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Costume Design for the Ballet "Foire Russe"

c. 1916
Mikhail Larionov (Russian (active Moscow and Paris), 1881–1964)
Larionov’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.

Object Details

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