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Labisse, Félix. (1905–1982) "Mephisto-Valse" - Original Costume Design
Labisse, Félix. (1905–1982) "Mephisto-Valse" - Original Costume Design
Labisse, Félix. (1905–1982). "Mephisto-Valse" - Original Costume Design.

Original costume design in gouache and pencil on paper by the French Surrealist painter, illustrator and designer. The work, featuring a female figure wearing a white gown with oversized purple bow ties to wrists and waist, red undergarment and blue stockings visible beneath, was made for a ballet production of Liszt's "Mephisto-Valse", choreographed by Maurice Béjart. Signed "LABISSE" in pencil to the lower right. Scattered staining and foxing, but overall in fine condition. Provenance: from the collection of Roland Petit and Zizi Jeanmaire.  The ballet was premiered at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, December 26, 1979. 9.75 x 12.5 inches; 25 x 31.5 cm. 

After moving to Paris in 1927, the 22-year-old artist immediately became close to the elite of French culture, including representatives of the theater and literature. His friends Paul Eluard, Philippe Soupault, Robert Desnos, Jacques Prévert and Jean-Louis Barrault wrote poems, articles, essays and monographs about the artist and Labisse created costumes and scenery for more than 60 plays and ballets.

Provenance: from the collection of Roland Petit and Zizi Jeanmaire. The celebrated French ballet dancer, actress and chanteuse Renée Marcelle "Zizi" Jeanmaire (1924 - 2020). An exquisite, modernist ballerina who partnered such ballet greats as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, she also made Hollywood films with Bing Crosby (“Anything Goes,” 1956) and Danny Kaye (“Hans Christian Andersen,” 1952). But she was best-known as a flamboyant, seductive cabaret singer and dancer in the vibrant music halls of her native Paris in the post-World War II years. Famed for her gamine hair bob, scant black corset, diminutive torso but long legs, and her pink ostrich feather outfits, she became one of France’s best-loved artistes. Her stage appearances in London and the United States in 1949 transformed her into a global dance star.

Labisse, Félix. (1905–1982) "Mephisto-Valse" - Original Costume Design

Schubertiade Music and Arts
SKU: 21322
$2,000.00
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Labisse, Félix. (1905–1982). "Mephisto-Valse" - Original Costume Design.

Original costume design in gouache and pencil on paper by the French Surrealist painter, illustrator and designer. The work, featuring a female figure wearing a white gown with oversized purple bow ties to wrists and waist, red undergarment and blue stockings visible beneath, was made for a ballet production of Liszt's "Mephisto-Valse", choreographed by Maurice Béjart. Signed "LABISSE" in pencil to the lower right. Scattered staining and foxing, but overall in fine condition. Provenance: from the collection of Roland Petit and Zizi Jeanmaire.  The ballet was premiered at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, December 26, 1979. 9.75 x 12.5 inches; 25 x 31.5 cm. 

After moving to Paris in 1927, the 22-year-old artist immediately became close to the elite of French culture, including representatives of the theater and literature. His friends Paul Eluard, Philippe Soupault, Robert Desnos, Jacques Prévert and Jean-Louis Barrault wrote poems, articles, essays and monographs about the artist and Labisse created costumes and scenery for more than 60 plays and ballets.

Provenance: from the collection of Roland Petit and Zizi Jeanmaire. The celebrated French ballet dancer, actress and chanteuse Renée Marcelle "Zizi" Jeanmaire (1924 - 2020). An exquisite, modernist ballerina who partnered such ballet greats as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, she also made Hollywood films with Bing Crosby (“Anything Goes,” 1956) and Danny Kaye (“Hans Christian Andersen,” 1952). But she was best-known as a flamboyant, seductive cabaret singer and dancer in the vibrant music halls of her native Paris in the post-World War II years. Famed for her gamine hair bob, scant black corset, diminutive torso but long legs, and her pink ostrich feather outfits, she became one of France’s best-loved artistes. Her stage appearances in London and the United States in 1949 transformed her into a global dance star.

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