Boris Israilovich Anisfeld, 1879-1973

From 1907 until his departure from Russia in 1917 Boris Anisfeld was aknowleged as one of the country’s most prominent stage designers.

The critical and popular success of Anisfeld’s designs for Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s The Marriage of Zobeide, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, prompted Serge Diaghilev to invite Anisfeld to join a group of Mir Iskusstva artists engaged in the preparation of Russian opera productions for presentation in Paris.

In collaboration with Leon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Alexander Golovin and Nicholas Roerich he designed and painted the décor for Boris Godunov, Ivan the Terrible, Petrouchka and Sadko. After his arrival in the United States Anisfeld designed set and costumes for The Blue Bird, Love and three Oranges and The Snow Maiden.

The ballet The Golden Cockerel was originally staged in 1914 by Michel Fokine for Diaghilev’s ballet Russe. The opera-ballet was a danced interpretation of the Rimsky-Korsakov epic opera of the same name, for which Vladimir Belsky had adapted the libretto from a Pushkin poem. The offered lot appears to be a set design for an unrealised production of The Golden Cockerel.