5 June 2013 Russian Art Auctions

5 June 2013

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Costume Design for Theseus in "Oedipus at Colonus"

500. BAKST, LÉON (1866-1924)

Costume Design for Theseus in "Oedipus at Colonus", signed and inscribed in Cyrillic "Edip v Kolone/Tezei".

Pencil, watercolour and gouache, heightened with silver and gold, on paper, 28.5 by 21 cm.
30,000–40,000 GBP


Sophocles’s play Oedipus at Colonus, for which Bakst created the present costume design, premiered at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on 8 January 1904.

Provenance: Collection of Grosvenor Gallery, London.
Anonymous sale; Russian Art, Christie’s, 13 June 2007, lot 84.
Private collection, UK.

Exhibited: Bakst and the Ballets Russes, The Fine Art Society, London, 13 November–15 December 1995, No. 9 (label on the reverse).

Literature: C. Spencer, Léon Bakst, New York, St Martins Press, 1973, p. 227, illustrated in black and white.


Notes on symbols:
* Indicates 5% Import Duty Charge applies.
Ω Indicates 20% Import Duty Charge applies.
§ Indicates Artist's Resale Right applies.
† Indicates Standard VAT scheme applies, and the rate of 20% VAT will be charged on both hammer price and premium.