Name: [Cecchetti, Enrico. (1850–1928) & Lifar, Serge. (1905–1986)] Grosser, Boris. (1889 - 1982) Enrico Cecchetti et Serge Lifar - Original Drawing, ca. 1926
Brand: mappa-mercia.org
SKU: HBS28570092876
Price: 65.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 3.89 (789 reviews)

Price Mistake? [cecchetti, Enrico. (1850–1928) & Lifar, Serge. (1905–1986)] Grosser, Boris. (1889 - 1982) "enrico Cecchetti Et Serge Lifar" - Original Drawing, Ca. 1926 Great Gift Idea [SKv4FMuz]

Original portrait drawing of Enrico Cecchetti and Serge Lifar, ink on laid paper, undated but ca. 1926, signed by the artist at the lower right: "B. Grosser," and with the purple ownership stamp of Serge Lifar lower right, his bold signature in black ink to the verso, also inscribed by him in purple ink "Enrico Cecchetti et Serge Lifar," and with a few annotations in pencil in his hand along the right blank margin, seemingly towards an eventual unknown publication. A few ink stains and scattered light soiling and wear around the edges, overall fine. 10.75 x 14.75 inches (27.2 x 38 cm).

A very fine original portrait of perhaps the greatest teacher in ballet history, together with one of his most celebrated students, the young Serge Lifar, from whose collection this drawing was originally obtained.

Creator of such roles as the Bluebird and Carabosse in Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty, Enrico Cecchetti was a star at the Imperial Ballet and by 1888 was widely accepted as the greatest ballet virtuoso in the world. As a teacher, he taught and mentored not only Lifar but also Anna Pavlova, Leonide Massine, Vaslav Nijinsky, Olga Preobajenska, Anton Dolin, Alexandra Danilova among many others and traveled extensively as ballet master of Diaghilev's Ballet Russes. He created the ballet technique known now as the Ceccheti Method, still used by many ballet companies around the world.

Born in 1905, Russian-born, Serge Lifar was introduced to dance in 1920 by Bronislava Nijinska, under whom he began to study. Brought to France to join Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Lifar studied with Cecchetti and became premier danseur of the company and created the title roles in a number of George Balanchine’s early ballets, including The Prodigal Son. He later became director of the Paris Opera Ballet (1929) and there created over 50 ballets, including the path-breaking Icare (1935), which was written to be danced without music.

Boris Grosser was a French Jewish artist of Russian birth who illustrated numerous books published by Russian emigres with his distinctive woodcut designs. He studied at the end of the 19th century at the School for the promotion of the Arts under Bilibin, in Munich under Holloshy and at the Academie Ranson in Paris. After 1918, he lived and worked in Odessa, emigrating in 1920 and settling the following year in Paris. He collaborated with numerous publishing houses in Paris, Berlin, and Holland, illustrating the works of Ivan Bunin, Vladimir Nabokov and many others and his work frequently appeared in Zhar-Ptitsa, a literary and art magazine published by Russian emigres in 1921-1926. Grosser remains an understudied part of Russian book design and illustration abroad.