Décor for The Blue Bird; Woodcutter's Cottage

Details

Boris Izrailevich Anisfel'd (1878-1973)
Décor for The Blue Bird; Woodcutter's Cottage
indistinctly signed and dated 'Boris...1919' (lower left)
pencil and coloured chalks on paper
21¾ x 27 5/8 in. (57.8 x 70.2 cm.)

Literature

Exhibition catalogue; Boris Anisfeld - Paintings and Stage Designs, 1906-1926, New York, 2003, p. 47, illustrated.

Exhibited

New York, Boris Anisfeld - Paintings and Stage Designs, 1906-1926, Art Gallery of the Graduate Center, 4 December 2003 - 17 January 2004, no. 30.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

With music by Albert Wolff and libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck, this four-act opera premiered on December 27, 1919 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Anisfeld hand-painted at least seven huge sets for the production, making The Blue Bird a personal triumph: 'It was the artist rather than the composer who was the star of the evening. Boris Anisfeld is the alchemist in color who provided these magnificent settings.' ('The Blue Bird in Music and Picture', Arts and Decoration, January, 1920, p. 187)

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