Print
second half 1920s (Published)
second half 1920s (Published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The print shows a scene from Leonide Massine's ballet Les Matelots, designed by Pedro Pruna, music by Georges Auric, produced by Diaghilev Ballets Russes in 1925. A sailor becomes engaged to a girl before setting off with his shipmates on a voyage; on their return sailors disguise themselves to test the girl's fidelity, but, despite the entreaties of her friend to meet the sailors, she remains true to her fiancé.
By the mid 1920s, there was an increasing interest in the Diaghilev Ballet and material relating to dance in general. Beaumont produced a series of booklets on individual Diaghilev Ballets under the series title Impressions of the Russian Ballet and a number of plywood figures of Diaghilev dancers in their famous roles. He then added a series of hand coloured prints of typical scenes from the Diaghilev Ballet repertory. He kept no records of when he began publishing the prints but catalogues show that 22 were produced, the work of Adrian Allinson, Ethelbert White and Randolf Schwabe and Eileen Mayo who had also worked on Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets and the plywood figures.
In all these works, Beaumont strove to capture the exact moments of the ballet as well as artists' interpretations. Possibly the design of each print followed the painstaking search for accuracy that had characterised the creation of the illustrations for Impressions of the Russian Ballet series, described in Bookseller at the Ballet - choosing the significant moment, watching the ballet night after night to check details of the poses and grouping (not easy when the stage was full of individual dancers and movement), going backstage to sketch scenery and borrow costumes - although some prints appear to be 'composite' rather than specific tableaux.
Most of the hand-colouring for Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets was the work of Beaumont and his wife, Alice, and it is possible that both were also involved in colouring the prints, although eventually other artists, including Mayo, were employed on both projects.
Historical significance: Although the link is tenuous, the ballet was the forerunner of the 1940s works dealing with the activities of sailors on shore leave - Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free which was itself the inspiration for the musical and subsequent film On the Town.
By the mid 1920s, there was an increasing interest in the Diaghilev Ballet and material relating to dance in general. Beaumont produced a series of booklets on individual Diaghilev Ballets under the series title Impressions of the Russian Ballet and a number of plywood figures of Diaghilev dancers in their famous roles. He then added a series of hand coloured prints of typical scenes from the Diaghilev Ballet repertory. He kept no records of when he began publishing the prints but catalogues show that 22 were produced, the work of Adrian Allinson, Ethelbert White and Randolf Schwabe and Eileen Mayo who had also worked on Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets and the plywood figures.
In all these works, Beaumont strove to capture the exact moments of the ballet as well as artists' interpretations. Possibly the design of each print followed the painstaking search for accuracy that had characterised the creation of the illustrations for Impressions of the Russian Ballet series, described in Bookseller at the Ballet - choosing the significant moment, watching the ballet night after night to check details of the poses and grouping (not easy when the stage was full of individual dancers and movement), going backstage to sketch scenery and borrow costumes - although some prints appear to be 'composite' rather than specific tableaux.
Most of the hand-colouring for Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets was the work of Beaumont and his wife, Alice, and it is possible that both were also involved in colouring the prints, although eventually other artists, including Mayo, were employed on both projects.
Historical significance: Although the link is tenuous, the ballet was the forerunner of the 1940s works dealing with the activities of sailors on shore leave - Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free which was itself the inspiration for the musical and subsequent film On the Town.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Print (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Print coloured by hand in watercolour and gouache on paper |
| Brief description | Hand-coloured print by E[ileen] M[ayo] showing a scene from Leonide Massine's ballet Les Matelots designed by Pedro Pruna created for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1925. Published late 1920s. |
| Physical description | Hand-coloured print by E[ileen] M[ayo] showing a scene from Leonide Massine's ballet Les Matelots designed by Pedro Pruna created for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1925. A backcloth showing a harborside with a background of hills, and silhouette ships in harbour; to left a collonade with, in front, a statue of a nude female, centre a figure on a tall column and right a collonade; far right a brown wall painted with architectural details. One wing is scarlet, one pale blue. On stage to the left a sailor wearing a blue striped jersey and grey trousers with red cap and cummerbund, holds a girl diagonally across his knee; she wears a pink blue dress with a yellow apron and a headscarf in blue spotted white. Centre stage a sailor in a lunge wearing a brown jersey and white trousers and sailor hat, and a standing sailor, right arm raised, wearing a blue jacket, grey trousers and a white French sailor cap with a red pompom. To the right, a large pale blue cube painted with a Cupid and a ship. Print coloured by hand signed with the monogram EM. The image is framed by a multiple line border one band of which is coloured blue. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest |
| Object history | Acquired with the Cyril Beaumont collection |
| Summary | The print shows a scene from Leonide Massine's ballet Les Matelots, designed by Pedro Pruna, music by Georges Auric, produced by Diaghilev Ballets Russes in 1925. A sailor becomes engaged to a girl before setting off with his shipmates on a voyage; on their return sailors disguise themselves to test the girl's fidelity, but, despite the entreaties of her friend to meet the sailors, she remains true to her fiancé. By the mid 1920s, there was an increasing interest in the Diaghilev Ballet and material relating to dance in general. Beaumont produced a series of booklets on individual Diaghilev Ballets under the series title Impressions of the Russian Ballet and a number of plywood figures of Diaghilev dancers in their famous roles. He then added a series of hand coloured prints of typical scenes from the Diaghilev Ballet repertory. He kept no records of when he began publishing the prints but catalogues show that 22 were produced, the work of Adrian Allinson, Ethelbert White and Randolf Schwabe and Eileen Mayo who had also worked on Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets and the plywood figures. In all these works, Beaumont strove to capture the exact moments of the ballet as well as artists' interpretations. Possibly the design of each print followed the painstaking search for accuracy that had characterised the creation of the illustrations for Impressions of the Russian Ballet series, described in Bookseller at the Ballet - choosing the significant moment, watching the ballet night after night to check details of the poses and grouping (not easy when the stage was full of individual dancers and movement), going backstage to sketch scenery and borrow costumes - although some prints appear to be 'composite' rather than specific tableaux. Most of the hand-colouring for Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets was the work of Beaumont and his wife, Alice, and it is possible that both were also involved in colouring the prints, although eventually other artists, including Mayo, were employed on both projects. Historical significance: Although the link is tenuous, the ballet was the forerunner of the 1940s works dealing with the activities of sailors on shore leave - Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free which was itself the inspiration for the musical and subsequent film On the Town. |
| Bibliographic reference | Beaumont, Cyril, Bookseller at the Ballet, Memoirs 1891-1929: London, C. W. Beaumont, London, 1975. 426p., ill. Z325.B35 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.495-2000 |
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| Record created | May 22, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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