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Figurine
Scheurich, Paul, born 1883 - Enlarge image
Figurine
- Place of origin:
Germany (made)
- Date:
1914 (modelled)
- Artist/Maker:
Scheurich, Paul, born 1883 (sculptor)
Meissen porcelain factory (made) - Credit Line:
Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the London Archives of the Dance
- Museum number:
S.710-2009
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This is one of five figures modelled by Paul Scheurich on characters in the ballet Le Carnival originally created for a charity performance by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in St Petersburg in February 1910, choreographed by Mikhail Fokine, with music by Robert Schumann. It was staged in Berlin as a one-act ballet at the Theatre des Westerns on 21 May 1910 with new sets and costumes by Bakst, and repeated on the Company's visits to the city in 1912 and 1914. Carnival became the best-loved Ballets Russes ballet in Berlin, resulting in its choice for recreation by Meissen.
Paul Scheurich was born in New York and emigrated to Berlin in 1900 where he studied at the Academy of Fine Art from 1900-1902. He developed a career as a graphic designer, book illustrator and poster designer and was also a skilled sculptor. He worked for several German porcelain factories but appears to have begun working with Meissen in 1913, for whom he sculpted 87 figures over 20 years. These figures were modelled in 1914 but may not have gone into production until 1915.
