Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Costume Design for the Ballet "Foire Russe" c. 1916 Mikhail Larionov, French (born Russia), 1881 - 1964 Watercolor and graphite over charcoal on paper Currently not on view 1941-79-143 Gift of Christian Brinton, 1941 |
LabelLarionov’s Russian folk costume design for an unrealized production is repurposed here for a witty character sketch of Sergei Diaghilev’s entourage. Represented, clockwise from left, are: Larionov, Léon Bakst, choreographer Léonide Massine, dancer Maria or Gala Chabelska, composer Lord Berners, Diaghilev, and (seated) Natalia Goncharova. Larionov captures his colleagues’ distinctive physical traits described by friends and contemporaries: Diaghilev’s “insolent little moustache, eyes oddly drooping at the corners;” Bakst’s portly figure and red hair that “burned like fire” in the sunlight. But more than that, he conveys the spirit of informal, intimate, and intense collaboration pervading this circle. |
