Picasso and the Ballets Russes
Encyclopedia
Pablo Picasso
's first collaboration with the Ballets Russes
was Parade
. In a letter sent to a friend, Jean Cocteau
the librettist said "Picasso amazes me every day, to live near him is a lesson in nobility and hard work". Picasso's studio in Rome had a little crate that held the model of "Parade" with its trees and houses, and on a table were the painted characters: the Chinaman, Managers, American girl, and horse. Cocteau described his friend's unusual artistic process: "A badly drawn figure of Picasso is the result of endless well-drawn figures he erases, corrects, covers over, and which serves him as a foundation. In opposition to all schools he seems to end his work with a sketch." The audiences were amazed by the first ballet to have cubist costumes, sets, and choreography.
After World War I, Picasso made a number of important relationships with figures associated with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. In the summer of 1918, Picasso married Olga Khokhlova
, a ballerina with the troupe, for whom Picasso was designing the ballet, Parade
, in Rome; and they spent their honeymoon in the villa near Biarritz of the glamorous Chilean art patron Eugenia Errázuriz
. During the same period that Picasso collaborated with Diaghilev’s troup, he and Igor Stravinsky
collaborated on Pulcinella
in 1920.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
's first collaboration with the Ballets Russes
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...
was Parade
Parade (ballet)
Parade is a ballet with music by Erik Satie and a one-act scenario by Jean Cocteau. The ballet was composed 1916-1917 for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes...
. In a letter sent to a friend, Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
the librettist said "Picasso amazes me every day, to live near him is a lesson in nobility and hard work". Picasso's studio in Rome had a little crate that held the model of "Parade" with its trees and houses, and on a table were the painted characters: the Chinaman, Managers, American girl, and horse. Cocteau described his friend's unusual artistic process: "A badly drawn figure of Picasso is the result of endless well-drawn figures he erases, corrects, covers over, and which serves him as a foundation. In opposition to all schools he seems to end his work with a sketch." The audiences were amazed by the first ballet to have cubist costumes, sets, and choreography.
After World War I, Picasso made a number of important relationships with figures associated with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. In the summer of 1918, Picasso married Olga Khokhlova
Olga Khokhlova
Olga Stepanovna Khokhlova was a Ukrainian-Russian dancer, better known as the first wife of Pablo Picasso and the mother of his son, Paulo.- Biography:Olga was born in Nizhyn, Russian Empire, now Ukraine....
, a ballerina with the troupe, for whom Picasso was designing the ballet, Parade
Parade (ballet)
Parade is a ballet with music by Erik Satie and a one-act scenario by Jean Cocteau. The ballet was composed 1916-1917 for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes...
, in Rome; and they spent their honeymoon in the villa near Biarritz of the glamorous Chilean art patron Eugenia Errázuriz
Eugenia Errázuriz
Eugenia Huici Arguedas de Errázuriz was a Chilean patron of modernism and a style leader of Paris from 1880 into the 20th century, who paved the way for the modernist minimalist aesthetic that would be taken up in fashion by Coco Chanel. Her circle of friends and protégés included Pablo Picasso,...
. During the same period that Picasso collaborated with Diaghilev’s troup, he and Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
collaborated on Pulcinella
Pulcinella (ballet)
Pulcinella is a ballet by Igor Stravinsky based on an 18th-century play — Pulcinella is a character originating from Commedia dell'arte. The ballet premiered at the Paris Opera on 15 May 1920 under the baton of Ernest Ansermet. The dancer Léonide Massine created both the libretto and choreography,...
in 1920.