Galina Ulanova as 'Odette' in Swan Lake
Yanson-Manizer, Elena Alexandrovna
Galina Ulanova as 'Odette' in Swan Lake
Bronze
50cm
1950's
PROVENANCE:
St Petersburg private collection
LITERATURE:
Certificate from Russian Museum Sculpture Curators
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Soviet Ballet in the work of E. Yanson-Maniser, Khulozhiik, Leningrad, 1965, illus. pl 37.
Elena Janson-Manizer or Yanson-Maniser was the 20th century's leading sculptor of the Soviet ballet. Her beautiful statues of sportsman and ballet dancers can be seen today in the public gardens of Moscow and St Petersburg and in the stations of the Moscow Metro.
Janson-Manizer was the wife of the sculptor Matvei Manizer and they worked together in different parts of the same Moscow Studio. Her husband, also one of the Soviet Period's most important sculptors, had to toe the party line more than his wife in his choice of subject matter and did many public commissions. Jansen-Manizer loved the ballet and sculpted most of the leading dancers of the mid 20th century.
Being a fervent admirer and subtle connoisseur of ballet Jansen-Manizer suceeded in portraying the individuality of each dancer as well as their grace and athleticism.
Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova(1910 - 1998) was one of the most famous ballerina's of the Soviet period.
Galina Ulanova
She was born in Saint Petersburg and became an iconic figure in Soviet ballet. Russian composer Sergey Prokofiev called her, “the genius of Russian ballet, its elusive soul and its inspired poetry” while another legendary dancer of the 20th century, Rudoif Nureev, was convinced she was, “the world's Number One ballerina.”
Jansen Manizer first modelled her in clay just larger than life size in the 1940's.
Jansen-Manizer in her studio with Matvei Manizer and her son Hugo in front of the original clay version of circa 1940.
Ulanova, circa 1940, circa 2m high, bronze, Manizer Museum, Moscow.
in the 1965 book, Soviet Ballet in the work of E. Yansen-Maniser, Victoria Krigher, State Prize Laureate, writes about this sculpture, "Here is the great dancer, Galina Ulanova. She is shown in the role of Odette from the ballet "Swan Lake". With the toe cap slightly touching the pedestal and the arms upraised like the wings of a big white bird, she seems to be hovering in the air."
Ulanova is gracefully piroueting on her toes, perfectly balanced with her back arched. She combines elegance with strength and her beautiful face looks passively down at the ground. Jansen-Manizer origianally made the clay in the 1940's and then cast a single version in bronze which is the one in the Manizer Museum garden. In the 1950's she made a few bronzes at 50cm high of which ours is a rare survival. Later in the 1980's, at the request of the Director of the National Museum in Stockholm, after he saw the version at the Manizer Museum, two more large bronze versions were cast by the artist's family(Tretyakov and Stockholm).
This beautiful sculpture, of one of Russia's greatest ballerina's, remains a poignant reminder of the elegance of Ulanova in her prime, a historical reminder of the importance of ballet to the Soviet elite and a demonstration of the skill of Elena Jansen-Manizer.
For a video on her work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s2XENoFv7o
