Ida Rubenstein (1885-1960) was a Russian ballerina whose distinctive appearance appealed to painters even at a time when she could easily be photographed. Her Wikipedia entry is here, and it states that because her formal ballet training was limited, she was never first-rate in her field; she compensated by virtue of her stage presence.
Let's take a look.
Gallery
Here is a photograph taken a few years after the paintings below were completed.
Bakst was the ace costume designer for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
Here is another Bakst take on Rubinstein, a portrait rather than illustrating a costume concept.
Serov was a master of Russian portraiture. Most of his works were naturalist, but this Rubinstein shows him drifting into modernism shortly before his death.
Gándara was a fashionable artist based in Paris, so this portrait was probably painted while the troupe was there on tour.
Brooks had a three-year affair with Rubinstein, and this is one of the paintings from that time.
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