Boris Kochno, Serge Lifar
Diaghilev Commemorative Card - 1929
1929

About the Item

This set is composed of 2 items, around 1929/30: An Authograph Diaghilev Commemorative Card written and signed by Boris Kochno, Signed by Serge Lifar too. One page, single-sided. In French. On ivory colored paper. In excellent conditions, perfectly readable. Invitation for the exhibition of the Diaghilev's "masque", realized after his death, and shown at Le Quatre Chemins Galery in Paris (from December 5th 1929) Serge Lifar's Business Card with authograph notes to the Countess Pecci-Blunt. A message of invitation for a spectacle hold at Theatre Argentine in Rome. On letterhead paper "Serge Lifar Maitre de Ballet du Théâtre National de l'Opéra. Collect these unique pieces of the Russian Balletts history! The background: At the death of Diaghilev in 1929, the Russian dancers Boris Kochno with Serge Lifar tried to hold the Ballets Russes. Instead Lifar was invited by Jacques Rouché to take over the directorship of the Paris Opéra Ballet, which had fallen into decline. Lifar gave the company a new strength and purpose, initiating the rebirth of ballet in France, and began to create the first of many ballets for that company.These were immediately successful, such as Les Créatures de Prométhée (1929), a personal version of Le Spectre de la rose (1931); and L'Après-midi d'un faune (1935); Icare (1935), with costumes and decor by Picasso; Istar (1941); and Suite en Blanc (1943), which he qualified as Neoclassical ballet. For this reason he was called the new Icare at the Opera Theatre in Paris. Boris Evgenievich Kochno or Kokhno (1904 – 1990) The Russian poet, dancer and librettist, Boris Kochno, upon Diaghilev's death, together with Serge Lifar tried but failed to hold the Ballets Russes. The two inherited part of Diaghilev's archives and collections, which Kochno completed and part of which was acquired by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. In 1933 he co-founded, together with George Balanchine, the short-lived but history-making company Les Ballets 1933, which made its debut that summer at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. In 1925, Kochno had a "passionate affair" with American composer and songwriter Cole Porter, with whom he carried on a lengthy correspondences. Serge Lifar (Kiev, 1905, Lausanne – 1986) Serge Lifar was a French ballet dancer and choreographer of Ukrainian origin, best-known as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century. Not only a dancer, Lifar was also a choreographer, director, writer, theoretician about dance. As ballet master of the Paris Opera from 1930 to 1944, and from 1947 to 1958, he devoted himself to the restoration of the technical level of the Paris Opera Ballet, returning it to its place as one of the best companies in the world. He made his debut at the Ballets Russes in 1923, where he became the principal dancer in 1925. At the death of Diaghilev in 1929, Lifar was invited by Jacques Rouché to take over the directorship of the Paris Opéra Ballet, which had fallen into decline. Lifar gave the company a new strength and purpose, initiating the rebirth of ballet in France, and began to create the first of many ballets for that company.These were immediately successful, such as Les Créatures de Prométhée (1929), a personal version of Le Spectre de la rose (1931); and L'Après-midi d'un faune (1935); Icare (1935), with costumes and decor by Picasso; Istar (1941); and Suite en Blanc (1943), which he qualified as Neoclassical ballet. For this reason he was called the new Icare at the Opera Theatre in Paris.

Creator:

Boris Kochno, Serge Lifar

Creation Year:

1929

Dimensions:

Height: 3.82 in (9.7 cm)Width: 5.91 in (15 cm)Depth: 0.04 in (1 mm)

Medium:

Paper,Ink

Movement & Style:

Modern

Period:

1930-1939