"Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and Theatrical Design" Exhibition

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

This event has ended.

In Paris, 1909, the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev founded the Ballets Russes, whose reputation as a revolution in twentieth-century theatrical design continues to this day. The Ballets Russes brought together the talents of artists from various fields—genius dancers such as Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky, composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Erik Satie, avant-garde artist and costume-designer Léon Bakst—and made an enormous impact on western theater and art of the 1910s-1920s as a collective arts movement. They spearheaded the advancement of the Russian avant-garde, and played a role in the popularity of Art Deco.
This exhibition will introduce the ever-brilliant world of Ballets Russes through works such as approximately 140 sketches for costume designs, 10 original costumes from St. Petersburg, and films of reenacted performances.

[Image: Léon Bakst "Costume design for Vaslav Nijinsky in Diaghilev’s 'La Péri'"(1911)
©Professor Stavrovski Collection, New York]