Typograpic poster advertising Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes performing Carnival, Le Bal and Shéhérazade at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo, Tuesday 7 May 1929. Printed by Imprimerie Monégasque, 1929

Typograpic poster on white paper printed in red letterpress within a blue border, advertising Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes performing Carnival, Le Bal and Shéhérazade at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo, Tuesday 7 May 1929. The poster gives details of the evening's programme, its artistic creators and the performers.

Rachel Cameron Bequest

The poster was originally owned by Sir Anton Dolin (1904-1983) who danced in this evening's performance of Carnival, and subsequently by Poppea Vanda who bequeathed it to Rachel Cameron. It advertises the one-act ballet Carnival, choreographed by Michel Fokine to his own libretto, with set and costumes by Léon Bakst; the world premiere of Le Bal, the ballet 'in two tableaux' by Boris Kochno with music by Vittorio Rieti, set and costumes by Giorgio di Chirico and choreography by George Balanchine, and the one-act 'choreographic drama' Shéhérazadewith music by Rimsky-Korsakov, set and costumes by Léon Bakst and choreography by Michel Fokine.

The dancers in Carnival were Lydia Sokolova, Lubov Tchernicheva, Dora Vadimova, Anton Dolin, Georges Balanchine, Nicholas Kremnev, Constantin Tsherkas and Jean Javinsky; in Le Bal Alexandra Danilova, Felia Doubrovska, Eugénie Lipkovska, Anton Dolin, Léon Worizikovsky, Serge Lifar, George Balanchine, and in Shéhérazade Lubov Tchernicheva, Lydia Sokolova, Vera Petrova, Dora Vadimova, Natalie Branitska, Léon Worizikovsky, Serge Grigoriev, Nicolas Kremnew, Jean Javinsky, Michel Fedorov, and the 'Artistes de la Danse'. The conductor was Marc-César Scotto, the ballet master George Balanchine and the régisseur général or rehearsal director Serge Grigoriev.

Diaghilev formed his extraordinarily creative ballet company, the Ballets Russes, in 1911, although he had begun to present ballet in Paris in 1909. This poster for Diaghilev's last season advertised an evening's performance of three ballets by the company on Tuesday, 7 May 1929, consisting of two established ballets from 1910 and the world premiere of Le Bal.

The poster notes the 'high patronage' of the S.A.S (Son Altesse Sérénissime) Princesse Héréditaire de Monaco. In 1926 Prince Pierre enlisted the help of the press agent Elsa Maxwell to improve the image of the principality of Monaco, and agreed that financial sponsorship of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes would provide an opportunity to raise the national prestige of the Prince as well as the international prestige of the principality. With his wife Princess Charlotte, the couple inaugurated a new focus there on culture, as patrons of the arts.

The performance began at 9pm, and a ticket for an orchestra stalls seat for this evening, held in the collection of Harvard University, instructs patrons to arrive in good time because the doors to the auditorium would be closed before the start of each act.

S.138-2021