Shoe, ballet shoe (ensemble)

These black leather character shoes with blue rayon covered heels were worn by Lubov Tchernicheva for her role as the Miller’s Wife in the ballet Le Tricorne/The Three Cornered Hat. These appear to have been worn by Tchernicheva in the 1930s for the revival of the ballet by the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.

Lubov Tchernicheva b.1890 – d.1976, trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St Petersburg and joined the Maryinsky Theatre in 1908. She joined Diaghilev’s Company permanently in 1911 with her husband, rehearsal director, Serge Grigoriev and they remained with the company till it folded in 1929. They then went on to work for Colonel de Basil and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.

Le Tricorne/The Three Cornered Hat premièred in London at the Alhambra Theatre on the 22nd of July 1919. The score was composed by Manuel de Falla, the choreography by Léonide Massine and the sets and costumes designed by Pablo Picasso. The costumes were made by London based costumier Charles Alias and the sets were painted by Vladimir and Elizabeth Polunin with assistance from Picasso himself at their rented studio in Floral St. (A plaque marks this building today).

Notes by Caroline Hamilton