Costume design for 'Scheherazade': Almée

Details

LÉON BAKST (1866-1924)
Costume design for 'Scheherazade': Almée
signed and dated 'BAKST/1910' (lower right)
pencil and watercolor, heightened with gold, on paper
14 3/4 x 8 3/8 in. (37.5 x 21.3 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 14 December 1995, lot 289.
Acquired at the above sale by Ann and Gordon Getty.

Literature

M. Cissan, 'Les Etoiles des Ballets Russes', Comœdia illustré, Paris, no.18 (supplement), 15 June 1910, illustrated on center spread, p. [13].
C. Spencer, Léon Bakst, London, 1973, illustrated p. 75, no. 52 (seen in the spread by L. Vogel from Comœdia illustré, no. 18 (supplement), 15 June 1910).
A. Schouvaloff, Léon Bakst: The Theatre Art, London, 1991, illustrated and listed p. 99.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Elizabeth Seigel Vice President, Specialist, Head of Private and Iconic Collections

eseigel@christies.com +1 212 484 4812

Lot Essay

The original ballet adaptation of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s (1844-1908) symphonic suite Scheherazade premiered during Sergei Diaghilev’s (1872-1929) Saisons Russes on the 4 June 1910 at the Opéra Garnier in Paris. Bakst worked on the libretto for the ballet with the choreographer Michel Fokine (1880-1942), and the overall design. This costume design is for the character 'Almée', the favorite female slave of the Shah.

More from The Ann & Gordon Getty Collection: Volume 4 | Chinese Works of Art, English and European Furniture and Decorative Arts, Day Sale

View All