Léon (Lev) Samoylovich Bakst (), born Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich Rosenberg (; – 27 December 1924),"Bakst, Leon"
by Maarten Wurfbain, in ''The Dictionary of Art'' (Grove Press, 1998) p.86"Bakst Lev Samoilovich"
by V. A. Kulakov, ''Great Russian Encyclopedia'' online was a Russian painter and scene and

costume design Costume design is the process of selecting or creating clothing for a performers. A costume may be designed from scratch or may be designed by combining existing garments. "Costume" may also refer to the style of dress particular to a nation, a ...

er of Jewish origin. He was a member of the

Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario an ...

circle and the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...

, for which he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress and/or makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used to describe typica ...

s. He designed the décor for such productions as ''Carnaval'' (1910), ''Spectre de la rose'' (1911), ''Daphnis and Chloe'' (1912), ''The Sleeping Princess'' (1921) and others.

Early life

Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich (later Samoylovich) Rosenberg was born in

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

Grodno Governorate Grodno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Grodno. It encompassed in area and consisted of a population of 1,603,409 inhabitants by 1897. Gro ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now Belarus) into a middle-class Jewish family. As his grandfather was an exceptional tailor, the Tsar gave him a very good position, and he had a huge and wonderful house in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Later, when Leyb's parents moved to the capital, the boy Leyb would visit his grandfather's house every Saturday. He said that he had been very impressed as a youth by that house, always returning with pleasure. At the young age of twelve, Lejb won a drawing contest and decided to become a painter. However, the parents disapproved of it and even threw away his paints. In several years the parents divorced and started new families, it became impossible to live with a step-mother, so the four siblings separated and rented their own place. As the eldest, Lejb was in charge of two sisters and brother, he 'took all kinds of painting work'. After graduating from gymnasium, he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a noncredit student, because he had failed the entry. He also worked part-time as a book illustrator, gaining admission into the Imperial Academy in 1883. At the time of his first exhibition (1889) he took the surname of ''Bakst'', though the origin of the pseudonym is still unclear. There are at least three versions, according to the main one, his mother's grandmother had the maiden name ''Bakster''. Alexander Benois, a life-long friend of Leon, recalled that 'Leo gave a prolonged and confusing explanation that the surname was taken after some of distant relatives'. At the beginning of the 1890s, Bakst exhibited his works with the Society of

Watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

ists. From 1893 to 1897 he lived in Paris, where he studied at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

. He still often visited

. After the mid-1890s, Bakst became a member of the circle of writers and artists formed by

and Benois,Бакст Л. С.
/ref> who in 1899 founded the influential periodical '' Mir iskusstva'', meaning "World of Art". His graphics for this publication brought him fame.

Career

Bakst continued painting, producing portraits of Filipp Malyavin (1899),

Vasily Rozanov Vasily Vasilievich Rozanov (; – 5 February 1919) was one of the most controversial Russian writers and important philosophers among the symbolists of the pre-revolutionary epoch. Views Rozanov tried to reconcile Christian teachings with ...

(1901),

Andrei Bely Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev (, ; – 8 January 1934), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely, was a Russian novelist, Symbolist poet, theorist and literary critic. He was a committed anthroposophist and follower of Rudolf Steiner. Hi ...

(1905), Zinaida Gippius (1906). He also worked as an art teacher for the children of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia. In 1902, he took a commission from

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Nicholas II to paint Admiral Avellan and Russian sailors arriving in Paris, a painting he started there, during the celebrations from the 17 to 25 October 1893. However, it took him 8 years to finish this work. In 1898, he showed his works in the Diaghilev-organized ''First Exhibition of Russian and Finnish Artists''; in ''World of Art'' exhibitions, as well as the

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

'', exhibitions of the ''Union of Russian Artists'', etc. During the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, Bakst worked for the magazines ''Zhupel'', ''Adskaya Pochta'', , and ', then for an art magazine called '' Apollon''. Beginning in 1909, Bakst worked mostly as a stage-designer, designing sets for Greek tragedies. In 1908, he gained attention as a scene-painter for Diaghilev with the

. He produced scenery for ''Cléopâtre'' (1909), ''

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major character and the storyteller in the frame story, frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade ...

'' (1910), '' Carnaval'' (1910), ''Narcisse'' (1911), '' Le Spectre de la Rose'' (1911), '' L'après-midi d'un faune'' (1912) and '' Daphnis et Chloé'' (1912).Mikotowicz, Thomas J. "Bakst, Léon". In Thomas J. Mikotowicz, ''Theatrical designers: An International Biographic Dictionary''. New York: Greenwood, 1992. . p. 17. During this time, Bakst lived in western Europe because, as a Jew, he did not have the right to live permanently outside the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlem ...

in the Russian Empire eeds references as inconsistent with his full ability to live and work in St Petersburg and other areas of the Empire. (Masters and specialists with skills were usually exempted from such limitations) File:Cleopatra ballet by Bakst 08.jpg, For ''

Cléopâtre ''Cléopâtre'' is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Payen. It was first performed at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on 23 February 1914, nearly two years after Massenet's death. ''Cléopâtre'' is one of three o ...

'' by Mikhail Fokine; 1910. File:Harvard Theatre Collection - Bakst, MS Thr 414.4 (9).jpg, For '' Daphnis et Chloé'' by

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

; 1912, watercolour on paper, 19×27 cm,

Houghton Library Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, Lamont Library, and Loeb House, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library s ...

. File:La Pisanella by L. Bakst 06.jpg, For '' La Pisanelle où la Mort parfumée'' by Gabriele D'Annunzio; 1913, pencil, watercolour and gouache on cardboard, 24×39 cm, private collection. File:Sleeping Beauty by L. Bakst 04.jpg, '' The Sleeping Beauty'' by

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...

; 1921, pencil and watercolour on paper, 48×67 cm,

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (, ; named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum on one of the city ...

. File:Negro boy by L.Bakst (1910, MAGMA).jpg, For the Negro Boy in ''

'' by

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...

; 1910. File:Léon Bakst 001.jpg, For the Firebird in ''

The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...

''; 1910. File:Le Dieu Bleu Nijinsky.jpg, For The Blue God in '' Le Dieu bleu'' by

Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn de Echenagucia (9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100. Hahn was born ...

; 1911. File:Josephslegende by L.Bakst 08.jpg, For '' Josephslegende'' by

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, libretto, librettist, Poetry, poet, Playwdramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, th ...

and Harry Graf Kessler; 1914, private collection. File:Masqued man by L.Bakst.jpg, For the Masked Man in '' The Good-Humoured Ladies'' by

Léonide Massine Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (), better known in the West by the French transliteration as Léonide Massine (15 March 1979), was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. Massine created the world's first symphonic ballet, ''Les Présages'', and ...

; 1917. File:La boutique fantastique by L. Bakst 09.jpg, For the Puppet Girl in '' La Boutique fantasque'' by André Derain; 1919. File:Leon Bakst - Peasant woman Costume design for the Vaudeville Old Moscow, 1922.jpg, For the Russian Peasant Woman in '' Old Moscow''; 1922. File:Ida Rubinstein's costume for Phaedra by L.Bakst (1923, MAGMA) 2.jpg, For

Ida Rubinstein Ida Lvovna Rubinstein (; – 20 September 1960) was a dancer, actress, art patron and Belle Époque figure from the Russian Empire. She performed with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes from 1909 to 1911 and later formed her own company. ''Bolero (Rave ...

Phaedra Phaedra may refer to: Mythology * Phaedra (mythology), Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus Arts and entertainment * Phaedra (Cabanel), ''Phaedra'' (Cabanel), an 1880 painting by Alexandre Cabanel *House of Phaedra ...

in '' Phèdre'' by Racine; 1923, Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery. Despite being known for his work as a stage designer, art was also commissioned by various English families during the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

era. During this time, he produced such works as the Sleeping Beauty series for James and Dorothy de Rothschild at

Waddesdon Manor Waddesdon Manor is a English country house, country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation, it is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, ...

in 1913. The story is depicted in seven panels that line the walls of an oval, theatrical styled "Bakst room" in the

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

manor house. During his visits to Saint Petersburg, he taught in ''Zvantseva's school'', where one of his students was

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

(1908–1910). Bakst described Chagall as a favorite, because when told to do something, he would listen carefully, but then he would take his paint and his brushes and do something completely different from the assignment.In 1914, Bakst was elected a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Bakst's comprehensive, many-sided talent showed itself in various areas — he worked as a designer of clothes, set decorations, interiors, textile, etc. Apart from a series of interior designs for the Rothschilds, he also designed exhibitions for ‘ Mir Iskusstva’ society and occupied a post of a furniture and interior designer at ‘Sovremennoe Iskusstvo’ (rus. ‘Modern Art’). American silk industry businessman Arthur Selig invited Bakst to create textile design, their collaboration had great success. During this period his work was widely shown in the United States. Martin Birnbaum, manager of the Berlin Photographic Company in New York City, organized an exhibition of Bakst's work in 1913 in New York that then traveled to Detroit (1913), Buffalo (1914), Cincinnati (1914), Chicago (1914) and Montreal (1914). After the Revolution of 1917 Leon's sister died from hunger in Russia. When Bakst received the news, he suffered a nervous breakdown, becoming so ill that he couldn't tolerate any irritants such as light, noise, or touch. His servant, Linda, exploited his condition to steal his money — she took all the honoraria that came to the house and intimidated the artist, forcing him to include her and her husband as heirs to his will. By chance he managed to send a note to an influential friend and patron Alice Warder Garrett (1877–1952), an art philanthropist, who helped his sister Sofia rescue Léon. They first met in Paris in 1914, when Mrs. Garrett was accompanying her diplomat husband in Europe, Bakst soon depended upon Garrett as both a confidante and agent. Rachel Strong by L

In 1922, Bakst broke off his relationship with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. During this year, he visited

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

and, specifically Evergreen House — the residence of his American friend Alice Garrett. Garrett became Bakst's representative in the United States upon her return home in 1920, organizing two exhibitions of the artist's work at New York's Knoedler Gallery, as well as subsequent traveling shows. When in Baltimore, Bakst re-designed the dining room of Evergreen into a shocking acidic yellow and 'Chinese' red confection. The artist transformed the house's small c. 1885 gymnasium into a colourfully Modernist private theatre. This is believed to be the only extant private theatre designed by Bakst. Léon Bakst was also a prolific writer, his literary legacy in three languages includes novels, numerous publications in magazines, critics, essays, letters to friends and colleagues. Bakst died on 27 December 1924, in a clinic in Rueil Malmaison, near Paris, from

lung The lungs are the primary Organ (biology), organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the Vertebral column, backbone on either side of the heart. Their ...

problems (

oedema Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may inclu ...

). His many admirers amongst the most famous artists of the time, poets, musicians, dancers and critiques, formed a funeral procession to accompany his body to his final resting place, in the Cimetière des Batignolles, in Paris 17th Arrondissement, during a very moving ceremony. In late 2010, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London presented an exhibit of Bakst's costumes and prints.

Cultural depictions

* ''

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova. (born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova; – 23 January 1931) was a Russian prima ballerina. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, but is most recognized for creating ...

'', film by

Emil Loteanu Emil Loteanu (6 November 1936 – 18 April 2003) was a Moldovan and Soviet film director born in what is now Republic of Moldova. He moved to Bucharest and Moscow in his early life. His best known films are '' Lăutarii'', '' Gypsies Are Found Ne ...

; portrayed by Igor Dmitriev (1983).

Selected works

File:Léon Bakst - Portrait of Alexander Benua, 1898.jpg, Bakst's ''Portrait of Alexander Benois''; 1898, watercolour and pastel on paper, 65×100 cm,

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...

. File:Bakst Uhzin1902.jpg, ''Dinner''; 1902, oil on canvas, 150×100 cm,

. File:Stage Furniture Spectre de la rose Bakst.jpg, Stage furniture design for '' Le Spectre de la Rose'' by

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine ( – 22 August 1942) was a Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant and at the age of 9 was accepted into the Saint Petersburg Imperial Ballet Sch ...

; . File:Bakst Nizhinsky.jpg, ''Poster for Afternoon of a Faun''; 1912,

private collection A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

. File:Cheval s'abreuvant by L.Bakst (priv.coll).jpg, ''Drawing of a Horse Drinking''; , pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper laid on cardboard, 33×49 cm, private collection. File:Textile print by Leon Bakst 05.jpg, ''Textile Print''; . File:Stamp of Belarus 2016 Léon Bakst.jpg, Stamp for the 150th Anniversary of Birth of Leon Bakst; 2016, Belposhta. Waddesdon Manor Waddesdon Manor is a English country house, country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation, it is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, ...

Early life

Career

Cultural depictions

Selected works

See also

References

General sources

External links