{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O63480"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O63480/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9114/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9114/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AB9114","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BE9552","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AH5637","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O63480","accessionNumber":"S.874-1981","objectType":"Figurine","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This small figure represents Adolph Bolm as the Warrior Chief in <i>Polovtsian Dances</i>, Mikhail Fokine's ballet in Borodin's opera <i>Prince Igor</i>.  An excerpt from the opera set in the Russian steppes was the sensation of the first Paris season organised by Diaghilev in 1909 with dancers from the Imperial Russian Ballet.  Before Diaghilev's productions, European audiences couldn't  have conceived of a ballet like this or a man dancing like Bolm.  He leapt on stage to the pounding rhythms of Borodin's music and a chanting chorus, and Fokine's choreography astonished audiences who had never seen male dancers dancing in such an uninhibited way.\r\n\r\nFrödman-Cluzel's bronze conveys the energetic style of the ballet and Bolm's physique, which conditioned Fokine's choreography.  Bolm crashed his feet to the ground to emphasise the ferocious rhythms of the music, while the proud curve of the back captured the essence of the tribal warrior. The revolutionary Diaghilev Ballet re-asserted the infinite variety of style and expression inherent within ballet, and its validity as an expressive theatrical medium.","physicalDescription":"Full-length male figure poised on the ball of the left foot, the right leg bent in the air with the heel at the left knee and the foot flexed, the right knee slightly bent. The back and head are arched back and the left arm is slightly behind him, hanging down, while the right is stretched up in the air and holds a bow.  The figure wears cuffed ankle boots, tight-fitting trousers, a long skirted jacket belted around the waist, and a fitted round cap on the head.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Frödman Cluzel, B B","id":"A5865"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"AAT25181"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Lost wax process","id":"AAT53113"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze, cire perdue","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006AB9114","2006BE9552","2006AH5637"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES355575"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"figurines","id":"AAT47455"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"St Petersburg","id":"x29178"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1909","earliest":"1909-01-01","latest":"1909-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"24.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"17.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at deepest point, back of head to front of left knee","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"7.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Frödman Cluzel St Petersburg 1909' and incised with a foundry stamp.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Incised on base."}],"objectHistory":"The figure represents Adolph Bolm as the Warrior Chief in Mikhail Fokine's ballet <i>Polovtsian Dance</i> in Borodin's opera <i>Prince Igor</i>, which was the sensation of the first Paris season organised by Diaghilev with dancers from the Imperial Russian Ballet in 1909. Bolm took Paris by storm and his ferocious, uninhibited performance did much to re-establish ballet to public favour.  It is true to say that European audiences could never have conceived either of a ballet like <i>Polovtsian Dances</i> or a man dancing like Bolm.  \r\nThe figure came to the Museum as part of the Cyril Beaumont Bequest.\n\nHistorical significance: Bolm's performance as the Warrior Chief did much to restore the reputation of the male dancer in Europe.  Even more than the sensation caused by Nijinsky's performances, Bolm's interpretation of the ferocious, virile tribal chief confounded all expectations of an audience who had come to see male dancers as unacceptable and, indeed, had often seen them replaced by female dancers en travesti.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Adolph Bolm as the Polovtsian Chief in Mikhail Fokine's ballet <i>The Polovtsian Dances</i> from <i>Prince Igor</i>.  Bronze by B B Frödman-Cluzel, 1909.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Fowler, James, edited, <i>Images of Show Business</i>, Methuen, London, 1982, p43\r\nShouvaloff, Alexander, <i>The Theatre Museum</i>, Scala Books, London, 1987, p87 \r\n(text by Sarah C Woodcock)"},{"reference":{"text":"Kodicek, Ann, Rosamund Bartlett, <i>Diaghilev, Creator of the Ballets Russes: Art, Music, Dance</i>, London: Barbican Art Gallery, 1996.","id":"AUTH349636"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"Incised on base 'Frödman Cluzel St Petersburg 1909' and incised with a foundry stamp","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Bolm, Adloph","id":"N1381"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.874-1981"],"accessionNumberNum":"874","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1981,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN6062","2019LT2707","2019LX0061","2021MU9897","2021MU9898"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-09","recordCreationDate":"2001-11-29","availableToBook":true}}