Finding Aids to Archival Collections

The Photographs series includes black and white prints of Adolph Bolm’s professional portraits. It also includes pictures of him in costume in various Michel Fokine ballets, such as Le Coq d’Or and The Firebird . Several of these larger portraits (in boxes 4 through 6) are taken with Tamara Karsavina, his frequent partner with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in such ballets as Thamar and Le Pavillon d’Armide . There are photographs of Bolm in the role of Chief Warrior in Fokine’s “Polovtsian Dances” from the opera Prince Igor — a particulary notable role during his tenure with the Ballets Russes. In addition, there are photographs from Bolm’s own ballets, such as Bach Cycle and Le Ballet Mécanique . The latter was an important work in Bolm’s choreographic career as he revived it several times in different forms, taking inspiration from the earlier work The Spirit of the Factory . The series contains photographs of Bolm with frequent collaborators, such as dancer Ruth Page, his partner at the Ballet Intime and the Adolph Bolm Ballet, composer Igor Stravinsky, who composed Apollo for Bolm’s Apollon Musagète in 1928, and John Alden Carpenter, who composed music for several of Bolm’s ballets. One photo shows Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev on tour in Lausanne in 1915. In addition, the series includes several small snapshots and postcards that show Bolm in costume for several roles, on tour with Ballet Intime, or in rehearsal. The last few folders include photocopies of photographs of Bolm, including one with John Barrymore, director of the film The Mad Genius , for which Le Ballet Mécanique was created.