Lot 178: Georgy and Vladimir Stenberg , Russian 1900-1933 and 1899-1982 Costume Design for THE BEGGAR'S OPERA , circa 1920 s gouache, pastel, ink and graphite on paper

signed in Cyrillic (lower right) gouache, pastel, ink and graphite on paper

measurements 15 by 11 3/4 in. alternate measurements 38 by 30 cm

Estate of Natalie Babel Brown (daughter of Isaac Babel)

We would like to thank Elena Grushvitskaia, Senior Curator, St. Petersburg State Theatre Museum, for providing additional catalogue information.
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
Initially achieving fame as Constructivist sculptors, the prominent Russian avant-garde artists (and brothers) Vladimir and Georgy Stenberg also worked as theatrical designers and architects. The brothers' best-known theatrical designs were commissioned by the Moscow Kamerny (Chamber) Theater, founded in 1914 by Alexander Tairov. Tairov's vision of a "kinetic and architectonic, rather than a literary or illustrative theatrical experience" was well-suited to the Stenberg philosophy.

At Tairov's theater, attention was primarily paid to the actor's technique, and movement was considered a central component of the overall stage design. Theater designs reflected Constructivist precepts in their reliance on simple geometric forms. The action generally took place on multi-level stages, and costumes were extremely graphic, as exemplified by the present lots. One of Tairov's greatest successes was his 1926 production of Day and Night by Charles Lecocq--one of the principal nineteenth-century French composers of operettas after Jacques Offenbach. Tairov, in collaboration with the Stenberg brothers as designers, gave the musical comedy the lightness and freshness of an athletic-dance spectacle.

In 1930, Tairov saw the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill production Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) in Berlin. That same year, he staged his own version of the play, The Beggar's Opera. Tairov's staging of The Beggar's Opera was the first production of Brecht presented outside of Germany.