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The Festival Poster


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I'd be very interested in knowing what the discussion has been about the poster for the Festival. It's a traditional presentation of a picture of Bournonville, with an oval of green paint smeared around him. You can see it here.

What's the green? A laurel wreath (note that little droplets of paint have dripped down on Bournonville's face)? That we can't see the real Bournonville through the mists of time? Is green the color of that laurel wreath -- or of money. et cetera.

Has there been anything in the Danish press? (Although three Danish friends have told me there was very little advance coverage of the Festival. The focus this year is on H.C. Andersen's bicentennary.) Is there chatter in the lobby?

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Seeing the poster, I could not help but be reminded of Sir Winston Churchill's response to being presented with a painted, unflattering portrait of himself,

"I can say without fear of contradiction that this painting is a splendid example of 'modern art'." (Much laughter from audience.)

He took it home and burned it in his furnace.

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The intent appears clearly iconoclastic -- as does the unsubtle clash of styles.

And poor Bournonville, looking so much like one of Queen Victoria's numerous German female relations.

Like Alexandra, I'm curious about the Danish response to what, in this country at least, would not even be considered competent graffiti. :)

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:):jawdrop:

Some of us who were appalled by the poster for the Balanchine Centennial can draw comfort from its current Danish counterpart, all things being relative.

On the other hand, what kind of publicity designs, pray tell :beg: , can we expect for the Balanchine Bicentennial? For that and other reasons, I'm glad I won't likely be around to see it.

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Maybe the green is moss. I have to say, although I think it's an .... interesting choice for a poster (but it ain't got nothin' on the Nearly Naked Bournonville Calendar that's now, alas, sold out). BUT the artist is a respected Danish artist and I don't think he was being gratuitously provocative. It is true that we can't see Bournonville plain, and that there is a barrier between his time and mine. I was genuinely curious if he'd explained his ideas in the Danish press, or if the critics there had done it for him, and/or if there was any buzz there about it.

Death is looking better all the time, isn't it, Carbro :) (If you're under 40 don't read that sentence!!) If we go to hell, though, we'll have to watch all bad ballet, 24/7, for eternity!

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On the other hand, what kind of publicity designs, pray tell :) , can we expect for the Balanchine Bicentennial? 

This may be my pet peeve alone, but I really dislike the way they've defaced the cool modernism of the State Theatre lobby by hanging all those photographs, many of which I've seen so often I'm sick of them anyhow. I mostly avoided looking at them last weekend. It had been two and a half years since I'd been in the theater, but I remember photos the last time I was there too. I suppose they inspire some relatively new patrons to come back.

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Posters are intended to entice: customers, buyers, audiences.

What is the artist of the Festival poster showing us?

Is there contempt in the green overpaint?

Is there contempt in the defacing of the lithograph of Bournonville?

Will it sell tickets?

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Natalia, you might want to rethink that -- this may turn out to be a collector's item.

Chiapuris, I thought of that, too. There's also a large segment of the Danish population that is sick of Bournonville, and perhaps the artist is one of those. I've been told by several Danish friends that there was very little in the paper about the Festival -- this year is also the H.C. Andersen Festival, and he's getting all the coverage -- so maybe there weren't articles about the poster, but I'm still hoping to hear what the artist intended.

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the royal theatre has done what tey usually do, ask a wellknown modern painter to design a poster and as usully it ends up neither being art nor being a good marketing tool that can draw people in. I have seen so often that I am almost going blind to the whole issue

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here is what the festival site says about the poster:

"Making August Bournonville the focal point of the design was a natural choice for Peter Bonde. He has chosen an image of Bournonville as an elderly man, since it was in his mature age that he created most of his ballets and reached the pinnacle of his illustrious career. Peter Bonde depicts Bournonville as being carried by dancing feet. It is, after all, his emphasis on feet and step design that colours his ballet style. These two central elements have been framed in Peter Bonde’s characteristic manner with the faint images of a leg, an arm and a face from Bournonville’s ballets."

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Thanks. I wonder who told Mr. Bonde that Bournonville created most of his ballets in "his mature age." The extant ballets are from his early 30s through his mid 50s (he lived until 1879, age 74). La Sylphide, 1836 - age 31. Napoli, 1842, age 37. Konservatoriet, 1849 (45). Kermesse 1851 (46). Folk Tale 1854 (49). Abdallah 1855 (50). La Ventana 1856 (51). Far From Denmark 1860 (55). And Lifeguards 1871 (66). Hope the dates are right :(

It's not the photo that should be causing discussion, though, but the green paint. I don't mean to criticize. I'm genuinely curious about how people are viewing it. It's a good point to make, that we can't see Bournonville (at any age) plain, because of the distance in time.

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