Henri GAUDIER-BRZESKA, L'Oiseau de feu [Firebird] 1912

Published: Nov. 23, 2007, 1:20 a.m.

In June 1912 The Firebird was performed in London for the first time by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Gaudier-Brzeska portrayed the moment in Scene One when Ivan the Tsarevich captures the Firebird. He translated the figures into a series of simplified planes and conveyed movement through the crouching figure linking arms with the upwardly thrusting Firebird.