Benois (Alexandre Nikolayevich, designer for the Ballets Russes under Sergei Diaghilev, 1870-1960) Original costume design for the Ballets Russes production of 'Petrushka', brush and black ink with watercolour over pencil, signed in pencil and annotated by the artist, sheet 315 x 245 mm (12 1/4 x 9 5/8 in), some minor surface dirt, bears circular ink stamp 'Paris, Douanes, Exposition' verso, framed, [circa 1911]

Provenance:
Eardley Knollys, friend and associate of the Bloomsbury Group, artist, critic and owner of the Storran Gallery, London.

Exhibited:
'Benois', Storran Gallery, London, ca. 1941

⁂ A design for one of the masqueraders in the last, dramatic, scene, who dance through the street before the fatal fight between the Moor and Petrushka. The pencil notes advise on the different fabrics to be used, the need to keep the huge masks as light as possible, and that all the masqueraders must carry such lanterns. Benois not only designed the sets and costumes for Petrushka but wrote the libretto as well.