Signed photograph of Lubov Tchernicheva as the leading Muse in Zéphire et Flore, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1925. This is a publicity picture, issued to the press by the London Coliseum where the ballet opened on 12 November 1925. The press caption on the back of the image describes Tchernicheva as 'the Muse of Song'.

Zéphire et Flore, choreographed by Léonide Massine, was a modern adaptation of an 18th century telling of a mythological subject that had attracted many choreographers. Boreas (god of the north wind) abducts Flore (Flora, goddess of Spring), wife of Zéphire (Zephyr, the gentle west wind) whom he shoots with an arrow during a game of blind man’s buff. The Muses bring the body of Zéphire to Flore and he is miraculously revived, the lovers are re-united and Boreas punished.

Boris Kochno created an over-elaborate narrative which required simplification. His desire to give the ballet an early 19th century Russian style was only evident in the Kokoshnik headdresses worn by the Muses. In this photograph Tchernicheva no longer wears a Kokoshnik but has an arrangement of pearls on her head. British Vogue (early December 1925) described the Muses as forming a corps de ballet 'dressed in costumes resembling the fashionable evening dress of the moment'.

Léonide Massine was invited to return to the Ballets Russes to choreograph the ballet. He had collaborated with Braque on Salade for Soirées de Paris the year before. Zéphire et Flore was short-lived (it received 29 performances over 2 years) and was plagued by dancers’ injuries in Monte Carlo and Paris in 1925. It was well-received in London and Berlin.