Ben Nicholson OM1934 project for Massine for Beethoven 7th Symphony Ballet 1934

Nicholson had first met Léonide Massine, the Russian choreographer and dancer, in London in 1927 during a tour of the Ballets Russes. Six years later, again in London, he twice saw Massine's Jeux d'Enfants with sets by Joan Miró. Finally, in the summer of 1934, with the encouragement of Adrian Stokes, the art and ballet critic, Massine asked Nicholson to design the set for a ballet based on Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. This design for a backdrop is one of three known studies Nicholson made for the ballet.

Nicholson wrote to his estranged wife, Winifred, that Massine 'had made straight for exactly this business of clarté that you talk of. I have done it all except the costumes… (read more)