ALEXANDRE BENOIS (1870-1960) Costume design for Boyars for Ida Rubinstein’s ballet Swan Princess [Princesse Cygne] in 1928

signed and dated in pencil 'Alexandre Benois 1928' (lower right), extensively inscribed ‘Bojary porteur de la couronne’ (upper left), inscribed in pencil 'Saltan' (upper right) watercolour and pencil on paper 48.3 x 31.5 cm (à vue) executed in 1928 Alexandre Benois lived abroad from 1926. He became the principal artist for Ida Rubinstein’s productions, particularly between 1928 and 1935, following the death of Léon Bakst in 1924. His collaboration with Rubinstein began after he distanced himself from Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, disagreeing with its modernist artistic direction. One of their major projects was the ballet The Swan Princess (27 November 1928, Paris, Grand Opera), staged by Bronislava Nijinska to the music of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, based on his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan. Benois was responsible for the set and costume design.