Overview
Costume and set designs for ballet and opera productions, and sketches.
Dates
- 1911-1922 and undated
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in French and Russian.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
1.5 linear feet (22 drawings and 2 prints in 24 folders)Contains one design for Faust by Charles Gounod, three designs for Le Martyre de saint Sébastian by Claude Debussy and Gabriel d'Annunzio, one design for Salomé by Oscar Wilde, and two designs for the ballet Sleeping princess by Bronislava Nijinska after Marius Petipa, and pencil and ink sketches of landscapes, figures and groups.
Biographical / Historical
Léon Bakst (1866-1924) was a Russian painter and theater designer. He was most famous for his designs for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets russes.
Arrangement
Arranged into two series:
- I. Theatrical designs
- II. Sketches
Physical Location
pfd, ppf
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2001-2002.33.12. Purchased from Marina Henderson; received: 2001 July.
2004MT-11. Purchased from Marina Henderson with the Howard D. Rothschild Bequest; received; 2004 August 24.
2004MT-90. Purchased from Laurence-Anne Francois with the Howard D. Rothschild Bequest ; received: 2004 December 23.
No accession number. Gift of Fredrick R. Koch ; received: 1985.
No accession number. Gift of Melvin R. Seiden ; received: 2008 July 6.
Existence and Location of Copies
Images of artwork from this collection are also available through Harvard University Library's Visual Information System (VIA) catalog as part of the Russian Theatrical Designs at the Harvard Theatre Collection project. Search in VIA under designer's last name.
Processing Information
Processed by: Irina Klyagin
- Title
- Bakst, Léon, 1866-1924. Léon Bakst theatrical designs and sketches, 1911-1922: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02484
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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