Cléopâtre
Design by Léon Baskt 1909
russianavantgard.com |
Ida Rubinstein:
Dancer & Impressario
A young Russian protegé
of Léon
Baskt, Mikhial Fokine and Serge Diaghilev.
She became her own producer in Paris, commissioning Ravel's Bolero,
and running hospitals for French soldiers in two world wars. |
Helene de
Sparte, Act IV
Design by Léon Baskt 1912
Bert Christensen's Cyberspace Gallery
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you to learn about Ida's incredible life and art -- follow the links
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Introduction:
During
the mid-1990's, I found an old yellowed newspaper page on
the fringes of an otherwise undistinguished garage sale
in Spokane, Washington. It had two large pictures of an
elaborately costumed personality from the Paris theatrical
scene in 1912 ...
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1885-1908:
Ida Rubinstein is raised among the extraordinarily wealthy
Russian aristocracy in St. Petersburg...she arranges a meeting
with theatrical designer and artist Léon
Baskt ... meets Mikhial Fokine who creates a version of
the legendary Dance of the Seven Veils for herself -- playing
Salome.
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1909:
Fokine convinces Serge Diaghilev to take her to Paris
with the new Ballets Russes company where she dances the
title role in Cléopâtre.
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1910:
She matches her success the next season when she dances
with Vaslav Nijinsky in Scheherazade, in a cast which includes
Anna Pavlova. She is the toast of Paris at the height of La
Belle Epoch -- which is also the summit of her artistic climb.
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1911:
She parts ways with Diaghilev to be an impressario
on her own with Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien in 1911 --
written by the decadent Italian poet Gabrielle D'Annunzio,
with music by Claude Debussy
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1912-1914:
A series of spectacular productions starring Ida Rubinstein
dazzle the city of Paris, including Helene de Sparte, a
new production of Salome, and La Pisanelle, yet another
collaboration with Gabrielle D'Annunzio.
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1914-1920:
Ida Rubinstein turns the Carlton Hotel into a hospital for
wounded Allied soldiers.
She is also a model for several high-society artists and
makes friends with Sarah Bernhardt
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1920-1928:
Ida
presents Antonine et Cleopatre in 1920. New works follow
by D'Annunzio and others.
She achieves new respect as a dramatic actress with productions
of Dumas' La Dames aux Camélias
and Dostoyevsky's Le Idiote.
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1928-1934:
She forms her own dance company -- The Ida Rubinstein
Ballet. Her
seasons of 1928 and 1929 are particularly ambitious and
important -- especially because of Maurice Ravel's Bolero
and La Valse.
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1934-1960:
Ida commissions more plays, and becomes a
Catholic.
She flees to London via Casablanca, spending WWII caring
for Free French troops. Her home in Paris is destroyed by
the Nazis.
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Credited images used
by permission. Public Domain images are used freely under provisions of
International law.
All
Rights Reserved © Michael R. Evans 2007
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