Research Catalog

Title

[Photograph albums of Maya Plisetskaya and Anna Pavlova] / compiled by Dennis Drayer.

Author

Drayer, Dennis, 1942.

Publication

1890-2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Avedon, Richard.
• Mishkin, Herman.

Description

13 vol. (in 5 boxes) : b&w, col.; 32 cm.

Summary

Vol. 1-2 : Pictorial tribute to Maya Plisetskaya; vol. 3: Anna Pavlova & Maya Plisetskaya; vol. 4 Anna Pavlova & Maya Plisetskaya (similar ballets performed); vol. 5: Anna Pavlova & Maya Plisetskaya (similar countries visited); vol. 6: Plisetskaya/Pavlova (compiled 2009), Herman Mishkin, photographer of Pavlova; vol. 7: Plisetskaya/Pavlova, 2009, album 2, Avedon-Plisetskaya; vol. 8-9: Pavlova-world wide travel via photos; vol. 10: Plisetskaya: age of her in chronological order; vol. 11: Plisetskaya-beautiful red hair; vol. 12: Exclusive Pavlova studies; vol. 13: Pavlova: the world's prima ballerina.

Alternative Title

• Pictorial tribute to Maya Plisetskaya.
• Anna Pavlova & Maya Plisetskaya.

Subjects

• Pavlova, Anna, 1881-1931
• Dancers > Russia > 20th century
• Dancers > Pictorial works
• Photographic prints
• Pliset︠s︡kai︠a︡, Maĭi︠a︡, 1925-2015

Genre/Form

Photographic prints.

Note

• Photocopies and photographic prints documenting the lives and careers of Russian dancers Maya Plisetskaya and Anna Pavlova, collected and arranged by Dennis Drayer from 2004-2009.
• Vol. 1 and 7 includes fashion-inspired images of Plisetskaya by Richard Avedon. Vol. 2 includes short Wikipedia biographies of Plisetskaya and her aunt and uncle, Sulamif and Asaf Messerer. Vol. 3-5 offers comparisons between Plisetskaya and Pavlova's lives and careers, including shared repertoire and countries visited. Vol. 6 includes images of Pavlova by Herman Mishkin. Vol. 8 and 9 include images of Pavlova in her world-wide travel. Vol. 10 includes the Messerer-Plisetskaya family tree and family images of Plisetskaya including her aunt and uncle, Sulamith and Asaf Messerer. Vol. 11 includes a brief career outline for Plisetskaya and images of her in performance, commercial publications, public gatherings, informal settings, and depictions by artists. Vol. 12 and 13 are scrapbooks on Pavlova.
• Collection also includes commemorative coins, one for Pavlova and two for Plisetskaya.

Biography (note)

• In 1925, Maya Plisetskaya was born into a well-known Russian Jewish theatrical family, the Messerers, and became a student at the Bolshoi Ballet School at age seven. Within three years she was dancing in important roles in the school repertory, some choreographed by her uncle, Asaf Messerer. She performed soloist roles in the Bolshoi repertory even before her graduation from the school, effectively joining joining the Bolshoi Ballet as a soloist. Her first major Bolshoi role was the title role in 1945 Raymonda, followed by the leads in Swan lake, Don Quixote, Laurencia, and later Carmen suite, the last with music adapted by her husband, the composer Rodin Shchedrin. She was a great favorite with audiences abroad during the Bolshoi's many tours. In 1994, her biography was published in Russia, and in 2001 was translated into English as I, Maya Plisetskaya.
• Anna Pavlova was born in 1881 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Having gone with her mother to see the Sleeping beauty at the Maryinsky Theater, the nine year old decided to become a dancer. Admitted to the Imperial Theater School, she made her first recorded performance in a work created for the students by the dance master/choreographer Marius Petipa, with whom Pavlova maintained a close relationship until his death in 1910. In 1899, she joined the Maryinsky Ballet as a demi-solist, rising to principal in 1905. Physically fragile, she was known for her femininity, lightness, and grace, the role of Giselle becoming one of her most celebrated. For a charity performance in 1907, she met and danced for the young choreographer Michel Fokine. That relationship led to her dancing with the young soloist Vaslav Nijinsky and her most famous solo, The dying swan. Invited in 1909 by impresario Serge Diaghilev, she headed a company of dancers from the Imperial Theater in the Saison Russe in Paris, giving performances that took Western Europe by storm. Returning to Russia, she negotiated a three year contract with the Maryinsky which allowed her freedom to travel. The following year she made a great success in her New York and London debuts, dancing with Mikhail Mordkin who would become her partner when she broke with the Maryinsky to form her own company. Touring the world became her life and she became the inspiration for generations of young ballet dancers, including the young Frederic Ashton. She died, just before beginning a new tour, in the Hague in 1931.

Call Number

*MGZEB 08-2008

OCLC

262750919

Author

Drayer, Dennis, 1942.

Title

[Photograph albums of Maya Plisetskaya and Anna Pavlova] / compiled by Dennis Drayer.

Imprint

1890-2006.

Biography

In 1925, Maya Plisetskaya was born into a well-known Russian Jewish theatrical family, the Messerers, and became a student at the Bolshoi Ballet School at age seven. Within three years she was dancing in important roles in the school repertory, some choreographed by her uncle, Asaf Messerer. She performed soloist roles in the Bolshoi repertory even before her graduation from the school, effectively joining joining the Bolshoi Ballet as a soloist. Her first major Bolshoi role was the title role in 1945 Raymonda, followed by the leads in Swan lake, Don Quixote, Laurencia, and later Carmen suite, the last with music adapted by her husband, the composer Rodin Shchedrin. She was a great favorite with audiences abroad during the Bolshoi's many tours. In 1994, her biography was published in Russia, and in 2001 was translated into English as I, Maya Plisetskaya.

Anna Pavlova was born in 1881 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Having gone with her mother to see the Sleeping beauty at the Maryinsky Theater, the nine year old decided to become a dancer. Admitted to the Imperial Theater School, she made her first recorded performance in a work created for the students by the dance master/choreographer Marius Petipa, with whom Pavlova maintained a close relationship until his death in 1910. In 1899, she joined the Maryinsky Ballet as a demi-solist, rising to principal in 1905. Physically fragile, she was known for her femininity, lightness, and grace, the role of Giselle becoming one of her most celebrated. For a charity performance in 1907, she met and danced for the young choreographer Michel Fokine. That relationship led to her dancing with the young soloist Vaslav Nijinsky and her most famous solo, The dying swan. Invited in 1909 by impresario Serge Diaghilev, she headed a company of dancers from the Imperial Theater in the Saison Russe in Paris, giving performances that took Western Europe by storm. Returning to Russia, she negotiated a three year contract with the Maryinsky which allowed her freedom to travel. The following year she made a great success in her New York and London debuts, dancing with Mikhail Mordkin who would become her partner when she broke with the Maryinsky to form her own company. Touring the world became her life and she became the inspiration for generations of young ballet dancers, including the young Frederic Ashton. She died, just before beginning a new tour, in the Hague in 1931.

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Added Author

Avedon, Richard. Photographer

Mishkin, Herman. Photographer

Cover Title

Pictorial tribute to Maya Plisetskaya.

Anna Pavlova & Maya Plisetskaya.

Research Call Number

*MGZEB 08-2008