Live Auction 5331Russian Art
Alexandre Benois (1870-1960)
Lot 44 PROPERTY OF A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Alexandre Benois (1870-1960)

Costume design for Les Enchantements d'Alcine: A male dancer

Closed28 May 2012

Price Realised

GBP 3,500

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Alexandre Benois (1870-1960)
Costume design for Les Enchantements d'Alcine: A male dancer
signed with artist's initials and dated 'AB/1929' (centre right), inscribed with costume notes
pencil, ink, watercolour and gouache on paper
12¼ x 9½ in. (31.8 x 24.1 cm.)

Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York (label on the backboard).

Specialist note

This work represents one of Alexandre Benois' costume designs for a young male dancer in Les Enchantements d'Alcine, a romantic fairy-tale based on Lodovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. This complex and exotic tale of a love quadrangle gave Benois the possibility to unleash his creative imagination. The premiere of the ballet at the Paris Opera in 1929 was a resounding success. Critics expressed their admiration for Ida Rubinstein in the role of Alcine, the Rose Fairy, and for Alexandre Benois' lavish costumes and set décor.