Research Catalog

Title

Alexandra Danilova collection of Romantic ballet prints [graphic].

Publication

[1840-1848?]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Ball, H. S.
• Blanc, Numa.
• Brown, E., Jr.
• Buckner, Richard.
• Graf, C.
• Valentini, Alexandre de, active 1825-1842.
• Danilova, Alexandra, 1907-1997.
• N. Currier (Firm) ltg

Found In

Alexandra Danilova collection.

Description

• 4 prints : lithograph, color or b&w; 45 x 33 cm. or smaller.
• 1 print : engraving, color ;

Summary

Images of famous ballets and ballerinas of the Romantic era. Some of the prints are illustrations to sheet music intended for home performance.

Alternative Title

Alexandra Danilova collection. Graphics.

Subjects

• Lac des fées (Choreographic work : Guerra, A)
• Giselle (Choreographic work)
• Gypsy (Choreographic work : Mazilier)
• Plunkett, Adeline, 1824-1910
• Cerrito, Fanny
• Engravings
• Ondine (Choreographic work : Cerrito and Perrot)
• Elssler, Fanny, 1810-1884
• Lithographs

Genre/Form

• Lithographs.
• Engravings.

Note

• Title devised by cataloger.
• Some of the prints have been mounted on cardboard, 47 x 39 cm. or smaller.
• Several of the prints have been trimmed or have darkened with age and/or climatic conditions.

Source (note)

• Alexandra Danilova.

Biography (note)

• The Romantic era in ballet flourished in western Europe from the 1830s to about the mid-century. It is probably best remembered today for its popularization of the use of pointe technique or dancing on toe, its introduction of the bell-shaped skirt that is still called a Romantic tutu, and its taste for ballets on supernatural themes, notably Filippo Taglioni's La sylphide (1832) and Jean Coralli's Giselle (1841). Taking its inspiration from the earlier Romantic movement in literature and art, the Romantic ballet was characterized by a longing to escape the quotidian in search of the exotic, whether embodied in actual foreign locales, the customs and events of past history, or the ineffable world of the supernatural.
• The donor of this collection, Alexandra Danilova, trained at the Imperial Ballet School and began her performing career in Russia, but left in 1924 with George Balanchine, for whom she was, for a time, muse and romantic partner. She danced with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and other ballet companies, and for many fans she epitomized the glamourous Russian ballerina. Over the course of a long career, she amassed a considerable collection of artwork, much of it bestowed upon her by colleagues and fans. Although these prints are not unique items, they reveal something of her interests and taste in art.

Linking Entry (note)

• Forms part of the Alexandra Danilova collection. Graphics.

Contents

[The cracovienne] danced by Madlle. Fanny Elssler, in the grand ballet of The gypsey, composed by N.C. Bocsha; New York, [1840? or later] / N. Currier's Lith., N.Y. -- Madlle. Cerito [sic] in the grand ballet Le lac des fées, London, J[ohn] Mitchell, 1842; Paris, Rittner & Goupil / A. de Valentini [artist]; engraved by H.S. Ball -- Fanny Cerrito in Ondine, [reproduction of a lithograph by C. Graf after a drawing by Numa Blanc; originally published in London by John Mitchell, 1843; reproduced in Sitwell, Sacheverell, The Romantic ballet from contemporary prints, New York, 1948, plate 9] -- Admired songs from the opera of Giselle, or the night dancers by Edward J. Loder; New York, Atwill / E. Brown, Jr., 1847 -- Adeline Plunkett in La Mañola, [1848?] / [signed on stone:] R. Buckner f[ecit].

Call Number

*MGZFY Dani 1-5

OCLC

825113600

Title

Alexandra Danilova collection of Romantic ballet prints [graphic].

Imprint

[1840-1848?]

Biography

The Romantic era in ballet flourished in western Europe from the 1830s to about the mid-century. It is probably best remembered today for its popularization of the use of pointe technique or dancing on toe, its introduction of the bell-shaped skirt that is still called a Romantic tutu, and its taste for ballets on supernatural themes, notably Filippo Taglioni's La sylphide (1832) and Jean Coralli's Giselle (1841). Taking its inspiration from the earlier Romantic movement in literature and art, the Romantic ballet was characterized by a longing to escape the quotidian in search of the exotic, whether embodied in actual foreign locales, the customs and events of past history, or the ineffable world of the supernatural.

The donor of this collection, Alexandra Danilova, trained at the Imperial Ballet School and began her performing career in Russia, but left in 1924 with George Balanchine, for whom she was, for a time, muse and romantic partner. She danced with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and other ballet companies, and for many fans she epitomized the glamourous Russian ballerina. Over the course of a long career, she amassed a considerable collection of artwork, much of it bestowed upon her by colleagues and fans. Although these prints are not unique items, they reveal something of her interests and taste in art.

Linking Entry

Forms part of the Alexandra Danilova collection. Graphics.

Local Note

Cataloging funds provided by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

For another copy of The cracovienne, see: *MGZFB Els F Cra 10.

For another copy of Le lac des fees, see: *MGZFB Cer F Lac 1.

For another copy of Admired songs from the opera of Giselle, or the night dancers, see: *MGZFB Cer F Gis 1.

Source

Gift; Alexandra Danilova.

Added Author

Ball, H. S. Engraver

Blanc, Numa. Artist

Brown, E., Jr. Lithographer

Buckner, Richard. Artist

Graf, C. Lithographer

Valentini, Alexandre de, active 1825-1842. Artist

Danilova, Alexandra, 1907-1997. Collector

N. Currier (Firm) Lithographer

Danilova, Alexandra, 1907-1997. Donor

Added Title

Alexandra Danilova collection. Graphics.

Found In:

Alexandra Danilova collection.

Research Call Number

*MGZFY Dani 1-5