Vronska et Alperoff poster – Jean-Gabriel Domergue – 1923

Vronska et Alperoff poster – Jean-Gabriel Domergue – 1923

The two stars of this magnificent vintage ballet poster are Alicia Vronska also known as Alice Vronskaya and Konstantin Alperoff. The pair were principal dancers with the legendary Russian dance company, Ballets Russes. The world-famous Ballets Russe company was founded on May 19, 1909, by Sergei Diaghilev, a Russian art critic, patron and ballet impresario. Diaghilev was responsible for revolutionising ballet. Shows by the Ballets Russe had a huge influence on art, fashion, theatre and interior design in the early twentieth century. His company included many of the best dancers in the world including legendary artists such as Vaslav Nijinski, Anna Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina.

It wasn’t just the dancers that helped make the Ballet Russes such a success. The company included two gifted choreographers, Mikhail Fokine and George Balanchine. Costume designs for the shows were often created by the famous Russian artist Léon Bakst or the French artist Georges Barbier and French designer Coco Chanel. The talents of other artists including Kandinsky, Benois, Picasso and Matisse. Music for the performances commissioned by artists such as Stravinsky, Ravel, Satie and Prokofiev. The company’s productions created a huge sensation, shocking Western Europe with its dynamic, colorful and risque performances. The performances completely reinvigorated the art of performing dance, bringing many visual artists to public attention.

This vintage poster was created by the French artist Jean-Paul Domergue who was best known for his portraits of women. In this famous poster Domergue has captured ‘Vronska et Alperoff’ mid-dance. The costumes appear to be classic Léon Bakst designs. Researching Bakst designs for the era the costume would appear similar to those created for Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebird’ or Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.It is thought the poster was created for the Berlin 1923 performance of The Firebird in which the popular Alice Vronska and Konstantin Alperoff made guest appearances.

Other than the extremely well-known Ballet Russes dancers such as Anna Pavlova, there is frustratingly, little information online about many of the individual Ballets Russes dancers. We do know the success of Vronsky and Alperoff’s shows in Europe led to a run at the New York’s Winter Garden around 1924-1925. We also know that she moved to Lausanne in 1956 and opened her own dance school, the A.V. Academy of Classical Dancewhere she taught until 1980he taught until 1980.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.