{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O59092"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O59092/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JG0161/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JG0161/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JG0161","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O59092","accessionNumber":"S.494-2000","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Print","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This print of Cimarosiana appears to have been the last in the series of souvenir-prints of the Ballets Russes that Cyril Beaumont comissioned. \nCimarosiana a divertissement ballet takes its name from its composer, Domenico Cimarosa. It was originally the final scene of the opera Le Astuzie Femminili (Astuce Féminine) in two acts and three scenes first presented with choreography by Léonide Massine by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris on 27 May 1920.  As an independant divertissement it was first dance by the Ballets Russes under the title Ballet de l’ Astuce Féminine on January 1924 at Monte Carlo. It remained in the company’s repertoire until their final on 4 August 1929 at the Casino, Vichy. In 1920 the divertissement consisted of six dances; in 1924 Bronislava Nijinska added a Pas de Quatre and later a Pas Rustique was included so that there were eight dances.\r\n\r\nThe set by Jose Marie Sert shows a panorama of Rome at night. Cyril Beaumont described it : ‘a broad terrace relieved by stone pedestals bearing groups of statuary and bounded by a low balustrade, and, in the distance, the cupolas and spires and hills of Rome. The whole was bathed in yellowish-green moonlight, with here and there patches of velvety shadow’.  \n\nFor a coloured version of Ethelbert White's print see S.493-2000.\r\n","physicalDescription":"On a terrace, backed by a city on a hill to left and a close-up dome to right, two dancers perform to an audience wearing evening dress with high top hats and military uniform with high 'hussar' hats.  The male dancer, wearing all over tights entwined with narrow bands hung with bobbles and a pointed cap, kneels on one knee and the female dancer stands in an open position on pointe, wearing pantaloons with serrated legs and a 'ruff' tutu decorated with lozenge shapes.  At the back stand three negro servants in exotic dress, each holding a 'balloon' lamp. Print signed Ethelbert White.  \r\nThe image is framed by a multiple line border.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"White, Ethelbert","id":"A5489"},"association":{"text":"Artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"Paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Printing","id":"AAT53319"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Print on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Souvenirs","id":"THES287379"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2016JG0161"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES351407"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"Yes-general","note":"NB: The term \"negro\" was used historically to describe people of black African heritage but, since the 1960s, has fallen from usage and, increasingly, is considered offensive. The term is repeated here in its original historical context."}],"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":[],"objectHistory":"NB: The term \"negro\" was used historically to describe people of black African heritage but, since the 1960s, has fallen from usage and, increasingly, is considered offensive. The term is repeated here in its original historical context.\r\n\r\nThe print shows the pas de deux from Act III of Cimarosa's opera Le Astuzie femminili, produced by Diaghilev in 1920, designed by José Maria Sert; the first two Acts were entirely opera, Act III entirely dance, with a short sung introduction, a moonlight fete in Rome at which the guests were entertained by a Russian ballet choreographed by Leonide Massine.  \r\nUncoloured state of S.493-2000.  \r\nBy the mid 1920s, there was an increasing interest in the Diaghilev Ballet and material relating to dance in general.  Beaumont had already produced a series of booklets on individual Diaghilev Ballets under the series title Impressions of the Russian Ballet and a number of wooden cut-out Diaghilev dancers in their famous roles.  He now decided to produce a series of hand coloured prints of typical scenes from the Diaghilev Ballet repertory.   He kept no records of when he began publishing the prints nor how many were produced, although he reckoned about twenty, mostly the work of Adrian Allinson, Ethelbert White and Randolf Schwabe who had also worked on Impressions of the Russian Ballet booklets and the wooden figures, and Eileen Mayo.  \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.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Print c.1933 by Ethelbert White of the pas de deux in Leonide Massine's ballet Cimarosiana, Diaghilev's Ballets Russe (initially performed in 1920 as Act III of L'Astuzie femminili, L'Astuce Feminine).","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.494-2000"],"accessionNumberNum":"494","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2000,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-23","recordCreationDate":"2001-05-18","availableToBook":true}}