georges lepape

vogue, april, 1928.

vanity fair, december, 1919.

paul poiret, 1924.

vogue, november, 1931.

les choses de poiret, 1911.

vogue paris, august, 1926.

vogue, july, 1931.

vogue, september, 1926.

l'oiseau bleu, 1923.

vogue, february, 1929.

feuillets d'art, le miroir rouge, 1919.

vogue, october, 1924.

house & garden, november, 1934.

vogue, january, 1923.

vogue, september, 1927.

georges lepape was born on the rue montaigne may 26, 1887. by the age of 18 he had enrolled in the ecole des beaux-arts. in 1910 he began his collaborations with paul poiret & over the next 10 years, poiret would become paris's leading haute couture designer & lepape would be recognized as one of the world's most brilliant fashion illustrators.
by 1920, lepape had worked with the houses of worth, lanvin, paquin, doucet , magazines harper's bazaar & vogue, commissions for fur, perfume & other luxury good producers, illustrations for ballets russes, costume & set designs for marcel l'herbier & a series of posters for galeries lafayette. in 1926 condé nast invited lepape to new york, further cementing a long relationship with vogue.
georges lepape remained a prolific & sought-after working artist right up to the time of his death at the age of 84, on february 15, 1971.

l'oiseau bleu

maria germanova as the witch 

alexandra rebikova as milk 

boltin as sugar & alisa koonen as mytyl

night

water

znamensky as time with souls of the unborn

alisa coonen as mytyl & sofya khalyutina as tyltyl

novoselsky as elm tree

baliev as bread

baranovskaya as light & margarita savitskaya as fairy

ivan moskvin as cat

g. burdzhalov as fire

aleksandrov as pig

maria germanova as the witch

l'oiseau bleu (the blue bird) is a 1908 play by belgian author maurice maeterlinck. it premiered on 30 september 1908 directed by konstantin stanislavski's at his moscow art theatre. 

maeterlinck had met french symbolist poets when he visited paris & was inspired by this literary form, which used allegory to define truth. in the blue bird, the fantasy characters represent aspects of human existence: the dog symbolizes faithfulness; self-interest is embodied in the cat, etc.

the story is about a brother & sister (tyltyl & mytyl) seeking happiness, represented by the blue bird of happiness & aided by the good fairy bérylune. the fairy beryluna tells them they must go on a journey to find the blue bird for her daughter who is very ill & "just wants to be happy." she gives tyltyl a green hat with a large diamond that makes people see "inside the soul of ordinary things." when tyltyl turns the diamond, fire, water, bread, sugar, milk, the dog & cat all come to life. soon they are all off on their journey to find the blue bird.