NATALIA GONCHAROVA (1881-1962) Element of curtain design for the opera-ballet 'Le Coq d’Or' by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, for Sergei Diaghilev’s production, 1914

signed with stamp in Cyrillic ‘NG’ (lower right), numbered in pencil ‘5/9’ (lower left) stencil on paper 26 x 41.5 cm executed circa 1913 Provenance: Collection Alexandra Larionov-Tomiline (second wife of Larionov) Private Collection Literature: Fernand Rude, ‘Nathalie Gontcharova’, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, 1969. Exhibited: ‘Nathalie Gontcharova’, exhibition produced in collaboration with Alexandra Larionov-Tomilina Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon 1969, no. 95. Before World War I, Natalia Goncharova was invited by Sergei Diaghilev to create sets and costumes for the opera-ballet The Golden Cockerel (staged by Mikhail Fokin for Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet company based on the opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov). The opera-ballet premiered in Paris and London in 1914. Goncharova’s fresh approach to popular Russian art, her familiarity with contemporary French painting, and her sense of humor allowed the artist to become an intermediary between the Russian avant-garde and Western art. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera, based on Alexander Pushkin’s fairy tale and political satire The Golden Cockerel, inspired Goncharova to create colorful sets that established her as a leading artist and set designer. Her success paved the way for further collaborations between the Russian Ballet and such artists as Mikhail Larionov, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.