Friday, February 21, 2020

Sergei Diaghilev, Ballet Russes and 19th Century Art Essay

Sergei Diaghilev, Ballet Russes and 19th Century Art - Essay Example However, prominent artists from other European countries also received positive reception among mainstream audiences. For instance, Sergei Diaghilev, a Russian impresario, was one of the artists that influenced 19th century European art through his ballet company, Ballet Russes. The performances of Ballet Russes with Diaghilev helped shape 19th century art forms including music, ballet, and costume design. With the Ballet Russes, Diaghilev advances European art, music, and theater bringing to the international scene. Accordingly, this paper aims to discuss the life and works of Diaghilev as a major influence in the development of 19th century art, particularly through the Ballet Russes. Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes Sergei Diaghilev revived the Russian ballet dance with his Ballet Russes, and he established the repute of Russian Ballet worldwide with the said troupe. With the Ballet Russes, Diaghilev was able to drive artistic transformations in Russian ballet, particularly from changing the traditional dance steps and setups to modern ones. Diaghilev was born in St. Petersburg and spent his childhood there while taking academic and art classes in St. Petersburg University. Much of the influences of Diaghilev’s works take shape from his childhood experiences, particularly through his inclination to performing arts as a youth.... The first members of the troupe were professional dancers trained in the Tsar’s Imperial Ballet. With the Ballet Russes, Diaghilev was able to gather prominent choreographers during those times, including Vaslav Nijinsky, Fokine, Massine, and Joan Miro (Bloom paras. 1-7). Aside from associating with choreographers, Diaghilev also collaborated with world renowned musicians, such as Strauss, Schumann, Stravinsky, Milhaud, and Ravel, in creating the musical pieces for the Ballet Russes (Gottlieb para. 2). In the visual arts and costume design, the Ballet Russes also receives support from popular artists including Picasso, Rouault, and Derain. Seeing the performances of Ballet Russes, both Russian and French nobles took passion in supporting the efforts of Diaghilev in promoting the troupe to both local and international mainstream audiences. Impact on 19th Century Art Visual Diaghilev’s credit in the visual arts comes from his efforts at collaborating with painters, interi or designers, and other visual art enthusiast to develop and create artworks. He sought the service of well-known artists, and collaborated with them in designing the stage and costumes for the Ballet Russes. Specifically, famous visual artists such as Picasso and Derain took part in creating the stage set-up, costumes, visual materials, and posters of Ballet Russes’ performances. According to Lille, Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes allows artists from different art trends, such as Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism to show their works (para. 2). Consequently, the performances of Ballet Russes serve as an exhibit featuring the works of various artists including painters, composers and choreographers. For instance, in

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

The significance of the Copenhagen Conference Essay

The significance of the Copenhagen Conference - Essay Example However the new Obama administration seems open to the issue. In the past, the US has treated climate change as a non-issue, focusing on it only during political campaigns. Presently there are signs that the US government might reconsider its hard-line stance on global warming. It had already agreed to cut its emissions by 17% in 2005. By the year 2030, US plans to cut emissions by 42% and 83% by 2050 (Broder). China is also one of the world’s biggest air polluter and a lot of pressure has been put on that country’s government to come up with platform to regulate the emissions that come from industries in China. China has already agreed to cut CO2 emissions per GDP unit by 40 to 45% by the year 2020 (Zhi Lin). The whole world certainly agrees that global warming needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. For instance the UK has already formally agreed to cut emissions by 20%. Countries in the European region also agreed to cut their emissions by the same margin (Bulow). As a result of global warming, the world is becoming hotter. The Polar Regions are melting and this in turn is causing the sea level to rise. It has been said that some islands might disappear if the situation is not addressed. Deserts are increasing and many people are going without water and food. This is not what the world wants, and the sooner this climate issue is resolved, the better it will be for everyone (Anup). The conference comes at a time when the world is hard pressed to address factors that have led to global warming and severe climate change in various parts of the world. If the world leaders come to a practical agreement, this could be a huge step towards saving the world from utter destruction. However the conference might end up like so many climate-based conferences before it, which did not produce any conclusive solution to the problem of