Successor to Diaghilev's legendary Ballets Russes where the scenic designer was treated as a full creative partner, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (1938-1962) toured from coast to coast and helped develop an enthusiastic new audience for ballet in America. This study explores the approximately 300 designs which comprise the largest single collection commissioned between 1938 and 1944, the early period when the company possessed many brilliant dancers and the artistic stewardship of two indelible names of 20th-century ballet: Leonide Massine and George Balanchine.