Working for Diaghilev

Publisher, impresario and patron, Sergei Diaghilev was one of the greatest artistic innovators of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was the first to bring visual artists together to work with composers and choreographers in order to create theatrical works of art for a broad public, and the world-renowned ballets that he produced in Paris at the beginning of the twentieth century left a permanent stamp on the world of dance. In Western Europe, Diaghilev is primarily known as the source of inspiration of the dance company Les Ballets Russes, which completely innovated the dance world from 1910 to 1920 and re-established the eminent position of ballet among the arts. But Diaghilev also had a profound influence on the other visual arts: He collaborated with famous painters like Matisse, Picasso, Di Chirico and Cocteau; with choreographers such as Fokine, Massine and Balanchine; and with composers such as Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ravel and Debussy. This catalogue presents Diaghilev's artistic legacy in an unprecedented scale--paintings, drawings, costumes and decors from more than 15 museological and private collections in Russia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Spain are brought together here for the first time. Presented here are works by Russian artists such as Michail Vrubel, Valentin Serov, Alexander Golovin, Lev Bakst, Natalya Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov.Bowlt, John E. is the author of 'Working for Diaghilev ' with ISBN 9789076704852 and ISBN 9076704856.