Russian Ballet. Camera studies.

A celebration of Russian Ballet.

A series of photographic studies of Russian ballet stars including Michel Fokine and Serge Lifar. Gordon Anthony was a British photographer known for his extensive work on ballet and theatre. His sister, Dame Ninette de Valois joined the Ballets Russes in 1923 where she was promoted to a soloist and acted as mentor to Alicia Markova. Arnold Haskell was a British dance critic and became fascinated by ballet after his mother took him to watch the thirteen-year-old Alicia Markova dance at Seraphine Astafieva's studio in Chelsea. He travelled to Australia with the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in 1936 as a publicist and in later life he became influential in the development of the Royal Ballet School with Ninette de Valois.

In his introduction he recognises the immense significance of the Ballets Russes in the advancement of ballet as a whole 'The artists who worked with Serge Diaghileff excel in stagecraft and perfection of detail. The productions of that period demanded finish. They were conceived over a long period, and they were devised to appeal not to a popular audience, in the first place, but to a carefully selected public of experts - more than anything, to Diaghileff himself, and his eye for detail has never been equalled'. Gordon Anthony echoes the sentiment in dedicating the book to Michel Fokine. Not only is the spirit of Russian Ballet in all its glory carried throughout this book but the photographs taken by Anthony are beautiful and dramatic compositions.

Firs edition; large 4to (32.5 x 27 cm); 96 black-and-white plates tipped in on beige paper with black-printed captions; half navy morocco, navy cloth boards, gilt spine, fore-edge uncut, a fine copy.