E.O. Hoppé and the Ballets Russes
A Limited Edition Museum Box Set
E.O. Hoppé and the Ballets Russes pays homage to the genius of two men: Sergei Diaghilev who, more than a century ago, founded the Ballets Russes, and Emil Otto Hoppé (1878–1972), who, between 1911 and 1923, photographed the champions of that illustrious dance company during their London seasons.
As one of the most important art photographers in the first half of the twentieth century Hoppé has been dubbed “the most famous photographer in the world in 1920” (Bill Jay, 1981). After training in drawing and composition in Paris and Vienna in the late nineteenth century Hoppé chose photography as an art medium in 1902 as he moved to London. Hoppé rose quickly as an artist exhibiting his works at London’s Royal Photography Society where he also became associated with The Linked Ring Brotherhood, the British counterpart to other notable photography societies such as the Vienna Camera Club and the Photo–Secession, New York. Opening his London studio in 1907 where he made portraits of the artistic, literary, and political elite, Hoppé quickly gained recognition, catapulting him into the international art photography arena.
With both studio portraits and ballet sequences, this visual chronicle presents not only the leading stars of the Ballets Russes such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina, Adolph Bolm, Michel and Vera Fokine, Olga Spessivtseva, and Leonide Massine, but also celebrities whose connection with Diaghilev was tangential rather than axial – such as Mathilde Kschessinska, Anna Pavlova and Hubert Stowitts.
These behind-the-scenes portraits provide us intimate access to many of these now-legendary dancers whose extraordinary talent and unprecedented costumes, sets, music, and dancing made them the most famous ballet troupe in the first half of the 20th century.
The pure sensuality of these portraits reveals the essence of the dancers who, in performing their innovative choreography in costumes by Léon Bakst, Nicholas Roerich, and Alexandre Benois, among others, took their audiences by storm with performances that shocked the senses and seduced the Modern world.
Museum Edition Boxed Set
Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs
85 Individual Platinum Palladium Prints on Arches 100% cotton paper
All images printed to approximately 9.5 x 7 inches (24 x 18cm) on 11 x 10 inch (28 x 25cm) paper
Price: US$295,000*
Published by the E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection
Email: info@eohoppe.com
Tel: +1 626-577-9696
* Price subject to change without notice.
Enquire for details.