Live Auction 21607The Ann & Gordon Getty Collection: Volume 4 | Chinese Works of Art, English and European Furniture and Decorative Arts, Day Sale
LÉON BAKST (1866-1924)
Lot 651

LÉON BAKST (1866-1924)

Costume design for 'Le Dieu Bleu': Bayadère

Closed23 October 2022

Price Realised

USD 32,760

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LÉON BAKST (1866-1924)
Costume design for 'Le Dieu Bleu': Bayadère
signed and dated 'BAKST/1911' (lower left) and inscribed with production title and character (upper left)
pencil, ink, watercolor and gouache, heightened with gold, on paper
12 1/8 x 9 in. (28.3 x 22.8 cm.)

Collection of Martin Birnbaum (1878-1970), New York.
Anonymous sale; Christian de Quay, Paris, 8 June 1994, lot 120.
with The Fine Art Society, London.
Acquired from the above by Ann and Gordon Getty in 1995.

Specialist note

Le Dieu Bleu was a one-act ballet created by the librettists Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) and Federicode Madrazo y Ochoa (1875-1934) for Sergei Diaghilev’s (1872-1929) Ballets Russes. The production was designed by Bakst and choreographed by Michel Fokine (1880-1942), starring Vaclav Nijinsky (1889-1950) in the lead role of 'The Blue God', Tamara Karsavina (1885-1978) as the 'Young girl' and Bronislava Nijinska (1891-1972) as 'The Drunken Temple Dancer'. The premiere took place on 13 May 1912 at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, but, with the exception of Bakst’s lauded designs, was not well received.