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BORIS ANISFELD.
Costume design for “Aziade” Mikhail
Mordkin’s 1926 ballet. Graphite and gouache
on board, outlined in pigment and gum arabic.
356x254 mm; 14x10 inches. Illegible
inscription at upper right corner. Soiled, some
flaking, corners bumped. Framed.
[1,000/1,500]
Boris Anisfeld (1878-1973) was a Russian-
American theater designer who studied at the
Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.Among
his first stage productions was a 1910 run of
Tchaikovsky’s “The Four Seasons.” He came to
NewYork in 1918 where he was welcomed by the
Brooklyn Museum who honored Anisfeld by
organizing a traveling show of his works. He
continued to work steadily, designing sets and
costumes for the Metropolitan Opera before
heading the Department of Advanced Painting at
the Art Institute of Chicago for almost three
decades where his students included Robert
Indiana, Jack Beal, and Red Grooms.
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