MIKHAIL FYODOROVICH LARIONOV (1881-1964) Sketch for four characters from Stravinsky's "Renard."
Character sketch for the chamber opera ballet by Igor Stravinsky featuring the lead characters Fox, Cock, Cat, and Ram. Graphite on paper, 1920. 400x267 mm; 15 3/4x10 1/2 inches. Signed and dated "M. Larionov, 1920" lower right image; marked "No 5" in his hand on verso. Tipped to matte and framed to 21x18 inches.
Provenance: Estate of Margherita V. Niscemi.
Stravinsky's "Renard" was written in 1916, with a libretto based on Russian folk tales and fashioned as a burlesque. Larionov created the original set and costume designs for its first production by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes on May 18, 1922 at the Théatre National de l'Opéra, Paris. It was also the first complete ballet choreographed by Bronislava Nijinksa for the Ballets Russes. The original title of the work was The Fable of the Vixen, the Cock, the Cat and the Ram"; all are depicted here, the most prominent being the title character, Renard, the fox, or "Vixen."
