Bakst, Léon (originally Lev Rosenberg) (1866–1924). Russian painter, graphic artist, and stage designer, active for much of his career in Paris. He was born at Grodno and studied at the St Petersburg Academy, 1883–7, and then in Paris, at the Académie Julian and elsewhere. In 1898 he was a founder member of the
World of Art group in St Petersburg. Originally he made his name as a portraitist, but from about 1902 he turned increasingly to stage design and is now remembered above all for his costumes and sets for
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, his work playing a major part in the tremendous impact the company made in the West. The Diaghilev ballets for which he made designs include some of the most celebrated works in the history of dance, notably
The Firebird (1910, music by Stravinsky),
L'Après-midi d'un faune (1912, music by Debussy), and
Daphnis and Chloe (1912, music by Ravel). In 1909 he had been exiled from St Petersburg as a Jew without a residence permit and from then he lived mainly in Paris, where he worked for Ida Rubinstein's ballet company as well as Diaghilev, designing for her
The Martyrdom of St Sebastian (1911, music by Debussy). Bakst's work revolutionized stage design. His costumes and sets are remarkable for their sheer uninhibited splendour, combining Oriental fairy-tale magnificence with the gaudy colours of Russian peasant art (he believed that colour could have a significant emotional effect on spectators). There are examples of his designs in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
