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Costume design
  • Costume design
    Bakst, Leon, born 1866 - died 1924
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Costume design

  • Date:

    1911 (drawn)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Bakst, Leon, born 1866 - died 1924 (costume designer)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper

  • Museum number:

    S.338-1981

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

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Leon Bakst's designs for Fokine's ballet Le Dieu Bleu were amongst his most elaborate but the ballet was old fashioned in its emphasis on design at the expense of dancing and was not a success. It received three performances in Paris in 1912 and three in London the following year, but was not revived. This design for a young Rajah, a minor character not individually named in the programmes, shows fantastic detail in the feathered turban, pearl decoration and stylised shoes.

Physical description

Costume design by Leon Bakst for the Young Rajah in Mikhail Fokine's ballet Le Dieu Bleu, Diaghilev Ballets Russes, 1912. Full length figure of a young man in a vivid yellow coat decorated all over with 'teardrop' motifs and edged with a broad white band trimmed with pearls. He has a turban, the front encrusted with pearls and decorated with an aigrette, and wears oriental slippers with curled toes.

Date

1911 (drawn)

Artist/maker

Bakst, Leon, born 1866 - died 1924 (costume designer)

Materials and Techniques

Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper

Marks and inscriptions

"DIEU BLEU" / jeunes Rajas'
'BAKST 1911'

Dimensions

Height: 285 cm, Width: 21 cm

Descriptive line

Costume design by Leon Bakst for the Young Rajah in Mikhail Fokine's ballet Le Dieu Bleu, Diaghilev Ballets Russes, 1912.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Shead, Richard, Ballets Russes. London: Apple Press, 1989, p.64.
Schouvaloff, Alexander, Theatre on Paper. New York: The Drawing Center, 1990, pp.144-145.

Exhibition History

Theatre on Paper (The Drawing Center, Museum for the Study & Exhibition of Drawings 21/07/1990-31/07/2004)
The Diaghilev Exhibition (Forbes House 03/11/1954-16/01/1955)
The Diaghilev Exhibition (College of Art, Edinburgh 11/09/1954-31/12/2008)
Ballet Designs from the Collection of John Carr-Doughty (Arts Council Tour 01/01/1952-31/12/1952)
Memorial Exhibition of Russian Ballet Art (Claridge Gallery 01/03/1930-31/03/1930)
Drawings of Leon Bakst (The Fine Art Society 01/01/1912-31/12/1912)

Materials

Paper; Pencil; Watercolour; Gouache

Techniques

Drawing (image-making)

Categories

Entertainment & Leisure; Designs

Collection code

T&P

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Qr_O1157853
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