Research Catalog

Title

Le lac des cygnes [graphic] / Alexandre Benois.

Author

Benois, Alexandre, 1870-1960.

Publication

[194-?]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Beard, Richard.

Found In

Richard Park Beard collection.

Description

1 drawing : ink, watercolor over graphite, color; 25 x 17 cm., on mount 34 x 26 cm.

Summary

Costume design depicting a full-length female figure in a black tutu and feathered headpiece. As the use of the plural in the designer's notation indicates, this costume was probably intended to be worn by dancers of the ensemble rather than by Odile, the heroine's alter-ego, who usually appears as a black swan.

Alternative Title

Richard Park Beard collection. Graphics.

Subjects

• Costume design drawings
• Swan lake (Choreographic work : Balanchine after Ivanov)
• Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo

Genre/Form

Costume design drawings.

Note

• Signed.
• Labeled: Les cygnes noirs.
• Includes the designer's notations.

Source (note)

• Robert James Wood II

Biography (note)

• Le lac des cygnes, or Swan lake, has been produced in many versions by different choreographers, though most are danced to the score by Peter Tchaikovsky. This design was probably made for an unrealized production by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, intended to be staged with choreography by George Balanchine in 1945.
• The Russian painter and stage designer Alexandre Benois played a pivotal role in ballet history. He is said to have sparked Serge Diaghilev's interest in ballet, and contributed to the formation and direction of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which revitalized ballet in the early part of the century. He continued to design for the stage for many years after the Ballets Russes was disbanded in 1929.
• Richard Park Beard, 1925-2009, the former owner of this drawing, made his debut as a professional dancer with Ballet International in 1944, and subsequently danced with Ballet Theatre, Ballet Society, and the New York City Ballet. He also danced and choreographed for television and nightclub shows.

Linking Entry (note)

• Forms part of the Richard Park Beard collection. Graphics.

Call Number

*MGZGA Ben A Swa 2

OCLC

827279346

Author

Benois, Alexandre, 1870-1960.

Title

Le lac des cygnes [graphic] / Alexandre Benois.

Imprint

[194-?]

Biography

Le lac des cygnes, or Swan lake, has been produced in many versions by different choreographers, though most are danced to the score by Peter Tchaikovsky. This design was probably made for an unrealized production by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, intended to be staged with choreography by George Balanchine in 1945.

The Russian painter and stage designer Alexandre Benois played a pivotal role in ballet history. He is said to have sparked Serge Diaghilev's interest in ballet, and contributed to the formation and direction of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which revitalized ballet in the early part of the century. He continued to design for the stage for many years after the Ballets Russes was disbanded in 1929.

Richard Park Beard, 1925-2009, the former owner of this drawing, made his debut as a professional dancer with Ballet International in 1944, and subsequently danced with Ballet Theatre, Ballet Society, and the New York City Ballet. He also danced and choreographed for television and nightclub shows.

Linking Entry

Forms part of the Richard Park Beard collection. Graphics.

Local Note

Cataloging funds provided by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

For another design by Benois for Swan lake, see: *MGZGA Ben A Swa 1.

Source

Gift; Robert James Wood II, 2010.

Added Author

Beard, Richard. Collector

Wood, Robert James. Donor

Added Title

Richard Park Beard collection. Graphics.

Found In:

Richard Park Beard collection.

Research Call Number

*MGZGA Ben A Swa 2