{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O59078"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O59078/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CT3258/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CT3258/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CT3258","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CT2191","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG0171","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O59078","accessionNumber":"S.487-2000","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Print","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The print depicts the finale of Leonide Massine's ballet Parade, with a libretto by Jean Cocteau, designs by Pablo Picasso and music by Erik Satie, produced by Diaghilev Ballets Russes in 1917.  The company, the Chinese Conjurer, the Acrobats, the American Girl and the exhausted pantomime horse form a line as the Managers try to explain to an indifferent public that the scenes they have witnessed are not the actual performance but only a glimpse of what can be seen in the theatre.  \r\nBy 1919 there was an increasing interest in the Diaghilev Ballet and material relating to dance in general.  Beaumont was already producing a series of booklets on individual Diaghilev Ballets under the series title Impressions of the Russian Ballet and a number of plywood dancers in their famous roles.  He then added a series of hand coloured prints of typical scenes from the Ballets Russes repertory.   He kept no records of when he began publishing the prints nor how many were produced, although 22 are listed in his catalogues, the work of Adrian Allinson, Ethelbert White, Randolf Schwabe and Eileen Mayo who also worked on Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets and the plywood figures.  \r\nIn all these works, Beaumont strove to capture the exact moments of the ballet as well as artists' interpretations.  Possibly the design of each print followed the painstaking search for accuracy that had characterised the creation of the illustrations for Impressions of the Russian Ballet series, described in Bookseller at the Ballet - choosing the significant moment, watching the ballet night after night to check details of the poses and grouping (not easy when the stage was full of individual dancers and movement), going backstage to sketch scenery and borrow costumes - although some prints appear to be 'composite' rather than specific tableaux.  \r\nMost of the hand-colouring for Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets was the work of Beaumont and his wife, Alice, and it is possible that both were also involved in colouring the prints, although eventually other artists were employed on both projects.\r\n\r\nParade was a milestone in ballet and art.  It is regarded as the first 'Cubist' ballet, mostly because of the 'constructions' devised for the two Managers, who became symbols of showmen against the 'real' performers and almost mobile scenery, and was instrumental in bringing Cubism to a wider audience, through those who saw the work and through the controversy it aroused.  It was Picasso's first experience of designing for the theatre and his bold use of colour allied to a sense of clarity and line showed an immediate affinity with the genre.  Parade also showed Diaghilev turning away from Russia and Russian subjects and embracing avant garde European art, becoming an integral part of the European scene.","physicalDescription":"Hand-coloured print by Ethelbert White showing the finale of Leonide Massine's ballet Parade, designed by Pablo Picasso for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1917. In a stylized setting of a theatre prosceium and skyscrapers are, from left to right, a seated  pantomime horse, a male figure wearing exaggerated Chinese costume in scarlet, yellow and black, a male acrobat in blue body tights decorated with white shapes and stars, a female acrobat in blue striped tights, blue shorts and blue striped scarf, a girl in a short skirt and a French navy blazer with sailor collar and two 'Cubist' figures, one scarlet with a megaphone and one black and white with a pipe and cane. \r\nThe image is framed by a multiple line border one band of which is coloured pink, one green and one pale blue.\nPrint coloured by hand signed Ethelbert White.  Published early 1920s.\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"White, Ethelbert","id":"A5489"},"association":{"text":"Artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"Gouache","id":"AAT70114"},{"text":"Printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"Paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Printing","id":"AAT53319"},{"text":"Hand colouring","id":"AAT133555"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Print of black ink coloured by hand in watercolour and gouache on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2009CT3258","2009CT2191","2016JG0171"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES351407"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x46159"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"second half 1920s","earliest":"1925-01-01","latest":"1929-12-31"},"association":{"text":"Published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"342","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"375","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"\"Copy\"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"Pencil","method":"Handwriting","position":"Upper right hand corner","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Textual information","note":"Textual information; Upper right hand corner; Handwriting; Pencil; Unknown"}],"objectHistory":"Acquired with Cyril Beaumont collection after his death.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Hand-coloured print by Ethelbert White showing the finale of Leonide Massine's ballet Parade, designed by Pablo Picasso for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1917.  Published 1920s.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Beaumont, Cyril, Bookseller at the Ballet, Memoirs 1891-1929: London, C. W. Beaumont, London, 1975.  426p., ill.  Z325.B35"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.487-2000"],"accessionNumberNum":"487","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2000,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN9209","2019LU6337","2019LU0562"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-23","recordCreationDate":"2001-05-18","availableToBook":true}}