Dame Laura Knight D.B.E R.A R.W.S 1877-1970. Study of Enrico Cecchetti instructing a dancer. Black chalk drawing. Circa. 1923. Signed and inscribed lower left. 36 by 24 cms. Exhibited: The Diaghilev Ballet in England. Sainsbury Centre. Norwich & London The Fine Art Society 1979-80. Further study of dancers verso.
Enrico Cecchetti 1850-1928. Was the pre-eminent ballet dancer of his generation, founder of the Cecchetti Method of dance. After an illustrious early career as a dancer in Europe, he went on to dance for the Imperial Ballet in St.Petersburg, Russia, where he further honed his skills. Cecchetti was praised for his agility and strength in his performances, as well as his technical abilities in dance. By 1888, he was widely accepted as the greatest ballet virtuoso in the world. Cecchetti created the virtuoso role of The Bluebird and the mime role of Carabosse in the premiere of The Sleeping Beauty in 1890. He also taught "The Class of Perfection" in the school and worked with many Mariinsky dancers, including Pavlova, Karsavina and Nijinsky. In 1909 he joined Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes as a teacher and mime artist and travelled with the company to France and England. His pupils included Alicia Markova, Ninette de Valois, Marie Rambert and Leonide Massine and in 1918 he opened a school of dancing in London, at 160 Shaftesbury Avenue. In 1923 he returned to Italy and accepted the post of Director of the Ballet School in La Scala, Milan. He died there in 1928.
Laura Knight made many drawings and subsequent prints of dancers, including several showing the dance school run by Enrico Cecchetti in London. Knight drew so quickly that Cecchetti would seize her drawings and show them to his pupils as evidence of their errors.
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