Decor for the Ballet "Le Soleil de Nuit"
Mikhail Larionov, French (born Russia), 1881 - 1964
Geography:
Made in France, Europe
Date:
1915Medium:
Opaque watercolor and graphite with collage of cut painted paper on boardDimensions:
Image and sheet: 21 x 29 5/8 inches (53.3 x 75.2 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, ParisCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
1941-79-123Credit Line:
Gift of Christian Brinton, 1941
Made in France, Europe
Date:
1915Medium:
Opaque watercolor and graphite with collage of cut painted paper on boardDimensions:
Image and sheet: 21 x 29 5/8 inches (53.3 x 75.2 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, ParisCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1941-79-123Credit Line:
Gift of Christian Brinton, 1941
Label:
Sergei Diaghilev’s discovery of Natalia Goncharova was a watershed in the history of the Ballets Russes. This leader of the Russian avant-garde developed a daring aesthetic that fused the archaic with the modern through Neo-Primitivist emulation of peasant art informed by Cubo-Futurist experimentation. In his designs for the ballet Le Soleil de Nuit (Night Sun), Larionov reinvented Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Snegourotchka (Snow Maiden) as a pagan celebration of the sun-god Yarilo at the arrival of spring. A garland of joyful sun discs in the ceiling was meant to spin rapidly, recalling Larionov’s attempts to convey the effect of scattered light rays in his paintings.
Sergei Diaghilev’s discovery of Natalia Goncharova was a watershed in the history of the Ballets Russes. This leader of the Russian avant-garde developed a daring aesthetic that fused the archaic with the modern through Neo-Primitivist emulation of peasant art informed by Cubo-Futurist experimentation. In his designs for the ballet Le Soleil de Nuit (Night Sun), Larionov reinvented Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Snegourotchka (Snow Maiden) as a pagan celebration of the sun-god Yarilo at the arrival of spring. A garland of joyful sun discs in the ceiling was meant to spin rapidly, recalling Larionov’s attempts to convey the effect of scattered light rays in his paintings.
