Leon Bakst

Léon Bakst was born as Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich Rosenberg in Grodno, Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire, in 1866. He was from a middle-class Jewish family and changed his name to Bakst when he became a painter. He studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and became a member of the artistic circle of Sergei Diaghilev and Alexandre Benois, who founded the influential magazine Mir iskusstva (World of Art). He also traveled to Paris and was influenced by the works of the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists. He became famous for his scene and costume designs for the Ballets Russes, a ballet company founded by Diaghilev in 1909. He created designs for many ballets, such as Carnaval (1910), Scheherazade (1910), The Firebird (1910), Narcisse (1911), Daphnis and Chloe (1912), The Sleeping Princess (1921), and others. His designs were characterized by rich colors, exotic motifs, and oriental influences. He also painted portraits of dancers, actors, and celebrities, such as Anna Pavlova, Ida Rubinstein, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Sarah Bernhardt. He was a pioneer of modern art and influenced fashion and interior design. He died of a heart attack in 1924, near Paris, France. He is regarded as one of the most important and innovative artists of the early 20th century.