El Greco

Domenikos Theotokopoulos (Domenicos Theotocopoulos), best known as El Greco (the Greek), was a Late Renaissance painter, sculptor and architect who lived from 1541-1614. He was born in Crete, but little more is known of his early years. He was referred to in a Cretan document as a master painter in 1566, though only a few works have been discovered from this period. Thereafter, he went to Venice and eventually moved to Rome in 1570. It was there that he was influenced by Titian, Tintoretto and Michelangelo. When he settled in Spain as an young adult, he became regarded as the first great genius of the Spanish School.

While primarily a painter of religious imagery that lifted his subjects up from "earth-bound restrictions," El Greco excelled also as a portraitist and was well known for his architectural work in Toledo. The work of El Greco has been described as "rapturous," "mystic," and able to "convey the awesomeness of great spiritual events." His elongated bodies, twisting compositions and use of movement and space, all hallmarks of Mannerist art, are easily translated by dancers, and it is no wonder his works would inspire the choreography in the Ballet Suedois.

This information was developed using information provided by The Paris WebMuseum. Pictured is the painting View over Toledo, c. 1597 (180 Kb); Oil on canvas, 121.3 x 108.6 cm (47 3/4 x 42 3/4 in); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

To admire and analyze how the work of El Greco might influence the Ballet, see his work in the following online exhibits:

http://cgfa.dotsrc.org/greco/index.html
Carol L. Gerten's Fine Arts site (CGFA) is complete with biographies of famous painters and thumbnails of their works. This page introduces El Greco's works, provides links to larger images of each painting, indicates where the painting can be viewed on-site, and links to El Greco's biography.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/greco/
The Paris WebMuseum's collection of El Greco's works offers information about the artist and his career. Each thumbnail links to a full screen image of his paintings.

http://www.joslyn.org/permcol/euro/pages/elgreco.html
This page from the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, provides a link between El Greco and the Catholic Church.

State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia - The Apostles Peter and Paul

Mark Harden's Artchive
Full-screen images of 15 of El Greco's works, showing his range and diverse subjects.

Le Louvre - Christ on the Cross adored by Donors

Prado Museum, Madrid - The Adoration of the Shepherds

Prado Museum, Madrid - The Nobleman With His Hand on His Chest

Prado Museum, Madrid - The Trinity

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Seven paintings representing a diverse selection of works.

Kimbell Art Museum, Texas - Portrait of an Elderly Ecclesiastic

National Gallery, London - Christ Driving the Traders

Web Gallery of Art
Paintings from 1575-1614 and sculptures.

Tigertail Virtual Museum
12 images (scroll down on page)

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco - St. Francis Venerating the Crucifix, St. John the Baptist, St. Peter

Paris in the 20's

Paris in the 1920s, as all of France, was recovering from the trauma of the Great War, and the airs and graces of the ballet companies were well suited to general feelings of relief, pride and sheer "joie de vivre," happiness to be alive. In addition, the frankly experimental nature of many of the works was well suited to an atmosphere of experimentation. New possibilities were in the air, in dance and music and art as in philosophy and the sciences; and the ballet performances in Paris and the rest of Europe embodied the dizzying potential of collaborative innovation.

In 1909, Serge Diaghilev brought Russian dancers and singers with him to Paris and the movement that would bring ballet to the forefront of the arts was begun. For the next 20 years, Les Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghilev were a major force in moving ballet to a new artistic level and to new levels of public acceptance. First in Paris, then on tour in other European cities, the Ballets Russes performed works by artists and composers of the period that Diaghilev commissioned. Stravinsky composed The Firebird suite for the second season of the Ballets Russes in 1910. It was enormously successful, and he became permanently associated with Diaghilev's ballet company after that. Many major ballet dancers and choreographers were immediately recruited by Diaghilev for his troupe: Nijinsky, Balanchine, Massine, Fokine and Pavlova, all reached their peak performances in the Ballets Russes.

It was at this time that the ballet's influence began to be felt in the other arts, as well. In 1917, Pablo Picasso did the sets and costumes for Diaghilev's ballet, Parade. Picasso had come to Paris in 1904. Later, during WWI, many of Picasso's friends, like Braque and Apollinaire, were no longer in Paris. Picasso stayed in Paris, though, and was befriended by the composer, Eric Satie. Satie and Picasso were at the center of a crowd of young intellectual-artistic individuals who met at the Café de la Rotonde. Jean Cocteau, the poet, was also a member of this group. It was his idea to create a ballet with Diaghilev. The ballet was based on the war but had many themes, like the circus, that frequently recur in Picasso's works. When Cocteau had finished the story, he went to his friend, Satie, for music and to his other friend, Picasso, for costumes and sets. The collaboration worked very well for Picasso and a few years later, when he became a father and had to support a family, he designed other ballet sets and costumes. Picasso did designs for Manuel de Falla's Le Tricorne in 1919, Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella in 1920, De Falla's Cuadro Flamenco in 1921, and Satie's ballet Mercure in 1924.

The Ballets Suedois' first season in Paris was in 1920. From 1920 through 1924, they performed much of what has become the classical repertoire of today: the Chopiniana, Albeniz' Iberia, Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin. Their choreographer was Jean Borlin. The Ballets Suedois premiered a number of modern works, such as Erik Satie's Relâche and works by Honegger and other members of the "Group of 6." During the twenties, between the Ballets Russes and the Ballet Suedois, it was a time when the dance was king in Paris. Dance, but ballet in particular, infiltrated every segment of society and influenced all of the other art forms. Paris in the 1920s was a hotbed of all sorts of artistic endeavor, and the ballet companies provided a focus that could bring it all together. People either then at the height of their talent and popularity, or about to become much better known, flocked to create for the Paris ballet companies. As stated above, throughout the 20's, Picasso not only painted, he designed theater sets in Cubist, Classical, and Surreal styles. Coco Chanel designed the costumes for the premiere of Le Train Bleu, which was based on another story plot by Jean Cocteau. The ballet Les Mariès de la Tour d'Eiffel, premiered by the Ballets Suédois in 1921, featured music by Honegger, Milhaud and Poulenc among others.

The Ballet Russes perfromance of Le Spectre de la Rose, 1911. From A Tribute to Serge Diaghilev.

Josephine Baker, American singer and muse of Jazz Age Paris, from Donegal Middle School's African American Contributors Page.

Dervishes

"Dervishes," one of the four dances the Royal Swedish Ballet will be performing at the Kennedy Center, has its roots in Sufism. The Ballet will use an all-male ensemble and a Glazunov score to create what has been described as an "exotic, sensual atmosphere."

One of the many classes in the Islamic religion is Sufism. It is considered to be the esoteric or mystic aspect of Islam and its purpose is to convey direct knowledge of the eternal. The Sufis impart knowledge through lineages that go back to the Prophet Muhammud. In various Sufi orders, the "zikr," the repetition of "la illaha illa'llah" (There is no God but God), is part of initiation ceremonies. The manner in which the "zikr" is performed signifies the difference among the various orders. Each order, or "brotherhood" has its own rules, rites and rituals. Dervishes are members of these orders and their devotional exercises are carried out through dancing, or whirling themselves into a near trance. The Dervishes repeat their "zikr" or trance as they move about. "They empty their hearts of all but the thought of God and whirl in the ecstatic movements of His breath."

photo of Dancer from the Turkish Mevlevi Ensemble, from the University of Arizona .

for more images of Dervishes, Check out Dan Kramer's photo essay on Dervishes.