Happy Birthday to Léon Bakst!

EXCLUSIVE PUBLICATIONS

Yelena Terkel
Léon Bakst and the Writer: of the Russian Silver Age

#2 2017 (55)

A prominent artist of the Silver Age of Russian culture, Léon (Lev Samoilovich) Bakst was also a notable figure in the literary community of his time. He was acquainted with, or a friend of many writers and poets whose portraits he painted and whose books he illustrated.

EXCLUSIVE PUBLICATIONS

Yelena Terkel
Valentin Serov and Leon Bakst. Seeking an ideal

#3 2015 (48)

Valentin Serov (1865-1911) appeared reserved, earnest, and sombre; Leon Bakst (1866-1924) was vibrant, unpredictable and a little funny - a dedicated dandy. What was it that brought together these two artists, so unlike one another? Why did their fondness for one another grow in the years after they met while publishing “Mir Iskusstva” (World of Art) magazine? The answer seems simple and complicated at the same time: deep down, they were looking for something indiscernibly similar. While their public personas were so different, both used them to protect their respective creative selves from the rude intrusions of outsiders. Both artists were successful and famous, each in his own unique way; both were chasing their dreams and looking for new paths and expressions, while remaining honest and true to themselves in their artistic pursuits.

EXCLUSIVE PUBLICATIONS

Yelena Terkel
America in Léon Bakst’s Life and Art

Special issue N2. USA–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES, #2 2011 (31)

America in the eyes of the artists, actors and musicians of the Silver Age of Russian culture was an enigmatic and fabulously rich country – a country to go to on a tour or to earn money. Only a handful of such artists gradually came to view the New World as not just a source of income but also as a special cultural hub with distinct traditions and roots. One such person was Léon Bakst, the Russian artist of international renown who spent the second half of his life in France.

EXCLUSIVE PUBLICATIONS

Yelena Terkel
Leon Bakst: “Dress up like a flower!”

#4 2009 (25)

Leon Bakst hoped that his art would bring more harmony and joy into life. Wishing to make mankind happy and day-dreaming about antiquity and the Orient, what did he really have to offer? Something of a dandy and naive like a child, the artist often made his friends smile. Yet he would succeed in making life shinier and brighter, in bringing beauty closer to everyday life. Bakst was the first Russian artist to win worldwide recognition as a designer.

EXCLUSIVE PUBLICATIONS

Yelena Terkel
Leon Bakst. His Family and His Art

#1 2008 (18)

Léon Bakst is the greatest theatre designer, a fine painter and a superb master of drawing, particularly of line drawing. This line – curved, tense, emotional and at the same time prodigiously harmonious – became a signature feature not only of Bakst’s art, but of the whole “Moderne” style as well, one that cannot be imagined without Bakst. What do we know about his life?

John E. Bowlt, Anna Chernukhina, Olga Kovaleva, Elena Terkel
“Words of Magic”: The Literary Heritage of Léon Bakst

#1 2008 (18)

Of the many artists of the Russian Silver Age Léon Bakst (Lev Samoilovich Rozenberg, 1866-1924) deserves the highest acclaim for his contribution to both studio painting and the decorative arts. Among Russian stage designers, he enjoyed - and continues to enjoy - the widest recognition for legendary productions such as Cléopatre, Schéhérazade, Le Dieu Bleu and The Sleeping Princess, in which he astounded audiences with munificence of colour, tactile form and exposure of the dynamic force of the human body.