149. LEGAT, Nikolai Gustavovich (1869-1937) and Sergiei Gustavovich LEGAT (1875-1905). Russkii Balet v karrikaturakh [Russian Ballet in Caricatures]. Saint Petersburg: [Legat Bros., 1902-1905.] ??? chromlithographed plates. Folio (320 x 240 mm). Vellum-backed white cloth with letters blocked in gilt and the original chromolithographed wrappers bound in. Condition: covers slightly rubbed with occasional minor soiling and discoloration, corners lightly bumped.
The Legat brothers were graduates of the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School and rose to premier danseurs and performed with many of great ballerinas of the day. Nikolai Gustavovich became ballet master for the company and later for Segei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1925-1926; he and his wife founded the Russian Ballet Society in Great Britain in 1923. At age 17, Sergei Legat originated the role of the Nutcracker in Tchaikovsky's ballet; in 1903, he staged with his brother Nikolai Josef Bayer's ballet Feya kukol [The Doll Fairy] with costumes by Léon Bakst. Their caricatures are often merciless; it is a wonder their victims ever spoke to them again. They were no kinder in their self-caricatures.
est. $5000 – £8000
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