This colorful collage joined the collection in 2001. It’s a costume design for the Russian ballet ‘La Bayadère’ (The Temple Dancer).
The Mead holds a handful of costume design sketches, including this beautiful design for a waltz:
This watercolor drawing of a fairy doll costume by Russian artist Leon Bakst:
And this colorful watercolor drawing of a man’s costume, also by Leon Bakst:
This elegant drawing by French artist Charles Despiau joined the collection in 1953. Despiau produced a total of 150 sculptures and 1,000 drawings over a fifty year career. His works, mostly portraits and nudes exemplifying a calm classicism, are in the collections of over thirty museums in France and over 100 museums around the world. (source)
The Smith College Museum of Art holds two similar drawings by Despiau. The first is also titled Seated Nude:
The second is titled Female Nude, Seated:
This elegant watercolor drawing, by Russian artist Kuz’ma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin, joined the collection in 1904.
image source: The Hero
Mead Musings 