Research Catalog

Title

[Ballets russes] [graphic] / Ethelbert White.

Author

White, Ethelbert, 1891-1972.

Publication

[191-?]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Massine, Leonide, 1896-1979.
• Beaumont, Cyril W. (Cyril William), 1891-1976.

Description

3 prints : wood engraving, hand-colored in watercolor and gouache, color; 34 x 38 cm., image 25 x 29 cm.

Summary

Scenes from two ballets choreographed by Leonide Massine for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. One print depicts the Snow maiden's dance in Soleil de nuit (Midnight sun). Two prints portray scenes from Contes russes (Children's tales): Kikimora and her cat, and the Little girl and Baba-Yaga.

Subjects

• Ballets russes
• Wood engravings
• Contes russes (Choreographic work : Massine)
• Soleil de nuit (Choreographic work : Massine)

Genre/Form

Wood engravings.

Note

• Title devised by cataloger.
• Signed.
• Published as illustrations to Cyril W. Beaumont's series Impressions of the Russian ballet (1918-1921).

Biography (note)

• All three ballets were performed by the Ballets Russes in London in 1918 or 1919. Massine's first ballet, Soleil de nuit, also known as Midnight sun (music, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; scenery and costumes, Mikhail Larionov) was first presented in Geneva in 1915, and was danced in London in Nov. 1918. Kikimora, the seed of Contes russes (music, Anatoly Liadov), was first given in 1916. Lengthened by additional scenes, the ballet was retitled Contes russes and presented, with scenery and costumes by Mikhail Larionov, in Paris in 1917. The definitive version was presented in London in 1918 under the title Children's tales. Some of the scenery had to be replaced, having been destroyed by a fire during the company's South American tour in 1917, and the set for the Baba-Yaga sequence was repainted green rather than its original yellow. The print titled The little girl and Baba-Yaga depicts this change of hue.
• Ethelbert White studied at St. John's School of Art but received no formal training in wood engraving until Cyril Beaumont commissioned him to provide wood engravings as illustrations to his series Impressions of the Russian ballet. He mastered the art well enough to be elected to the Society of Wood Engravers in 1921. He also worked as a landscape painter and poster designer.

Call Number

*MGZGD Whi E Bal 1-3

OCLC

824798670

Author

White, Ethelbert, 1891-1972.

Title

[Ballets russes] [graphic] / Ethelbert White.

Imprint

[191-?]

Biography

All three ballets were performed by the Ballets Russes in London in 1918 or 1919. Massine's first ballet, Soleil de nuit, also known as Midnight sun (music, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; scenery and costumes, Mikhail Larionov) was first presented in Geneva in 1915, and was danced in London in Nov. 1918. Kikimora, the seed of Contes russes (music, Anatoly Liadov), was first given in 1916. Lengthened by additional scenes, the ballet was retitled Contes russes and presented, with scenery and costumes by Mikhail Larionov, in Paris in 1917. The definitive version was presented in London in 1918 under the title Children's tales. Some of the scenery had to be replaced, having been destroyed by a fire during the company's South American tour in 1917, and the set for the Baba-Yaga sequence was repainted green rather than its original yellow. The print titled The little girl and Baba-Yaga depicts this change of hue.

Ethelbert White studied at St. John's School of Art but received no formal training in wood engraving until Cyril Beaumont commissioned him to provide wood engravings as illustrations to his series Impressions of the Russian ballet. He mastered the art well enough to be elected to the Society of Wood Engravers in 1921. He also worked as a landscape painter and poster designer.

Local Note

Cataloging funds provided by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Added Author

Massine, Leonide, 1896-1979. Associated name

Beaumont, Cyril W. (Cyril William), 1891-1976. Associated name

Research Call Number

*MGZGD Whi E Bal 1-3