BALLETS RUSSE DE MONTE-CARLO, AUTOGRAPHS Season 1945-1946. Sergei J. Denham, director. New York: General Program Corporation, 1945.
Lot 803
Sold
- [68] p.: ill.; 30.7x23 cm. In English.
Fourteen autographs of ballerinas and dancers from the troupe, alongside their photographs.
In publisher's illustrated cover, designed by Dorothea Tanning (for George Balanchine's ballet "Night Shadow").
In good condition. Rubbing on the spine, creases, and small losses to the corners of the cover, 2 sheets with colour illustrations falling out of the block, traces of moisture along the bottom corner of the block.
Dorothea Margaret Tanning (25 August 1910 – 31 January 2012) was an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet. Her early work was influenced by Surrealism.
Russian Ballet Monte-Carlo was a ballet company created in 1932 and split in 1936 into two independent enterprises: one led by Colonel Wassily de Basil, and René Blum (which began performing after the division of rights and property as the Original Russian Ballet) and the enterprise of Serge Denham (1938-1963). In 1938, a new expanded company was created on the basis of René Blum's company 'Ballet de Monte Carlo'. Serge Denham ( original Russian name: Sergei Ivanovich Dokuchaev (1896-1970, New York) led this company, while Leonid Myasin was its principal choreographer from 1938 to 1945. 1939, Serge Denham's troupe went to the United States, where it changed its name from R. Blum to Russian Ballet Monte-Carlo (French: Le Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo).
The repertoire consisted of some of Mikhail Fokine's ballets from Diaghilev's Russian Seasons as well as Leonid Myasin's productions. Alexandra Danilova was the company's principal soloist for performances in the USA in 1938-1952.