Design for L’Amour et son amour

L’Amour et son amour marked the second collaboration between the artist Jean Cocteau, who designed and wrote for many choreographers, and the dancer and enfant terrible of French ballet, Jean Babilée, in his debut as a choreographer. Their previous partnership had created Babilée’s most enduring role: the young man in Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, choreographed by Roland Petit. While the premiere of L’Amour took place in 1948, performed by Les Ballets des Champs-Elysées, the date on this sketch indicates that it was prepared for the ballet’s U.S. debut with Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre) in 1951. The critic John Martin considered the ballet slight, but he was charmed by the central performances of Babilée and his first wife and dance partner, Nathalie Philippart, as Cupid and Psyche. Cocteau’s enchanting designs evoke a mythological space; the figure of the woman in the sun may suggest Cupid’s mother, Venus, or even Psyche’s own destiny.