Dame Laura Knight RA RWS (1877-1970)/Tamara Karsavina and Leonide Massine in 'Le Tricorne'/initialed LK and inscribed Karsavina and Massine/double-sided pencil and charcoal sketch, 16cm x 21.5cm/Note: Laura Knight was the only artist allowed to produce live sketches of the performance by the choreographer Leonide Massine who was commissioned by Sergel Diaghilev to premiere the performance at the Alhambra Theatre on 22nd July 1919. Leonide Massine (1896-1979) was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer and created the World's first symphonic ballet, Les Presages. Massine choreographed and performed in many Diaghilev's Ballet Russes performances and took the leading role in the premiere of Le Tricorne. This sketch represents him performing as The Magistrate. Tamara Karsavina (1885-1978) was a Russian prima ballerina in the Imperial Russian Ballet and later principal artist of Sergel Diaghilev's Ballet Russes. After settling in Britain and acknowledged as one of the founders of British Ballet, she assisted in the establishment of The Royal Ballet and was a founder member of the Royal Academy of Dance, now the world's largest dance teaching organisation and was the inspiration behind the Academy's Russian Dance Syllabus duly named after her. This sketch depicts her as the Miller's wife/Provenance: Purchased at Dame Laura Knight's estate sale, Sotheby's 7th May 1975