Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909-1929: When Art Danced with Music

Leon Bakst, Costume design for Vaslav Nijinsky as the Faun from The Afternoon of a Faun, 1912

Edited by Jane Pritchard, London and Washington, DC: V&A, NGA, 2013

This is the exhibition catalogue for the eponymous show at the NGA on the Ballets Russes.  Sergei Diaghilev was a masterful impressero who created the Ballets Russes troupe specifically for European (and eventually North and South American) audiences.  It was a touring company.  Diaghilev combined classical ballet with European high modernism and venacular Russian folklores.  The exhibition was arranged chronically which helped me learn about the different artistic phases of the Ballets Russes.  Diaghilev created productions that fused together dance, music and design in pursuit of "total art," or gesamtkunstwerk.