Another year comes to a close, another look back! While I think that 2024 has been an exceptionally difficult year for most (if not all) of us, we can still take time to celebrate the good of the year. This year I focused more on ballet history for culture- it is an area of history and culture that I think deserves far more attention. I also continued my exploration of royal art history with more Court Painter posts. These are my favourite 2024 culture posts and a sneak peek of what will be coming in 2025!
My Favourite 2024 Culture Posts
My Full Ballet Reading List
This is an encyclopaedic post: I’ve gathered my non-fiction ballet history book recommendations, my related historical fiction recs, my favourite ballet biographies and memoirs, plus documentaries for the watchers!
Court Painters: Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
I continued on with my Court Painters series. Until the mid-nineteenth century, painted portraits have largely defined the lasting image of royals. I am very much enjoying learning more about art history, and I’ve discovered several more fascinating and talented authors.
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun was closely connected with Marie Antoinette but was able to escape the French Revolution. I knew I had to explore her fascinating life further!
5 Female Ballet Trailblazers
One of the reasons that I want to focus and continue to help share the history of ballet is that men still run the majority of companies even in 2024. Despite all of the work that women have done over the centuries and continue to do in this art form built on women, they are not given that authority or respect.
I’ve chosen five women who have been trailblazers in ballet and have made a considerable contribution to ballet.
Court Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola
Another fascinating female artist, Anguissola worked at the Spanish court in the sixteenth century!
Death in Ballet
While many think of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker and Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty when they think of ballet, there is actually quite a bit of darkness in ballet. We explored how death in represented in ballet and what it looks like on the stage.
2025 Culture Plans
For the first half of 2025, I am planning to focus on the history of theatres (in addition to ballet, of course). I’m going to explore the history of different theatres- in addition to ballets and operas and plays, they have witnessed romances, revolutions, and more.
I hope you have enjoyed these culture posts!
Cheers,
The Historian
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