As the scientific names for animals within collages are triple-checked, an octet of my research squared and recently shared. From Cyril Beaumont's commissioned painted wooden figures, "something between a photograph and a statue ... that would preserve the pose, feeling and colour of the dancer"1 to his souvenir books from the series Impressions of the Russian Ballet printed on Japanese vellum, which he and his wife hand-tinted, yes, I'll be sorry to say goodbye to this project. Lenni will be too.
(The figures produced from Adrian Allinson's initial designs, with later ones by Eileen Mayo, Vera Willoughby, Randolph Schwabe and Ethelbert White, cost seven shillings and sixpence each. The books, written by Beaumont himself, cost ten shillings and sixpence. A standard edition, printed on cartridge paper, sold for six shillings each, and all of these fantastical souvenirs were available from his bookstore at 75 Charing Cross Road in London's West End.)
"The guards shake off the snow that powders their garments, while he blinks in the unaccustomed light and colour. He appears weary and travel stained.
The drama has begun."
(Beaumont, Cyril, decorated by Allison, Adrian, Impressions of the Russian Ballet 1919: Schéhérazade, edition 18/40, London: C. W. Beaumont, 1919, p.8.)
Earlier in the week, caught in something of a shimmering web, in the Special Collections Reading Room at the Baillieu Library, research never looked so handsome. (Thank-you Susan.) Such bright coloured treasure to weave into a piece about the Salvaged Relatives for Wednesday's artists' book launch. A glittering vortex!
Do come along and see.
1 Kirk, Andrew, 'Beaumont Souvenirs' in Pritchard, Jane (Ed.), Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909–1929, London: V&A Publishing, 2010, p.184.
