Theatre Costume
1912 (made)
| Artist/Maker |
Described as ‘ A Hindu legend in One Act,’ Le Dieu bleu had a simple synopsis. A woman is condemned for trying to seduce her lover away from a priestly career. She is surrounded by monsters but rescued by the Lotus Goddess and the flute-playing Blue God. The narrative was by Jean Cocteau and Frédéric de Madrazo, the sweet and insipid music was by Venezuelan-born Reynaldo Hahn who worked extensively for the Parisian theatre and choreography was by Mikhail Fokine. It was first performed by the Ballets Russes on 13 May 1912 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, and remained in their repertory until 1914. It was included on Vogue’s list of failures by the Ballets Russes.
The ballet was famed for its fabulous setting by Leon Bakst – ‘a great orange cliff silhouetted against the deep blue sky of an Indian night’ with the cliff incorporating faces such as seen at the Bayon Temple at Siam Reap. Details on some of the costumes are suggested by those seen on reliefs at Angkor Wat. Bakst was fascinated by South Asian art and the work may be seen as an homage to French Indo-China. In many respects Le Dieu bleu harked back to the 19th century ballets of Marius Petipa with distinct echoes of La Bayadère. As A E Johnson noted, the work ‘shows us a multiplicity of radiant dresses massed against a background of daring colour and design’. The dances formed more of a divertissement than a narrative work. Where Petipa in Bayadère had women dancing with parrots Bakst has a trio of tall women carrying peacocks ‘whose gorgeous trains of eyed feathers sweep gracefully from the shoulders of the swiftly moving bearers to the ground’. The unleashed monsters who are calmed is a reworking from The Firebird.
The costumes for the Bayaderes or dancing girls consisted of an open-fronted circular cotton skirt, a separate collar and a kokoshnik-style headdress. Photographs of dancers wearing these costumes suggest there was other jewellery attached to the headdresses, a bolero-style bodice with 'jewels', and they were worn with trousers and low-heeled shoes.
The ballet was famed for its fabulous setting by Leon Bakst – ‘a great orange cliff silhouetted against the deep blue sky of an Indian night’ with the cliff incorporating faces such as seen at the Bayon Temple at Siam Reap. Details on some of the costumes are suggested by those seen on reliefs at Angkor Wat. Bakst was fascinated by South Asian art and the work may be seen as an homage to French Indo-China. In many respects Le Dieu bleu harked back to the 19th century ballets of Marius Petipa with distinct echoes of La Bayadère. As A E Johnson noted, the work ‘shows us a multiplicity of radiant dresses massed against a background of daring colour and design’. The dances formed more of a divertissement than a narrative work. Where Petipa in Bayadère had women dancing with parrots Bakst has a trio of tall women carrying peacocks ‘whose gorgeous trains of eyed feathers sweep gracefully from the shoulders of the swiftly moving bearers to the ground’. The unleashed monsters who are calmed is a reworking from The Firebird.
The costumes for the Bayaderes or dancing girls consisted of an open-fronted circular cotton skirt, a separate collar and a kokoshnik-style headdress. Photographs of dancers wearing these costumes suggest there was other jewellery attached to the headdresses, a bolero-style bodice with 'jewels', and they were worn with trousers and low-heeled shoes.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 3 parts. (Some alternative part names are also shown below)
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| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Three parts of a costume for a Bayadere in Fokine's ballet Le Dieu bleu designed by Leon Bakst for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1912. (Skirt, collar, headdress) |
| Physical description | Costume for a Bayadere consisting of: Open-fronted white fine wool circular skirt, fitted on the hips and flaring to hem, with midnight blue cotton lining painted with 2 cm gold spots (the gold paint now being very deteriorated) The skirt is fastened at the front with two hooks and eyes, the lining is turned back along the right front opening. There is boning down the front opening which is emphasised by a decoration with a widening pattern of triangles: outlined with gold braid these are stencilled in apple-green with triangles and spots of moss-green flock. At the top the decoration is bordered with composition studs. The circular lower skirt is enhanced by graduated lines of green spots increasing in size towards the base and a hem-line trim of green squares with central spot again edged with gold. White cotton collar (much missing) with upturned pagoda points on the shoulders, edged with gold ribbon, yellow green velvet, gold studs and composition roundels, simulating a necklet. High wired headdress covered with elaborate decorations in filigree gold braid, green flocked and painted triangles, crescents and circles interspersed with studs and composition roundels. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by the Friends of the Museum of the Performing Arts |
| Object history | Apparently part of Lot 9 in the Sotheby's auction of Costumes and Curtains from Diaghilev and de Basil Ballets at the Scala Theatre, London, on 17 July 1968. Purchased by the Friends of the Museum of the Performing Arts. |
| Summary | Described as ‘ A Hindu legend in One Act,’ Le Dieu bleu had a simple synopsis. A woman is condemned for trying to seduce her lover away from a priestly career. She is surrounded by monsters but rescued by the Lotus Goddess and the flute-playing Blue God. The narrative was by Jean Cocteau and Frédéric de Madrazo, the sweet and insipid music was by Venezuelan-born Reynaldo Hahn who worked extensively for the Parisian theatre and choreography was by Mikhail Fokine. It was first performed by the Ballets Russes on 13 May 1912 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, and remained in their repertory until 1914. It was included on Vogue’s list of failures by the Ballets Russes. The ballet was famed for its fabulous setting by Leon Bakst – ‘a great orange cliff silhouetted against the deep blue sky of an Indian night’ with the cliff incorporating faces such as seen at the Bayon Temple at Siam Reap. Details on some of the costumes are suggested by those seen on reliefs at Angkor Wat. Bakst was fascinated by South Asian art and the work may be seen as an homage to French Indo-China. In many respects Le Dieu bleu harked back to the 19th century ballets of Marius Petipa with distinct echoes of La Bayadère. As A E Johnson noted, the work ‘shows us a multiplicity of radiant dresses massed against a background of daring colour and design’. The dances formed more of a divertissement than a narrative work. Where Petipa in Bayadère had women dancing with parrots Bakst has a trio of tall women carrying peacocks ‘whose gorgeous trains of eyed feathers sweep gracefully from the shoulders of the swiftly moving bearers to the ground’. The unleashed monsters who are calmed is a reworking from The Firebird. The costumes for the Bayaderes or dancing girls consisted of an open-fronted circular cotton skirt, a separate collar and a kokoshnik-style headdress. Photographs of dancers wearing these costumes suggest there was other jewellery attached to the headdresses, a bolero-style bodice with 'jewels', and they were worn with trousers and low-heeled shoes. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.622&B-1980 |
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| Record created | July 1, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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