The Firebird Tunic

This hand painted tunic was previously thought to be for a corps de ballets member from the 1910 production of The Firebird, designed by Aleksandr Golovin. On closer inspection it was shown to closely resemble a design from 1913, for the lead character of Ivan Tsarevitch, danced by Mikhail Fokine and designed by Bakst. The hand painting matches Bakst’s intended floral design and style – although the costume is much shorter and does not have an elaborate panel as the design shows. Further supporting the theory that the costume was designed for Ivan Tsarevitch, the inscription ‘L’Oiseau de Feu, Ivan Tsarevitch, M. Fokine’ was found inside.

There were multiple versions of the Firebird’s tutu from 1910-1916 and most likely multiple versions of Prince Ivan’s costume too. The original press photos from 1910 show Fokine, in the role, wearing a much more ‘Golovin-style’ double skirted tunic with much appliqué and detail. Fokine left the company after a dispute mid-1912, but returned after Nijinsky’s dismissal towards the end of 1913. When he was re-employed he was both choreographer and premier danseur. This links to the 1913 design and would suggest that Fokine had a new costume for this role. Bakst also designed a new costume for the Firebird in 1913. As yet no photographs have surfaced proving that Fokine actually wore the version of the costume housed at the Museum of London. There are photographs of Léonide Massine wearing a costume which closely matches the design but differs significantly from the tunic now at the Museum of London. It is unlikely, although possible, that Massine had a new costume made in 1916 in the same design as had been intended for Fokine, but more likely that the costume he is seen wearing in 1916 was also the same costume made for Fokine in 1913. The Museum of London tunic appears to have been made later ‘after’ the Bakst design originally intended for Fokine. The costume is certainly for the role of Ivan Tsarevitch and was worn for this part in the mid-1930s by the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. Photographs in the National Library of Australia of the company’s 1936-37 tour to Australia appear to show the tunic in its current altered state being worn by Igor Youskevitch and Valentin Froman as Ivan Tsarevitch. (See NLA bibliographic numbers Youskevitch - 5160706, 5160737, 3736834, 5160679; Froman - 840474).

The costume still appears something of a puzzle. The tunic is currently only 74 cm/29” long, but is 91 cm/36” across at the hem, leading one to believe that it was at one time much longer – as Bakst’s design shows. It also only contains Fokine’s name inside, which is curious as it appears to have been wore in later productions but no other names were added.

The ballet The Firebird or L'Oiseau de Feu was based on a Russian fairy-tale and premiered on the 25th of June 1910 at the Grand Opera, Paris. Composer Igor Stravinsky wrote the critically-acclaimed score, Mikhail Fokine undertook and choreography and Aleksandr Golovin designed the sets and costumes with principal costumes designed by Léon Bakst.

Thanks to Caroline Hamilton for her research assistance.