Alexander Nikolaevich Benois

The collection of Lady Diana Strathcona
Acquired from the above by John Carr Doughty in 1955
A gift from John Carr Doughty to the present owner in the 1990s

Arts Council of Great Britain touring exhibition, Diaghilev: an exhibition of costume and set designs chiefly for Diaghilev's ballets, drawn from the collection of John Carr Doughty, 1967, no.9
London, Institut Français, Hommage á Diaghilev, pour le cinquantenaire de sa mort: peintures et dessins de la collection John Carr Doughty, 7-30 November 1979

Exhibition catalogue, Diaghilev: an exhibition of costume and set designs chiefly for Diaghilev's ballets, drawn from the collection of John Carr Doughty, Arts Council of Great Britain touring exhibition, 1967, p.10

The sheet has been laid down on paper and is very lightly undulated. The sheet has discoloured, there is a layer of surface dirt, some minor foxing in places. Held in a simple plaster frame behind glass. Unexamined out of frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Carr Doughty ballet collection, began during the 1940s by the textile industrialist John Carr Doughty and expanded with the help of his wife Joyce, became one of the most important of its type in private ownership, second only to the Lifar and Boris Kochno collections. Carr Doughty won the trust and friendship of ballet experts such as Cyril Beaumont and Arnold Haskell, so much so that the latter introduced him to artists such as Mikhail Larionov and Alexander Benois. Larionov even dedicated a painting to this ‘fine collector’. Lord Kenneth Clark, director of the National Gallery, endorsed this great collection himself and organised an exhibition there in 1943, opened by Tamara Karsavina, one of Diaghilev’s most famous prima ballerinas.  

At its peak the collection numbered over three hundred exceptional items, many of which were frequently exhibited in Europe and the UK from the mid-1940s to the mid-1980s.  The collection was afterwards dispersed, and Carr Doughty died in his mid eighties in 1998, so this is an exceptional opportunity to admire a group of its finest pieces, on public view for the first time in over 25 years.

 

The present design is among the most finished of Benois' versions of the fairground in Act I of Petrushka.