[Ballets Russes] Bakst, Léon. (1866–1924)
Original Tunic from the 1910 Ballets Russes "Schéhérazade."
A printed cotton tunic, designed by Leon Bakst in 1910 for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes' 'Schéhérazade', of rust-red and blue satinised cotton, printed with silver droplets and golden stripes, prestud fastened to neck, the hem edged in tousled silver braid. The costume for an aide-de-camp to Shahriar, the design illustrated in "The Art of Ballets Russes: The Serge Lifar Collection of Theater Designs, Costumes, and Paintings at the Wadsworth Atheneum" (Schouvaloff), p. 64. Provenance: Sotheby & Co, 3rd March, 1973, lot 52.Schéhérazade, a ballet in one act, was first performed by the Ballets Russes on the 4th of June 1910 at the Théâtre National de l'Opéra, Paris. Choreographed by Michel Fokine to music by Rimsky-Korsakov, the scenery and the costumes were both by Bakst. The first performances created a sensation, with the designs by Bakst building on the powerful visual effects of his earlier Cléopâtre. This dance drama was the first production completely devised by Diaghilev and his "miriskusniki" (members of the artistic movement inspired by the magazine 'Mir iskusstva' ['World of Art']) collaborators, bringing together vivid visual spectacle, powerful choreography and a re-orchestrated version of the 1888 symphonic suite that Rimsky-Korsakov had based on tales from The arabian nights. Bakst’s costumes, including the present tunic, are an imagined orientalist amalgam of Ottoman and Persian styles. With gold body paint and bejeweled outfit, Nijinsky commanded the stage with his voluptuous and feline performance as Zoebéide’s favorite slave. Against the set’s emerald green walls and red carpets, the massed costumes of dancers in frenzied motion created a moving spectacle of color intensifying towards the ballet’s orgiastic and violent climax. Included with the costume is a fine copy of the 1916 sumptuous souvenir program published by the Metropolitan Ballet Company for the first American tour of the Ballets Russes. It features many full-color illustrations of costumes and scenery by Leon Bakst and others, including a two-page color spread of one of the sets from Schéhérazade. (10114)
Ephemera Dance