The State Hermitage Museum: Hermitage News

Dance. To the 100th Anniversary of Sergey Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons in Paris

14 October 2009, the exhibition dedicated to the anniversary of Sergey Pavlovich Diaghilev’s (1872 - 1929) Russian Seasons in Paris opened in the Court Gallery of the Winter Palace (halls 338-339).

The exhibited works of art demonstrate the change in the attitude toward dancing in the art of the end of the 19th - first half of the 20th century.

The major emphasis is made on the art of the beginning of the 20th century, the period of Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons in Paris. During this period the art of dancing often became a pattern, guideline and metaphor of creative working process for an artist.

The exhibition includes about 80 exhibits among which there are paintings, sculptures, graphic works and works of applied art. Here one can see not only works that directly depict the art of dancing, but also works, that bring associations with dancing by their style, plastique of figures and line style, though their main theme is not connected with dancing.

The exhibition can be divided into two parts. The first section unites the works by Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917) and masters of 1890s. The works of one of the brightest representatives of impressionism are represented by the picture the Ballet Rehearsal on Stage from Musee d’Orsay (Paris, France), three pastels, a pictorial sketch, a drawing and two sculptures from the collection of the Hermitage.

The works by artists of the next generation show the dance as a performance and a ritual. During this period the art of dancing influenced the very style of fine arts. Here one can mark out the works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Japanese Settee), drawings from Café-Concert series), table decoration made of porcelain by Agathon Leonard van Weidelveldt Dance with Scarves, lithography works by Henri Fantin-Latour and Walter Crane.

The 20th century is represented by graphic works by Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954), Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985) and Henri Laurens (1885 - 1954).

The exhibition includes works by Matisse that directly depict dancing as well as works that allow finding more or less close analogies: images of separate figures and abstract arabesques. Along with graphic works (drawings from publications Jazz, Stephane Mallarme’s Poems, Selected Love Verse of Ronsard) the picture Fruit and Flowers, panel the Dance and two small sculptures (Leg Sketch and Torso) are also displayed at the exhibition.

The works of Marc Chagall are represented by full-colour lithography works from publications Circus, Daphnis and Chloe and Poems.

The idea of Henri Laurens’ art is given by a few engravings from the books Idyls of Theocritus and Lukios and a donkey. It should be underlined that the works by the master are exhibited in the Hermitage quite rarely and are practically unknown to the public.

This section of the exhibition also includes graphic works and photographs directly connected with Russian Seasons.

Along with the works from the State Hermitage funds the sculpture by Umberto Boccioni (1882 - 1916) Forme uniche della continuità nello spazio (Unique Forms of Continuity in Space) from the Tate Gallery (London, Great Britain) will be exhibited later.

The curator of the exhibition is Mikhail Vitalyevich Balan, researcher at the Department of Western European Art of the State Hermitage.

At the opening of the exhibition

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and Natalia Metelitsa, Director of the St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music

At the exhibition