[Dance] [Ballets Russes] [Firebird] [Stravinsky, Igor. (1882–1971)] [Goncharova, Natalia Sergeevna. (1881–1962)]
Original Hand-Painted Robe from the 1926 Ballets Russes "L'Oiseau de Feu."
Hand-painted cotton robe, designed by Natalia Goncharova, of white calico painted white with mauve strapwork, wired black cotton collar, lined in mauve flannel, for the production of 'L'Oiseau de Feu' by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Lyceum Theatre London, November 1926. Provenance: Sotheby & Co auction, 3rd March, 1973 lot 81 (part).The Firebird (L'Oiseau de feu) was an archetypal 'Diaghilev' ballet, and one of the most successful of the early works of the Diaghilev Ballets Russes. Premiered in Paris in 1910, it was distinguished not only by Mikhail Fokine's imaginative and magical choreography and production, but by being Serge Diaghilev's first commissioned score from Igor Stravinsky. It was the beginning of a distinguished collaboration between Stravinsky and Diaghilev's company.
The ballet was designed by Alexander Golovine except for the leading dancers' costumes, which were by Leon Bakst. By the mid-1920s, when Diaghilev wished to revive the ballet, the original designs were seen as old-fashioned. Diaghilev therefore commissioned new sets and costumes from Natalia Goncharova, whose style, deriving from icons and Russian folklore, with bold colors and simplified shapes, was admirably suited to the folk tale elements in the ballet. The first performance of the redesigned production was seen at the Lyceum Theatre, London, on 25 November 1926. (10115)
Ephemera Dance