>> A grossly obese man has been sitting on my head for the past two days – or at least, that's what it's felt like with this wretched head cold that has rendered me a sleepy migrained-mess for the time being. I could just about log into Typepad today to find that there's been a blankety posting gap. I can't say I'm going to be back to normal anytime soon and it is a bit half-arsed to post a bunch of pics like a visual stream of consciousness but I had to recollect less-mucus-filled times as I FINALLY went to see the Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes exhibition at the V&A on my birthday on Monday. I'm not sure why I hadn't had the chance to see it up until now but it felt good to really immerse myself into an exhibition, not skipping any of the placards or videos and absorbing as always the 'world' that the V&A seem to have an uncanny knack of doing with whatever subject matter at hand especially in that West Wing space where all their major exhibitions normally reside. The combination of choreography, costume design and art expressed through programmes, set designs and other printed paraphernalia (Diaghilev was dead against having the Ballets Russes filmed…) meant there was a crowning list of creatives involved that came in at various periods of Diaghilev's rolling venture, all depicted in the exhibition… Pablo Picasso, Leon Bakst, Georges Chirico, Henri Mattise, Coco Chanel, Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Vaslav Nijinsky… going on and on…
I wish I could expand on why I'm giving a big thumbs up to the exhibition except there's something nasty in the sinuses and it's actually painful staring at the screen. All I can say is that if you're in London or planning to be here until the 9th January, I'd highly recommend going to see it. No pics were allowed of course but I'm doing a big ol' lazy piccy post from the accompanying book edited by Jane Pritchard that gives you an inkling of what you'll see in this extensive exhibition – except minus the compelling music, the dancing shadows… bah.. in other words, mere visuals just do not equate to the real V&A McCoy. Just. Go.
