael Larionov, Léonide Massine, José Maria Sert and others. Sergio Diaghilev was the Artistic Director of the Ballet Russes which could not be performed in Russia due to Revolution. The Paris seasons covered are: 1909 (4th season), 1910 (5th), 1911 (6th),1912 (7th), 1913 (8th), 1914 (9th), 1915 (limited 10th), no season 1916,1917 (11th), no season 1918, 1919/1920 (12th), 1920 (13th), 1921(14th). Comoedia Illustré was a theatrical monthly publication, published in Paris between 1908 and 1921; it suspended publication (except for special issues or supplements) between September 1914 and October 1919. Text includes “Note des éditeurs” that introduces the selection and introductory text on each season by Valerian Svietlov or Jean Bernier.
Notably, “The Rite of Spring” was written for the 1913 Paris season by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. Original choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky with stage designs and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. Considered highly avant-garde, the unfamiliar score and pagan-influenced dance was perceived as obscene. The audience reaction was abrupt and led to a riot.
Additionally of significant importance is the May 1917 "Théatre du Chatelet" publication (primarily devoted to the ballet "Parade", which constitutes one of the most important publications in the history of modern art. It is here, in his presentation-article to "Parade," that Apollinaire coins the term SURREALISM and thus lays the foundation for the seminal cultural movement that Bréton came to lead. The ballet "Parade" represents ahistorical collaboration between several of the leading artistic minds of the early twentieth century: Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Léonide Massine, and Serge Diaghilev, and is especially famous, not only for its contents and its music but also for its magnificent costumes designed by Picasso, the drawings which are presented for the first tim