Costume designed by Giorgio de Chirico for one of two statues in the ballet Le Bal choreographed by George Balanchine in 1929 for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The statues watch over and take part in the surreal action of the ballet and are described as being ‘endowed with a magic power from an unreal world’. Daily Telegraph 9 July 1929 p.8 noted that ‘After the guests have gone, sylphides, archaeologists and all, the two doorkeepers, in beautiful white tights, upon which fig leaves have been modestly woven, sweep the floor with delicious grace.’
The costume which consists of all-over white jersey body-tights decorated with black tape suggesting a fig leaf and anatomical details. It fastened at the front at the neck disguised by a silk drape. The was completed with a white cap or wig now missing. The design for the costumes for the statues is at the Wadsworth Atheneum Hartford Connecticut and reproduced in Alexander Schouvaloff The Art of the Ballets Russes (Yale 1997). Schouvaloff notes that the decoration on the costume 'gives the effect of being partly sculptural, partly architectural, and partly skeletal.' The cover of the souvenir programme for the 1929 Ballets Russes season in Monte Carlo and Paris shows one of the statues standing behind one of the seated archaeologists.
Le Bal, the Ball, ‘a modern ballet in one act and 2 scenes’ had a narrative by Boris Kochno, after a story by Count Vladimir Sologub and a score by Vittorio Rieti. The original costumes were executed under the direction of Mme A. Youkine. The roles of the statues were created by Hoyer II and Ignatow.
Le Bal was first performed by the Ballets Russes on 7 May 1929 at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo. It was also performed in Paris and Berlin before having its London Premiere at the Royal Opera House on 8 July 1929. It was last performed by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on 26 July 1929 also at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.
Owning sets and costumes for the ballet Le Bal was and briefly revived by Colonel de Basil’s Ballet Russe at the Auditorium, Chicago on 8 March 1935 when it was re-choreographed by Leonide Massine. This was not a successful rvival and Massine himself was dissatisfied with the production. For de Basil the statues were danced by Thomas Canonoff/Serge Ismailoff and Marc Platoff.