Exhibit at San Antonio’s McNay Art Museum spotlights women of the Ballets Russes

A new exhibit at San Antonio’s McNay Art Museum is celebrating the women of the Ballets Russes, a dance company founded in 1909 that is credited with reawakening an interest in ballet in the West.

In a statement, the museum explained that the exhibit aims to familiarize “visitors with the often-overlooked female artists, dancers, choreographers, costume makers and financial patrons who made Ballet Russe productions possible.”

It incorporates original costumes, set and costume designs and archival photographs. The exhibit reunites several designs with their costume and set pieces for the first time in nearly a century. The museum added that much of it comes from its Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts — holdings which span more than five centuries.

“The artworks, designs and costumes take on new dimension as they’re presented through the context of their female creators,” the statement explained.

Caroline Hamilton, a dance and costume historian and the curator of the exhibit, is confident visitors will be impressed with one creator in particular.

“Bronislava Nijinska … was both a dancer with the company, and then she later returned as a choreographer, and her choreography is incredibly modern, even 100 years later,” she said. “I think people will be really surprised when they look at her work.”

Hamilton added that Nijinska had a longer lasting impact on ballet as an art form, although she’s not as well known.

The museum explained that she trained the first generation of U.S. born ballerinas, “including Sono Osato and Raven Wilkinson, the first Asian American and the first African American to dance with a major company respectively,” and Maria Tallchief, the first Native American ballerina of New York City Ballet.

The exhibit also celebrates the world of artists Natalia Gontcharova, Sonia Delaunay and Alexandra Exter, costume maker Barbara Karinska, and financial patrons Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel and Princess de Polignac, among others.

“Women Artists of the Ballets Russes: Designing the Legacy” is on view through Jan 12, 2025.

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