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Costume design for Nijinsky in Narcisse for Diaghilev enterprise, 1911. Lithograph (silkscreen) heightened with gold paint 21x 15 inches (53x40 cm). In original Italian Art Nouveau frame with ormolu mounts at the corners. For another copy see: Sotheby’s Russian Sale, 7 October 1998 lot 135, ill. The silkscreen was published circa 1924 possibly in Baltimore when Bakst was staying with the Garrets while designing the interior of the Evergreen Theatre. The size of the edition is not known, but from the scarcity of this lithograph it is assumed to be small. Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). |
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ITEM #BOA12
$30000 |
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Costume design for Don Kaspar in “Don Juan Refute”. Watercolor, ink on paper. Signed lower left [1907]. Exhibited(labels on the back): Leon Bakst, Davis&Long Company, catalogue#3, New York,1977; Bakst, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas, catalogue #3, 1977; “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). Provenance: collection S. Rafalovitch, Sotheby’s Park Bernet, Monaco, 26.06.76, lot 706, NY,12.06.1981, lot 22, London,16.06.1994, lot 47. 8 x 6. In original art nouveau Austrian ebonized hand-carved frame with an ormolu mount, brocaded mat and a maker label“ C. Buhlmayer, Wien” on the back |
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ITEM #BOA13
$50000
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Costume design for Vaclav Nijinsky in La Peri in Diaghilev enterprise, 1911. Pencil,watercolor, silver paint on Arches (watermarked) paper. Signed and dated lower right, 13 x8.25" (33x21 cm). Bears a rhombic stamp of the one time owner SADM – San Jose Art and Design Museum. Provenance: SADM. Original version (with some additional details) of the enlarged (doubled in size) drawing in Metropolitan Museum. The final version is reproduced in almost every book about Bakst or Nijinsky. It was Bakst’s usual practice to implement a smaller initial study of the costume (on sheets of paper 33x21 cm in 1909-1912) and later to produce an enlarged copy of the same costume (with minor differences sometimes). See for example lot 39 Sotheby’s 28 October 1982, London. Our original version of the drawing have been reproduced on 1911 cover of the Diaghilev ballet program – see for example “Collection des plus beaux numeros de Commedia Illustre et des programmes consacres aux Ballets & Galas Russes depuis le debut a Paris 1909- 1921” M. De Brunoff, Paris, 1922. In original 17th century hand carved, painted with flowers and gilded Spanish cassetta frame. Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog and on its cover). |
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ITEM #BOA14
PRICE ON REQUEST |
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Costume design for Brigands in “Daphnis and Chloe”. 1912, gouache, silver and gold paint on paper, laid on cardboard. Signed lower right, inscribed with multiple instructions to costume maker. 11 x 10". Provenance: Family of the artist, Paris; Sotheby's, London 15.12.1977, lot 24B. Reproduced in "Leon Bakst" by Alexander Schouvaloff, London,1991 p.133. Exhibited: An Exhibition of Designs for the Russian Ballet, Julian Barran, London 1994 cat. No 14(illustrated); “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog)
This design was also used for Mr. Desjardins as Menelaus in "Helene de Sparte" for Ida Rubinstein enterprise. In original French Gothic revival hand carved parcel gilt and polychromed frame. |
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ITEM #BOA15
$70000 |
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Female nude. Study for painting "Dream", [1909]. Pencil on paper, laid on board.
Signed lower left.B Provenance: Sotheby’s London,16.06.1994, lot 8 . 11 x 41" .
Reproduced in "Lev Bakst", Moscow, Izobrazitelnoe iskusstvo,1992, p. 28 ill. 23.
In original art nouveau frame with brass ornamentation
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Set design for Boris Godunov - "Granovitaia Palata" in Kremlin with F. Chaliapin seated as Tsar Boris at the front view, signed and dated 1910 lower left. Gouache and gold paint on paper laid down on cardboard. Provenance: Phillips, London; A.Schouvaloff , Christie's. South Kensington. 07.12.98. lot 55 15 x 25". Reproduced in "Bakst Leon and the Ballets Russes" by Charles Spencer, Academy Editions 1995. p. 136 ill. 204.Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). In original art nouveau silvered copper frame (Sotheby’s Billingshurst, 27/03/2001, lot 12, $1000, dated 1914, has frame maker Ch. Darre, Paris, label on the back) |
ITEM #BOA16
$100000
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ITEM #BOA17
PRICE ON REQUEST |
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Costume design for three dancers “Polonaise” in Boris Godunov, Gouache and gold paint on paper laid down on cardboard. 15 x 10 inches unframed, 16x21 framed.. Signed low right. Reproduced in "Commedia Illustre- Boris Godunov"
Provenance: Sotheby’s London, sale March 13 1980,
lot 46 (illustrated in the catalog). In original hand-carved
and patinated Italian XVIII century Sansovino frame.
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ITEM #BOA18
$150000
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L. BAKST. Set design
for Scheherazade (Scheherezade bedroom), Diaghilev enterprise,
1910, Gouache on paper signed and dated low left h: 63 w:
74 cm Exhibited: Russian Painting and Sculpture. Brooklyn Museum
1923 #19 Provenance: Mr&Mrs George Blumenthal (former
Director Of Metropolitan Museum of Art)- stamp on the back.
Compare designs for
other movements: Charles Spencer “Leon Bakst and the Ballets
Russes”, Academy Editions 1995 p.80 ill 121; Irina Proujan,
"Bakst, Théâtre, Ballets, Décors, Costumes", éditions d'Art
Aurora, Léningrad, 1986, plate 24.
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ITEM #BOA18A
PRICE ON REQUEST
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Costume design of a young Beothian in “Narcisse” for Diaghilev
enterprise, 1911, pencil, watercolor and metallic paint on
paper. 10 x 15 inches. Signed and dated l/r: Bakst 1911.
Provenance: Andre
Bakst, reverse stamped: G Rasamatt. Another quite different
variant of the costume is published in BAKST Leon and the
Ballets Russes by Charles Spencer. Academy Editions 1995 on p.
98 ill 151.
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ITEM #BOA18B
sold
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Negro Slave Boy. Costume design for Ballet "Cleopatra" in Diaghilev enterprise. 1909. Watercolor, gouache, silver paint and pencil on UCA Frames paper (watermarked) laid on board. Signed in pencil up right, one more time low centre and stamped with signature lower left. Provenance: Sotheby's, 06.05.70, lot 6; Parmenia Migel Ekstrom Collection. Exhibited (labels on the reverse): Stravinsky and Diaghilev, Cordier and Ekstrom Gallery cat no6, illustrated, New York 1973; The Fine Art Society Centenary 1876-1976, London- Edinburgh, catalogue no 23, 1976; Leon Bakst, Davis&Long Company, catalogue#9, New York, 1977; Bakst, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas, catalogue #23, 1977; An Exhibition of Designs for the Russian Ballet, Julian Barran, London 1994 cat. No 7(illustrated), Diaghilev –Creator of the Ballet Russe, Barbican Art Gallery, London, cat no 103a 1996; “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). 17 x 11". In original Aesthetic Movement French hand carved and gesso white gilded frame modeled as a crane flying past water lilies by Paris frame maker A. Barillon (label on the back) – probably chosen by the artist (Boy’s hands on the drawing are imitating the line of the crane’s neck on the frame) |
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ITEM #BOA19
$150000 |
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Costume design for a Spear Carrier in "Cleopatre" in Diaghilev enterprise. Signed and dated 1912. Pencil, watercolor, silver and gold paint on paper. 11 x 6". Inscribed “N143 Cleopatre” on reverse and bears stamp “G. Rasamatt depositaire Exclusif des oeuvres de Leon Bakst”. Provenance:
Julian Barran Gallery London. Exhibited: An Exhibition of Designs for the Russian Ballet, Julian Barran, London 1994 cat. No 9(illustrated) In original art nouveau frame with brocaded mat.
This design may have been executed at the time of the original production, 1909, and then signed at a later date (1912). Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). |
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ITEM #BOA20
$50000 |
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Japanese costume for Gertrude Vanderbilt-Whitney (1875-1942, founded the Whitney Museum). Watercolor on paper. Inscribed by Bakst “Gertrude Jappa(nese)” in pencil upper right, signed “Bakst” in red ink and inscribed “Leon Bakst” by other hand in pencil on the back, 11x8.5”[1913]. “In 1913 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned from Bakst an ensemble consisted of a flared tunic and hare trousers. She also commissioned a portrait of herself by Robert Henri in 1916 that is now in Whitney Museum, showing her reclining on a sofa like an odalisque.” [Orientalism in America, 1870-1930. Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, N.C., 2001]. John Singer Sargent also executed Gertrude portrait in that costume in 1914 (now in Whitney Museum). Authenticity of the drawing confirmed by the curator of Whitney Museum Ms. Stephanie Schumann 09.20.2004. In American, beginning of 20th century, Arts & Crafts, hand carved and gilded cassetta style Foster Bros frame, label on verso.
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ITEM #BOA21
$ 50000 |
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Costume design for Karsavina in a title role of “L'Oiseau de Feu”, 1910 (an initial variant of the costume with significant color and composition difference in comparison with a well known published one). Pencil, watercolor and gold paint on paper, 10x13 inches, signed low right. Provenance: Collection of Serge Lifar (personal stamp up right), bought by the previous owner at one of the French auctions at Rue Druout, Paris. In XVIIIth century original Italian marquetry mother of pearl, silver and ivory inlaid frame with stepped sight, eared corners, leafs, flowers, berries and dragonflies to the frieze, antique hunting scene and theatrical mask at the center. |
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ITEM #BOA22
$150000 |
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Costume design: Prince Cendrillon, 5 act, Costume in White Velvet. pencil, watercolor and metallic paint on laid paper. 11 x 9 inches. Signed and dated l/r: Bakst 1921. Note: Reverse of mat stamped: G Rasamatt. Artist notes of costume colors verso. Provenance: Auctions by the Bay, Alameda CA, sale 7.2.2007 lot 014; Sotheby’s Arcade, New York, 24 Feb 1994, lot 143. Compare: a pair for that costume (Cendrillon herself) was sold at Sotheby’s London 20 May 2005, lot 113. |
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ITEM #BOA23
$60000 |
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Costume design for A. Pavlova.
Gouache au pochoir (stencil). (Landscape,
w/c on reverse).
Signed lower right 12 x 8".
Provenance: Rasmussen,
Copenhagen(27-Feb-1996) lot: 239. |
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Pas de Diane. Costume design for A. Pavlova. Gouache au pochoir(stencil). Signed lower right
12 x 8". Provenance: Rasmussen, Copenhagen(27-Feb-1996) lot: 238 Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). |
ITEM #BOA1
$2000 |
ITEM #BOA2
$2000 |
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Portrait of Jean Cocteau, Stone
lithograph, enhanced by pencil and
hand signed by Bakst, c.1911,
9x12 inches
Provenance: National Art Brokers
Gallery. |
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Costume design for a lady.
Watercolor. Signed and dated lower
left 1907. 12 x 6". Provenance:
Bukowskis, Helsinki, 30.01.1994, lot
6. |
ITEM #BOA3
$1500 |
ITEM #BOA4
$10,000 |
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Costume design for Aladdin
in Scheherazade, Diaghilev
enterprise, 1910, music by
Rimski-Korsakov, w/c, signed
low left, 10x6 inches,
numbered 47 on the label
attached in the front.
Provenance: Collection Serge
Lifar (stamped by his
personal seal up right – the
seal is reproduced, for
example, in Sotheby’s Ballet
Material and Manuscripts
from the Serge Lifar
Collection, London 5.9.84
lot66), BLANCHET &Associes, Paris, 26. 1. 2005, Arts & Spectacle
Ballets Russes Lot 60A.
Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April-
October 2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art
Museum, Japan (illustrated in the
catalog). |
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ITEM #BOA5
$10,000 |
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Costume design for “Sleeping
Princess”, 1921. Pencil, watercolor
on paper, 11x14 inches, signed low
right and dated [19]21. Provenance:
collection Serge Lifar (stamp on the
back). |
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Costume design for “Sleeping
Princess”,
1921. Pencil, watercolor
on paper, 11x14 inches, stamped
with signature low right and dated
[19]21. Provenance: Christies,
South Kensington, sale 14.
03.2007,lot 233a |
ITEM #BOA5A
$5,000
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ITEM #BOA6a
$10,000 |
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Initial draft of a costume design for
“Sleeping Princess”, 1921. Pencil,
watercolor on paper, 12.5x19
inches, stamped with signature low
right. Provenance: Doyle, New York,
sale 3.02.05 lot 5. |
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Statue of Hippolite- Accessories
Draft for "Pheadra".
Pencil and
Watercolor on Paper. Signed with a
stamp
lower right,
1923. 9 x 14".
Provenance: Christies, New York,
30.01.2005, lot 324. |
ITEM #BOA6
$10,000
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ITEM #BOA7
$10,000 |
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Two drafts of pochoir(stencil)s for costume designs in “Sleeping Princess”,
1921. Ink on translucent paper 7x10
and 6x10 inches (in one frame), one
signed and dated low left, both
inscribed with the names of
personages in Bakst handwriting.
Executed for “Commedia Illustre”
Provenance: Mr&Mrs
George Blumenthal (former Director Of Metropolitan Museum of
Art)- stamp on the back.
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ITEM #BOA8
$10,000 |
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"Proposal". Watercolor and gouache
on paper. Signed and dated lower
right 1912. 12 x 16". |
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ITEM #BOA9
$5,000 |
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Three costumes for "Magic Flute", Diaghilev enterprise, 1914.
Watercolor and gouache on paper. Signed lower left.
13 x 17". Provenance: Serge
Lifar collection (stamp on the back). |
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ITEM #BOA9a
$5,000 |
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Girl with mandolin, w/c on paper, signed and dated 1911 low right 12x16 inches
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Three masks. Pencil drawing, signed in pencil low right. 9x9 inches. Provenance: Serge Lifar collection (stamp on the back) |
ITEM #BOA10
$5,000 |
ITEM #BOA11
$1,500 |
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Costume design after BAKST. Karl Ens (1898-1972) Volkstedt (Germany) porcelain figure of Tamara Karsavina and Vaclav Nijinsky in "Carnival". Based on a lithograph by Ludwig Kainer, published in his portfolio Russisches Ballett, Leipzig, Wolff, 1913. Some small defects. H = 11" Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). |
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(Costume design after BAKST). Porcelain figure of Karsavina in "Scheherazade". Bears marks of Leningrad Lomonosov porcelain factory date 1922 and number 50/21. Form by D. Ivanov.
H = 9" Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). Compare: Sotheby’s Russian works of Art, London 12 June 2008 lot734 |
ITEM #BPOA1
$3000 |
ITEM #BPOA2
$5000 |
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Nijinsky in “Carnival”
Karlsruhe Majolika by Fritz Behn 1912
49cm high
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ITEM #BOA30
$10000 |
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Costume design after BAKST. Karl Ens (1898-1972) Volkstedt (Germany) porcelain figure of Tamara Karsavina and Vaclav Nijinsky in "Carnival". Based on a lithograph by Ludwig Kainer, published in his portfolio Russisches Ballett, Leipzig, Wolff, 1913. Some small defects. H = 11" Exhibited: “A World of Stage”, April- October2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan (illustrated in the catalog). |
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ITEM #BPOA3
$5000 |
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BALLETS RUSSES
- Maurice & Jacques de BRUNOFF (publishers). Collection
des plus beaux numéros de Comoedia Illustré et des
Programmes consacrés aux Ballets & Galas Russes depuis
le début à Paris 1909-1921. Paris: M. de Brunoff,
[1922]. Large 4to (330 x 255 mm). Title and text printed
in green, illustrated with numerous examples of actual
programmes,
or part programmes, some cut down and mounted, including
colored plates, illustrations or designs after
Goncharova, Larionov, Bakst, Picasso, Matisse, Massine,
Sert and Derain. Original light green silk over bevelled
boards, the upper cover with a varnished color-printed
inset panel with the title and an illustrative design
after Goncharova, three-color stenciled endpapers.
slip-case. Condition: spine faded and slightly soiled
and spotted, creasing to rear endpaper, slipcase rubbed.
Selection of reprinted special issues with supplements
of the theatrical periodical Comoedia illustré. With
graphics by Léon Bakst, André Derain, Natalya
Goncharova, Mikhael Larionov, Henri Matisse, Léonide
Massine, Pablo Picasso, José Maria Sert, and others. The
text includes “Note des éditeurs” that introduces the
selection and introductory text on each season by
Valerian Svietlov or Jean Bernier. The seasons covered
are: 1909 (4th season), 1910 (5th), 1911 (6th), 1912
(7th), 1913 (8th), 1914 (9th),
1915 (limited season, the 10th), no season 1916, 1917
(11th), no season 1918, 1919/1920 (12th), 1920 (13th),
1921 (14th). Comoedia illustré was a theatrical monthly
that was published in Paris between 1908 and 1921; it
suspended publication (except for special issues or
supplements) between September 1914 and October 1919. At
the beginning of 1922, Comoedia illustré merged with Le
Théâtre (1898- 1921) to become Le Théâtre et comoedia
illustré (1922-1926). It often devoted whole special
issues or supplements to the annual Paris season of
Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and Ida Rubinstein’s
Galas Russes. |
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ITEM #BOA31
$5000 |
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| Four porcelain plates with costume designs for different Diaghilev events. Each bears marks of pre-Revolutionary Kuznetsov Porcelain factory, Leningrad Lomonosov porcelain factory and inscription “After drawing by L. Bakst” Size: 25-47cm. |
ITEM #BPOA4
$20000 |
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BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST
Leon Bakst (Lev Samoilovich Rosenberg) was born in a middle class Jewish family in Grodno, Belarus, on May 10, 1866 and died in Paris on December 27, 1924. He was educated at the gymnasium in St. Petersburg and then at the Academy of Fine Arts. He started his artistic career as an illustrator for magazines but changed his mind when he met Aleksandr Benois. He travelled through Europe and came in contact with European artists. After his return to St Petersburg, he began to gain notoriety for his book designs and his portraits. In 1898, together with Benois and Serge Diaghilev, he founded the group World of Art (Mir Iskusstva). In 1906 he became a teacher of drawing in Yelizaveta Zvantseva's private art school where, among other students, he taught Marc Chagall.
Bakst's greatest achievements are related to theatre. He debuted with the stage design for the Hermitage and Aleksandrinskii theatres in St. Petersburg in 1902-3. Afterwards, he received several commissions from the Marinskii theatre (1903-4). In 1909 he began his collaboration with Diaghilev, which resulted in founding of the Ballets Russes, where he became the artistic director. His stage designs quickly brought him international fame. Most notable are his costume designs for Diaghilev's Sheherazade (1910) and L'Apres-midi d'un Faune. He settled in Paris in 1912, after being exiled because of his Jewish origins.
| Лев Бакст (
Лев Самуилович Розенберг ) (1866- 1924).
Родился 27 января 1866г. в Гродно, Беларусь.
Посещал Императорскую академию изящных
искусств в Санкт-Петербурге, но был исключён
после написания слишком реалистичной картины
»Пиета». Закончил образование в Париже. В
1899г. Совместно с Дягилевым издавал журнал
«Мир искусства». В 1900г. начал работу над
декорациями в придворном театре Эрмитажа, а
затем в императорских театрах. В 1906г.
Бакст переехал в Париж и начал работать над
эскизами декораций и костюмов для
Дягилевской балетной труппы «Русские сезоны».
Результатом первого такого сотрудничества
стал балет «Клеопатра» (1909), после
которого Бакст стал главным декоратором,
работая над балетами «Шехерезада»(1910) и «
Карнавал»(1910), «Нарцисс»(1911), «Дафнис и
Хлоя»(19!2). Вершиной творчества Бакста
считаются его декорации к Лондонской
постановке «Спящая красавица»П.И.Чайковского
в 1921г. |
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