Beautiful paintings of the drunkards and typists of the Russian ballet

Date
17 November 2014

We’re no ballet aficionados, but we wouldn’t usually associate drunkards, typists and factory workers with the grace and poise of the discipline. However, as these beautiful gouache painting by Tatiana Bruni show, there’s much more to ballet than tutus and swan lake, with her angular figures, bold colours and sometimes grotesquely postured characters. The paintings show costume designs for Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1931 ballet The Bolt, and are going on show at London’s Gallery for Russian Arts and Design alongside a series of period photographs. The ballet itself was bold and striking in its use of real hammers, machine-inspired choreography, aerobics and acrobatics, and the costume images are equally as dynamic, inspired by “the aesthetics of agit-theatre and artist-designed propaganda posters”, according to the gallery. The sense of movement is palpable, whether in the graceful billowing dresses or the staggering legs of our brightly-coloured drunkard, working against the geometric rigidity of the style to beautiful effect.

Above

Tatiana Bruni: Kozelkov, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: The Carter, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: Kozelkov’s Girlfriend, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: Factory Worker, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: The Drunkard, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: Olga, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: The Japanese Marine, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: The Terrorist, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Above

Tatiana Bruni: The Typist, costume design for The Bolt, 1931
Courtesy GRAD and St Petersburg Museum of Theatre and Music

Share Article

About the Author

Emily Gosling

Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.