Not currently on display at the V&A

Thamar

Photograph
1912 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Studio photograph of Adolph Bolm in Thamar. The photograph was probably comissioned for Comoedia Illustre, a colourised version was collaged on the cober of the magazine on 1 June 1912..The music was by Mily Balakirev and the choreography by Mikhail Fokine, with costumes designed by Leon Bakst. Thamar was first performed by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on 20 May 1912 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris and in London on 12 June 1912 at the Royal Opera House. It remained in the company’s repertoire until 1929.

The ballet, inspired by a poem by Lermontov, tells of Thamar, Queen of Georgia who lures strangers to her castle above the Dariel Gorge and after a night of passion kills them. As the Pall Mall Gazette claimed ‘It is a terrible dream of Eastern lust, a barbaric swirl of music colour, and life’ Beaumont particularly admired Adolph Bolm, the creator of the role of the stranger saying ‘none has surpassed the passionate miming and frenzied dancing’ of Bolm.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThamar (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Photograph
Brief description
Photograph by Waléry of Adolph Bolm in Thamar, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, May 1912
Physical description
Studio photograph of Adolph Bolm in Thamar, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, May 1912. The image shows Bolm on tiptoes, with one arm raised.
Dimensions
  • Height: 145mm (Note: photograph has had top corners cut off)
  • Width: 88mm
Credit line
Given by Jean Hugo

Summary
Studio photograph of Adolph Bolm in Thamar. The photograph was probably comissioned for Comoedia Illustre, a colourised version was collaged on the cober of the magazine on 1 June 1912..The music was by Mily Balakirev and the choreography by Mikhail Fokine, with costumes designed by Leon Bakst. Thamar was first performed by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on 20 May 1912 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris and in London on 12 June 1912 at the Royal Opera House. It remained in the company’s repertoire until 1929.

The ballet, inspired by a poem by Lermontov, tells of Thamar, Queen of Georgia who lures strangers to her castle above the Dariel Gorge and after a night of passion kills them. As the Pall Mall Gazette claimed ‘It is a terrible dream of Eastern lust, a barbaric swirl of music colour, and life’ Beaumont particularly admired Adolph Bolm, the creator of the role of the stranger saying ‘none has surpassed the passionate miming and frenzied dancing’ of Bolm.
Associated object
THM/165 (Archive record)
Collection
Accession number
S.201-2017

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Record createdAugust 2, 2017
Record URL
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