The First Season
Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947). Prince Igor, Costume design for the Tartar Warriors, 1909. Watercolor, gouache, and pencil. Howard D. Rothschild collection on Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev. pf MS Thr 414.4 (118). Bequest, 1989. |
Costume design by Nicholas Roerich for The Polovtsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947), who designed for Diaghilev the décor and costumes for both Le Sacre du Printemps and the Polovtsian Dances, was famed in Russia not only as a painter (having created some 7,000 works), but also as a scientist, writer, and international advocate for the protection of cultural and academic institutions. His stage designs were praised for their well-researched reproduction of early Russian styles from historical sources. |