Edited by Alston Purvis, Peter Rand and Anna Winestein; 2009; 208pp.
Monacelli Press; Hardcover

In the tradition of British designer William Morris and Parisian “Art Nouveau” retailer Siegfried Bing, Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) brought together artists in a collaborative atmosphere to create a unified aesthetic experience. His mission was to assert new values in Russian painting and to bring Russian artistic contributions to the rest of Europe, and his Ballets Russes, founded in 1909, did just that through innovative combinations of dance, music, drama and the visual arts. Refusing to sacrifice his mission to the box office, Diaghilev nurtured great dancers such as Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky, commissioned music from Stravinsky, Ravel, and Debussy, and had costumes and sets designed by Picasso, Rouault, Matisse, and Derain. Although conceptually parallel to the 19th-century aesthetic theory of “Art for Art’s Sake,” the Ballets Russes also played a significant role in the evolution toward abstraction and expressionism, influencing design across Europe and America. This lavish volume makes a great read for anyone interested in the impact of Arts and Crafts theory or the move toward modernism.