Costume Design
1913 (drawn)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Full length female figure with arms raised above her head, wearing a sleeveless, low necked costume of pleated fabric caught in over breasts with a 'bra' decorated with leaves, pink geometric shapes and a central tassel, and around midriff and waist with narrow triangular strips of fabric decorated with pink geometric shapes and held at the centre with a small pink oval; over the hips bolder tight-fitting triangular shapes, held at the centre front by two gold triangles, with smaller pink triangles along edges and bold pink triangles edged with tiny pink triangles in the centre. From beneath the swathe falls a knee-length transparent pink skirt set with 'pearls', open at the front to reveal tight-fitting knee-length breeches decorated with triangles set with small gold 'leaves' and tassels. On her head she wears a pink turban with aigrette, from under which fall black ringlets, and on her feet are slippers with upturned toes; held in her hands above the head is a pink stole and around her neck is a pearl necklace, with pearl bracelets twined around her right arm. Inscribed: "Ballet Hindou Madame A. Pavlova", signed and dated "Bakst 1913" and with instructions to mounter.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper |
Brief description | Costume design by Leon Bakst for Anna Pavlova, probably as the Oriental Enchantress in the ballet Oriental Fantasy, 1913. Pencil, watercolour and gouache. |
Physical description | Full length female figure with arms raised above her head, wearing a sleeveless, low necked costume of pleated fabric caught in over breasts with a 'bra' decorated with leaves, pink geometric shapes and a central tassel, and around midriff and waist with narrow triangular strips of fabric decorated with pink geometric shapes and held at the centre with a small pink oval; over the hips bolder tight-fitting triangular shapes, held at the centre front by two gold triangles, with smaller pink triangles along edges and bold pink triangles edged with tiny pink triangles in the centre. From beneath the swathe falls a knee-length transparent pink skirt set with 'pearls', open at the front to reveal tight-fitting knee-length breeches decorated with triangles set with small gold 'leaves' and tassels. On her head she wears a pink turban with aigrette, from under which fall black ringlets, and on her feet are slippers with upturned toes; held in her hands above the head is a pink stole and around her neck is a pearl necklace, with pearl bracelets twined around her right arm. Inscribed: "Ballet Hindou Madame A. Pavlova", signed and dated "Bakst 1913" and with instructions to mounter. |
Dimensions |
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Production type | Unique |
Marks and inscriptions |
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Credit line | Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest |
Object history | The design is for Anna Pavlova, probably as the Oriental Enchantress in the ballet Oriental Fantasy, which was seen in London at the London Opera House (later Stoll) in 1913, arranged by M Zajlich to music by 'celebrated Russian composers' and designed by Leon Bakst. The ballet was probably intended to give Pavlova a work that cashed in on the public craze for orientalism that followed Bakst's designs for Scheherazade, created for the Diaghilev Ballets Russes in 1910, but the work does not seem to have become a regular part of Pavlova's repertory. The design came to the Museum as part of the Cyril Beaumont Bequest. |
Subject depicted | |
Collection | |
Accession number | S.197-1992 |
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Record created | August 3, 2001 |
Record URL |
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