Original black pastel with purple highlights self-portrait drawing of the ballerina in a large tutu, apparently in her most celebrated role as The Swan, with inked inscription to one corner, "This is to certify that this page of drawings was taken from the sketch book of the ballerina Anna Pavlova, C.M. Beaumont, Sept 3, 1964." 9 x 11 inches; 23 x 28 cm.
From the collection of Roberta & John Lazzarini, founders of the Pavlova Museum, Ivy House, London. Taken from Pavlova's sketch book as attested by Beaumont, and presented to them by Guy Wilcox for the Pavlova Museum. Roberta Lazzarini is internationally regarded as a major authority on the history of British and Russian ballet and particularly on the life and art of Anna Pavlova.
In his biography of Pavlova, Victor Dandré writes, "In all her life Pavlova never had a single lesson from a painter or sculptor, but possessed quite an extraordinary gift for drawing ...Coping with the laws of perspective, of which she knew nothing, and trying to obtain shadow effects were tasks of great difficulty ... And yet she would get more or less what she wanted, and such work of her brush as still remains, naive and primitive, is full of artistic feeling. Her natural talent for sculpture was much stronger."
The Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova was without doubt the most celebrated dancer of her time. Famed for her technical skills, expressiveness, and grace, she was the principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and, for a short time, the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev. The Dying Swan (originally The Swan) is a solo dance choreographed by Mikhail Fokine to Camille Saint-Saëns's Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des animaux as a pièce d'occasion for the ballerina. The short ballet (four minutes) follows the last moments in the life of a swan, and was first presented in St. Petersburg, Russia on 22 December 1905 at a charity gala to raise money for widows and orphans. It became Pavlova’s signature ballet, performing it about 4,000 times.
The authorship attestation is from the influential British dance historian and critic Cyril Beaumont (1891–1976), who owned and operated a world-famous dance bookshop in Charing Cross Road, London from 1910 to 1965.
Original black pastel with purple highlights self-portrait drawing of the ballerina in a large tutu, apparently in her most celebrated role as The Swan, with inked inscription to one corner, "This is to certify that this page of drawings was taken from the sketch book of the ballerina Anna Pavlova, C.M. Beaumont, Sept 3, 1964." 9 x 11 inches; 23 x 28 cm.
From the collection of Roberta & John Lazzarini, founders of the Pavlova Museum, Ivy House, London. Taken from Pavlova's sketch book as attested by Beaumont, and presented to them by Guy Wilcox for the Pavlova Museum. Roberta Lazzarini is internationally regarded as a major authority on the history of British and Russian ballet and particularly on the life and art of Anna Pavlova.
In his biography of Pavlova, Victor Dandré writes, "In all her life Pavlova never had a single lesson from a painter or sculptor, but possessed quite an extraordinary gift for drawing ...Coping with the laws of perspective, of which she knew nothing, and trying to obtain shadow effects were tasks of great difficulty ... And yet she would get more or less what she wanted, and such work of her brush as still remains, naive and primitive, is full of artistic feeling. Her natural talent for sculpture was much stronger."
The Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova was without doubt the most celebrated dancer of her time. Famed for her technical skills, expressiveness, and grace, she was the principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and, for a short time, the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev. The Dying Swan (originally The Swan) is a solo dance choreographed by Mikhail Fokine to Camille Saint-Saëns's Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des animaux as a pièce d'occasion for the ballerina. The short ballet (four minutes) follows the last moments in the life of a swan, and was first presented in St. Petersburg, Russia on 22 December 1905 at a charity gala to raise money for widows and orphans. It became Pavlova’s signature ballet, performing it about 4,000 times.
The authorship attestation is from the influential British dance historian and critic Cyril Beaumont (1891–1976), who owned and operated a world-famous dance bookshop in Charing Cross Road, London from 1910 to 1965.