Ida Rubinstein

Ida Lvovna Rubinstein (5 October 1885, St. Petersburg, Russia – 20 September 1960, Vence, France) was a ballet dancer, patron and iconic Belle Époque beauty.

Early life

Born into a wealthy Jewish family, Rubinstein was orphaned at an early age. She had, by the standard of Russian ballet, little formal training. Under the private tutelage of Mikhail Fokine she debuted in 1909 with a single private performance of Oscar Wilde's "Salomé", stripping completely nude in the course of the "Dance of the Seven Veils".

Sergei Diaghilev took her with the Ballets Russes and she danced the title role of Cléopâtre in the Paris season of 1909. This performance was as a powerful spectacle, the costumes were designed by Leon Bakst and the finale inspired Kees van Dongen's "Souvenir of the Russian Opera Season 1909".

Depictions in art, ballet

Rubinstein was also much celebrated in art. Her portrait by Valentin Serov in 1910 marks the most complete realization of his mature style. The Art Deco sculptor Demetre Chiparus produced a Rubinstein figurine and she was painted by Antonio de la Gandara.

Bisexual, Rubinstein began in 1911 a three-year affair with the painter Romaine Brooks, who created a striking portrait and used her as a nude model for Venus.

Rubinstein danced with the Ballet Russe again in the 1910 season, performing in "Scheherazade", a ballet based on the first story of the "Thousand and One Nights", choreographed by Michel Fokine and written by him and Léon Bakst. This was admired at the time for its racy sensuality and sumptuous staging, but these days it is rarely performed; to modern tastes, it is considered too much of a pantomime and the then fashionable Orientalism appears dated.

In 1911 she performed in "Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien". Gabriele d'Annunzio wrote the part for her and it was scored by Claude Debussy. This was both a triumph for its stylized modernism and a scandal; the Archbishop of Paris requested Catholics not attend because St. Sebastian was being played by a woman and a Jew.

After she left the Ballet Russe, Rubinstein founded and funded several ballet companies and she worked with a number of important choreographers and composers including Arthur Honegger. She commissioned and performed in Maurice Ravel's Boléro in 1928, she often staged free ballet events and continued to dance until the start of the second World War.

Rubinstein is not considered to be among first rank of ballerinas; she began her training too late for that to be a possibility. She did, however, have tremendous stage presence and was able to act. She was a significant patron and she tended to commission works that suited her abilities, works that mixed dance with drama and stagecraft.

Images and paintings

* [http://www.davidrumsey.com/amico/amico1382535-106471.html Kees van Dongen's "Souvenir of the Russian Opera Season 1909" (1909)]
* [http://www.abcgallery.com/S/serov/serov140.html Valentin Serov. "Portrait of Ida Rubenstein" (1910) on abcgallery.com]
* [http://www.jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/Antonio_de_la_Gandara/Ida_Rubinstein.html Antonio de la Gandara's "Ida Rubinstein" (1913) on jssgallery.org]
* Paintings by Romaine Brooks
** [http://www.jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/Romaine_Brooks/Ida_Rubinstein.htm "La Venus triste"]
** [http://www.jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/Romaine_Brooks/Ida_Rubinstein2.htm "Ida Rubinstein" (1917)]
* [http://theatre.msu.edu/Academics/TheatreArchive/Rubinstein_Ida/ Photographs of Ida Rubinstein at theatre.msu.edu]

References

* [http://collections.ic.gc.ca/bulletin/num11/boggs1.html Essay about Kees van Dongen's "Souvenir of the Russian Opera Season 1909"]
* Toni Bentley (2005) "Sisters of Salome", Bison Books, ISBN 0-8032-6241-8
* Michael de Cossart, "Ida Rubinstein (1885-1960): A Theatrical Life", Liverpool University Press, ISBN 0-85323-146-X
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3335230 Article about the "Bolero" on NPR]
* [http://www.americansymphony.org/dialogues_extensions/95_96season/5th_concert/stsebastian.cfm An essay on "Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien"]
* [http://www.laurelvictoriagray.com/russ_orientalism.htm An article about orientalism in Ballet with a description of Ida Rubinsein in "Cleopaitre"]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188089/ La Nave (Directed by Gabriellino D'annunzio)] on the Internet Movie Database