Today is the birthday of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (1872-1929)

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The outstanding figure of Russian and Western culture, a brilliant organizer, a man of rare taste and high art culture, one of the founders of the group "World of Art", the organizer of "Russian Seasons" in Paris and the company "Russian Ballet of Diaghilev.

In 1896 Diaghilev graduated from university, but instead of doing jurisprudence, began his career in the arts. A few years after graduation has created with ANBenois association "World of Art", edited the magazine of the same name (from 1898 to 1904) and himself wrote art history articles. Organizing an exhibition, an ambition that resonates: in 1897 - Exhibition of British and German watercolors, familiar to the Russian public with a number of great artists in these countries and current trends in art, then the exhibition of Scandinavian art in the halls of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, the Exhibition of Russian and Finnish artists in the Stieglitz Museum (1898) themselves miriskusniki thought of my first statement (Diaghilev succeeded in attracting the participation in the exhibition, in addition to the initial core group of friendly circle, from which emerged association "World of Art, and other leading representatives of the young art - Wrubel, Serov, Levitan and others) Historical portraits of Russian art exhibition in St. Petersburg (1905), exhibition of Russian art in the Salon d'Automne in Paris, with works by Benois, Grabar, Kuznetsova, Malyavina, Repin, Serov, Yavlensky (1906), etc.

In 1899, kn. SM Volkonsky, who became Director of the Imperial Theaters, appointed Sergei Diaghilev official at-Large, gave him the editing of the Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters. Together with Diaghilev arrived at the Imperial Theater, many artists (Rev. M. Vasnetsov, A. Benoit, LS Bakst, Serov, Konstantin Korovin, AE Lancere). In the season 1900-1901 Volkonskii put on Diaghilev ballet by Delibes "Sylvia". Diaghilev brought the production of artists of the "World of Art", but it fell through because of protests from officials of the Directorate. Diaghilev did not obey the order of the director Volkonskogo, pointedly refused to edit the Yearbook, and the case ended in the dismissal of Diaghilev.

   This was an outstanding man! In addition to artists, how many talented people worked with him - Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, Alexander Glazunov, Chaliapin, Fokine, Pavlova, Nijinsky, Karsavina, Geltser!

Thanks to such as he, then, may be called the flowering of Russian culture in all its manifestations!