(Maisons-Laffitte, 1889 – Milly-la-Forêt, 1963)
La Dame, Etude pour le Ballet La Dame à la Licorne, Circa 1951-1952
Graphite and bold colored pencils on paper
Signed with initials and star below right JC ☆
42 x 33 cm
Provenance :
- Heinz Rosen (1908-1972), choreographer and director of the ballet La Dame à la Licorne
- Private collection by descent
Exhibition :
Jean Cocteau, MuBE (Museo Brasileiro da Escultura), Sao Paulo, from July 7 to August 6, 2009
Literature :
Jean Cocteau, MuBE, Sao Paulo, 2009, reproduced in color in the exhibition brochure
Certificate of authenticity by Annie Guédras, Périgueux on December 30, 2019
La Dame à la Licorne. One-act ballet, argument, models, sets and costumes by Jean Cocteau, music by Jacques Chailley (1910-1999), choreography by Heinz Rosen (1908-1972). Premiered in Munich on May 9, 1953 at the Gärtner Theater. Premiered at the German Opera in Berlin in 1954, in New York and in Argentina in 1957. Premiered at the Paris Opera on January 28, 1959.
The ballet stages the struggle between Strength and Purity and illustrates the link between love and death through the legend of the lady with the unicorn, a symbol of the loss of virginity.
Overview of the creation of The Lady with the Unicorn, Munich 1953
The actors with Jean Cocteau, Jacques Chailley and Heinz Rozen
Ballerina Geneviève Lespagnole is the first to play the main role, La Dame.
