An Epistolary Preface
apogee. You were then Directeur artistique of the Ballet Russe, and not only were you officially allied with that incomparable assembly of mimes, musicians, and metteurs-en-scène, you were also co-author of such productions as Le Pavilion d'Armide and the racy and poignant Petrouchka. For the time being, indeed, the vogue of the ballet obscured the more substantial and not less significant triumphs of Russian brush and palette as seen in studio or on exhibition wall. The general public was ignorant of the fact that such men as Syerov, Roerich, Anisfeld, Golovin, Vrubel, and yourself were painters in the more explicit meaning of the term. And still less did the average person realize that the ballet was but a phase of certain deep-rooted æsthetic impulses which had been coming to focus during the past score of years.
The one thing, however, the public did sense when face to face with these stimulating spectacles was their effective fusion of motives Oriental and Occidental. The Slav looks eastward as well as toward the west, and this, you will assuredly concede, is characteristic of your country's contribution to the field of artistic endeavour. Despite the drastic Europeanizing process inaugurated by Peter and continued under Elisabeth, Catherine, and subsequent sovereigns, that typically Slavonic note which we instantly recognize and relish
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