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Lot Essay
Sold with a photo-certificate from Jacques Dupin dated Paris, le 13 decembre 2001.
In 1926, Serge Diaghilev was encouraged by Picasso to enlist the help of Max Ernst and Joan Miró to create the stage and costume designs of his new Ballets Russes production, the ballet, Romeo et Juliette. Romeo et Juliette, projet de scène (Romeo and Juliet, Stage Design), one of the designs Miró created for this project, shows Miró's early aptitude for experimentation and collaboration. Hailed as one of the greatest impresarios of the day, Diaghilev's productions were often unconventional, visionary conceptions, and although his Romeo et Juliette originated as a simple rendition of Shakespeare's play, the end result was no exception. Diaghilev had always been a keen patron of avant-garde artists, and he leapt at the chance to put Surrealism, a movement he had only recently discovered, on the stage. The ballet was set backstage at the Ballets Russes, with the characters in practice outfits, not costumes. Miró therefore also included such features as the coat rack and towel in the stage design.
Although the stage was empty, this emptiness itself acted as a blank canvas upon which Miró placed various elements, making the stage a colossal, three-dimensional work similar in its contents to his paintings. Miró evidently reveled in the opportunities his increased budget and large space afforded him. Romeo et Juliette, projet de scène shows his interest in using various objects and materials, for instance the mention of zinc at the back, and the phosphorescent blue star in depicting features that appeared in his paintings. With these, Miró translated his own personal understanding of the story into a vivid, personal collage of elements that was nonetheless a striking and potent backdrop for the ballet itself. The sense of the surreal that the artists brought to the production came to pervade even the choreography, with Romeo dressed as a pilot and the couple fleeing in an aeroplane.
Picasso, never one to miss an opportunity to stir up trouble and goad the bullish André Breton, reputedly said to one of the more militant Surrealists, 'I hear that your colleagues are working for Diaghilev? That's a fine state of affairs. The moment you see a cheque you collaborate with reactionary white Russians. So much for that famous rigour of yours!' (Picasso, quoted in J. Russell, Max Ernst: Life and Work, London, 1967, p. 87). The Surrealists, who had formerly embraced the publicity the Surrealist ballet décor was gaining, now turned against the artists and, when Romeo et Juliette opened in Paris after moderate success in Monte Carlo, Breton and Aragon sabotaged the performance, showering the crowd with leaflets and prompting police intervention. Although Miró came to distrust the tyrannical tendencies of the Surrealists more and more from this moment, nonetheless the riot caused such furor that he was for the first time exposed to international publicity, marking his true recognition.
In 1926, Serge Diaghilev was encouraged by Picasso to enlist the help of Max Ernst and Joan Miró to create the stage and costume designs of his new Ballets Russes production, the ballet, Romeo et Juliette. Romeo et Juliette, projet de scène (Romeo and Juliet, Stage Design), one of the designs Miró created for this project, shows Miró's early aptitude for experimentation and collaboration. Hailed as one of the greatest impresarios of the day, Diaghilev's productions were often unconventional, visionary conceptions, and although his Romeo et Juliette originated as a simple rendition of Shakespeare's play, the end result was no exception. Diaghilev had always been a keen patron of avant-garde artists, and he leapt at the chance to put Surrealism, a movement he had only recently discovered, on the stage. The ballet was set backstage at the Ballets Russes, with the characters in practice outfits, not costumes. Miró therefore also included such features as the coat rack and towel in the stage design.
Although the stage was empty, this emptiness itself acted as a blank canvas upon which Miró placed various elements, making the stage a colossal, three-dimensional work similar in its contents to his paintings. Miró evidently reveled in the opportunities his increased budget and large space afforded him. Romeo et Juliette, projet de scène shows his interest in using various objects and materials, for instance the mention of zinc at the back, and the phosphorescent blue star in depicting features that appeared in his paintings. With these, Miró translated his own personal understanding of the story into a vivid, personal collage of elements that was nonetheless a striking and potent backdrop for the ballet itself. The sense of the surreal that the artists brought to the production came to pervade even the choreography, with Romeo dressed as a pilot and the couple fleeing in an aeroplane.
Picasso, never one to miss an opportunity to stir up trouble and goad the bullish André Breton, reputedly said to one of the more militant Surrealists, 'I hear that your colleagues are working for Diaghilev? That's a fine state of affairs. The moment you see a cheque you collaborate with reactionary white Russians. So much for that famous rigour of yours!' (Picasso, quoted in J. Russell, Max Ernst: Life and Work, London, 1967, p. 87). The Surrealists, who had formerly embraced the publicity the Surrealist ballet décor was gaining, now turned against the artists and, when Romeo et Juliette opened in Paris after moderate success in Monte Carlo, Breton and Aragon sabotaged the performance, showering the crowd with leaflets and prompting police intervention. Although Miró came to distrust the tyrannical tendencies of the Surrealists more and more from this moment, nonetheless the riot caused such furor that he was for the first time exposed to international publicity, marking his true recognition.