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Lot Essay
Sono Osato danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo between 1934 and 1940. She was the first person of Asian descent to join the corps, and at fifteen years of age, the youngest. Born in Omaha Nebraska in 1919 to an Irish-French Canadian mother, and Japanese father, Sono Osato's childhood was spent living between the United States and France.
The roots of Osato's passion for dance and her subsequent career with the Ballet Russe can be traced to her childhood. In 1927, she spent the summer with her mother and brother in the Basque country, where she witnessed a boisterous and colourful regional festival, complete with crowds of lively dancing couples. As she noted in her autobiography, 'Something important had happened to me. This was the first time I had joined into the spirit of communal happiness and freedom. […] I felt dancing was something I could do naturally, something that made me feel totally satisfied with myself without fear or self-consciousness' (S. Osato, Distant Dances, New York, 1980, pp.11-12). Later that year, the family moved to the French Riviera. While on a trip to Monte Carlo, the young Osato saw her first performance of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with their production of 'Cléopâtre'. The legendary troupe's lavish performance left an indelible mark on the impressionable girl, leading her to pursue and eventually secure a career with the heirs of the original Ballets Russes directed by Colonel Wassily de Basil (1888-1951).
Alexandre Iacovleff had collaborated with the Ballets Russes since their inception under Diaghilev, and continued to provide designs and illustrations, as well as portraits for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. This elegant sanguine drawing of the beautiful Sono Osato was part of a ballet series that included other portraits of the corps’ dancers.
The roots of Osato's passion for dance and her subsequent career with the Ballet Russe can be traced to her childhood. In 1927, she spent the summer with her mother and brother in the Basque country, where she witnessed a boisterous and colourful regional festival, complete with crowds of lively dancing couples. As she noted in her autobiography, 'Something important had happened to me. This was the first time I had joined into the spirit of communal happiness and freedom. […] I felt dancing was something I could do naturally, something that made me feel totally satisfied with myself without fear or self-consciousness' (S. Osato, Distant Dances, New York, 1980, pp.11-12). Later that year, the family moved to the French Riviera. While on a trip to Monte Carlo, the young Osato saw her first performance of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with their production of 'Cléopâtre'. The legendary troupe's lavish performance left an indelible mark on the impressionable girl, leading her to pursue and eventually secure a career with the heirs of the original Ballets Russes directed by Colonel Wassily de Basil (1888-1951).
Alexandre Iacovleff had collaborated with the Ballets Russes since their inception under Diaghilev, and continued to provide designs and illustrations, as well as portraits for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. This elegant sanguine drawing of the beautiful Sono Osato was part of a ballet series that included other portraits of the corps’ dancers.