New Year’s Inspiration: Leon Bakst
Valentin Serov, Portrait of Painter Leon Bakst, 1900s, Wikimedia
With winter in full swing, add extra vibrancy to New Year’s eve with some beautiful pieces of art. Let us celebrate the life and art of Leon Bakst. A multifaceted master, he spent his last years in the heady artistic milieu of early twentieth century Paris. Surrounded by the cultural trendmakers of the French capital, Bakst himself left a vast aesthetic heritage. Trained as a classical painter, he specialized in portraiture, landscape, book illustration and graphic design. His groundbreaking work for theater, particularly his innovative designs for the Ballet Russes, made him truly famous. Let’s get a taste of Bakst’s art.
Cosmopolitan Aesthetics
Bakst worked hard throughout his life to achieve admiration. Born Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich Rosenberg to a middle-class Jewish family in 1866 in Grodno, now Belarus, his family wanted him to choose a “practical" profession. However, inspired by his grandfather's close connection to the artistic world, he began to paint at an early age. Choosing a new artistic name and studying the most progressive techniques of his age, like impressionism and symbolism, Bakst became a prominent figure of modernist art. Like his other great Russian contemporary and colleague, Sergei Diaghilev, he contributed significantly to the increasing connections between Russian and European art.
Leon Bakst, Dinner, 1902, oil on canvas. Wikimedia
Learning From the Past
Besides contributing to the popularization of Russian art, Bakst was highly inspired by classical antiquity and other cultures of the greater Mediterranean region. His 1907 trip to Greece and the techniques of ancient painters revealed at archaeological excavations influenced his stage and costume designs. Bakst’s style combined vibrant colors, exotic fairy-tale motifs, and modern avant-garde aesthetics.
Revolutionizing Costume Design
The Russian ballet seasons brought together many prominent artists: musicians, choreographers, dancers and performers. And to a great extent, their popularity was secured through groundbreaking costumes designed by Leon Bakst. His work redefined theatrical design both in terms of set design and the performers’ looks. His imaginative character creation for ballets like Scheherazade (1910), The Firebird (1910), Narcisse (1911) and Daphnis et Chloé (1912) remained etched in the memory of audiences for years to come.
Feminizing the Aesthetic
Leon Bakst encountered and worked with many famous women of his time. Besides numerous portraits commissioned by female art lovers, his costume designs often played with gender expectations and allowed women much greater freedom of movement and expression than was considered “appropriate” at the time.
Leon Bakst, Portrait of Rachel Strong, the future Countess Henri de Buazhelen, oil on canvas, 1924. Wikimedia
Among Icons of the Epoch
Until his last years, Leon Bakst continuously spent time with other famous artists. For the Ballets Russes, he worked with artists like Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova. Later, while already in exile, Bakst remained in demand, and even had a solo exhibition in New York. His paintings and designs can now be seen in leading museum collections worldwide.
Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Leon Bakst, oil on canvas, 1917. Wikimedia
The diversity of Bakst’s works continue to inspire everyone interested in the collaboration between visual and performing arts. His artistic vision endured through many historical tribulations, making his life story a testament of allegiance to the power of beauty.