The last remnants of one of the greatest private collections of Ballets Russes material goes on view in Geneva this week, prior to being sold on March 13. The sale includes more than 300 drawings, paintings and prints by the likes of Picasso, Max Ernst and Juan Gris, 3,000 vintage photographs of celebrities from Coco Chanel to Charlie Chaplin, and a rediscovered trove of drawings and manuscripts by Jean Cocteau; all owned by Serge Lifar, the principal dancer of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes during its final years in the late 1920s.
One of the most celebrated male dancers of the 20th century along with Nijinsky and Nureyev, Lifar was born in Kiev in 1905, and joined the Ballets Russes in Paris in 1923. The company, directed by Serge Diaghilev, revolutionised ballet by merging modern dance, music and art into a dynamic whole. At first a vehicle for bringing Russian art to the West, it was ostracised by the Revolutionary Soviet government, and became a platform for collaboration between Russian and Western artists.
With his good looks and athletic physique, Lifar soon became a star and a member of high society, befriending not only dancers and choreographers, but leading artists, writers and composers of the day.
His collection of props, designs and costumes was acquired almost exclusively from such associates. A substantial amount of material came from Diaghilev either before or after his death in 1929. Lifar was an executor of Diaghilev’s estate, and took it upon himself to safeguard many of his possessions. By 1933, he had acquired enough material to mount an exhibition in New York, where he was touring with his troupe, of more than 200 works of art and costumes, including designs by Bakst, Gontcharova, Picasso, Ernst, and Miro. However, short of the return fare to Paris, Lifar sold the collection to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut for what was then a princely $10,000.
Lifar continued to collect throughout his tenancy as the director of the Paris Opera, which ended in 1958. It was then that he met up with the glamorous blonde Swedish countess Lillian Ahlefeldt, who became his devoted companion for the rest of his life. Lifar continued to add to his collection. During the 1960s, he received several dedicated drawings from Picasso including a portrait, now estimated at 210,000, and some coloured pastels (estimate 55,200) relating to the ballet Icarus, which Lifar revived in 1962.
The last remnants of one of the greatest private collections of Ballets Russes material goes on view in Geneva this week, prior to being sold on March 13. The sale includes more than 300 drawings, paintings and prints by the likes of Picasso, Max Ernst and Juan Gris, 3,000 vintage photographs of celebrities from Coco Chanel to Charlie Chaplin, and a rediscovered trove of drawings and manuscripts by Jean Cocteau; all owned by Serge Lifar, the principal dancer of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes during its final years in the late 1920s.
One of the most celebrated male dancers of the 20th century along with Nijinsky and Nureyev, Lifar was born in Kiev in 1905, and joined the Ballets Russes in Paris in 1923. The company, directed by Serge Diaghilev, revolutionised ballet by merging modern dance, music and art into a dynamic whole. At first a vehicle for bringing Russian art to the West, it was ostracised by the Revolutionary Soviet government, and became a platform for collaboration between Russian and Western artists.
With his good looks and athletic physique, Lifar soon became a star and a member of high society, befriending not only dancers and choreographers, but leading artists, writers and composers of the day.
His collection of props, designs and costumes was acquired almost exclusively from such associates. A substantial amount of material came from Diaghilev either before or after his death in 1929. Lifar was an executor of Diaghilev’s estate, and took it upon himself to safeguard many of his possessions. By 1933, he had acquired enough material to mount an exhibition in New York, where he was touring with his troupe, of more than 200 works of art and costumes, including designs by Bakst, Gontcharova, Picasso, Ernst, and Miro. However, short of the return fare to Paris, Lifar sold the collection to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut for what was then a princely $10,000.
Lifar continued to collect throughout his tenancy as the director of the Paris Opera, which ended in 1958. It was then that he met up with the glamorous blonde Swedish countess Lillian Ahlefeldt, who became his devoted companion for the rest of his life. Lifar continued to add to his collection. During the 1960s, he received several dedicated drawings from Picasso including a portrait, now estimated at 210,000, and some coloured pastels (estimate 55,200) relating to the ballet Icarus, which Lifar revived in 1962.
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