The Ballets Russes
A look back at the avant-garde costumes of the great Ballets Russes, and the inter-disciplinary collaborative spirit that saw them come to life.
Image credit: E.O. Hoppé, Thamar - Madame Thamar Karsavina and M. Adolph Bolm, 1913, National Gallery of Australia © E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection
In 1909, Russian art critic and patron Sergei Diaghilev founded the groundbreaking Ballets Russes. Diaghilev’s approach was novel – he viewed ballet production as a holistic process encompassing dance, music, story, costumes and set design. This multifaceted approach revitalised the genre, the legacy of which continues to influence contemporary ballet, art and fashion.
The Ballets Russes emerged in a period of both prosperity and uncertainty. Political unrest and threat of war, financial growth and crises, worldwide pandemic and widespread changes all impacted society. Artists, eager to transcend the rigours of the everyday, embraced the uncanny, dreams and alternate states. Immersive spectacles such as the Ballets Russes became a refuge, safe spaces in which to cast off the pressures of the everyday and explore the complexities of the period.
Diaghliev selected his Ballets Russes collaborators based on their artistic vision, more so than their experience with ballet. Many of the costumes and sets were designed by renowned artists, including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. These artists challenged the restraints of traditional ballet costume, designing imaginative, risqué and sometimes impractical pieces that drew on vast international, cultural and symbolic inspirations. Their costumes became intrinsic to the storytelling process, augmenting the expressive possibilities of the dancers’ movements.
Embracing the spirit of Surrealism, they revelled in the uncanny and evoked dreamlike states, from the whimsical to the outright fantastical.
Many of the costumes embraced unusual architectural shapes, the dancers becoming both characters and part of ... Subscribe to read all articles in full
