Leon Bakst Shneiderman
(1866-1924)

To join a volunteer at the Academy of Fine Arts, LS Bakst had to overcome the resistance of his father, small businessman. He studied for four years (1883-87), but became disillusioned with academic training and left the school. He began to paint on their own, studied the technique of watercolor painting for a living illustrating children's books and magazines.

In 1889, the artist exhibited his work for the first time, taking the name - the abbreviated name of the maternal grandmother (Baxter). 1893-99 years. he spent in Paris, often bumping into Petersburg, and worked hard to find your own style. Having become acquainted with the A. Benoit , K. Somov and SP Diaghilev, Bakst was one of the initiators of the association "World of Art" (1898).

 Bakst fame brought his graphic work for the magazine "World of Art". He continued to practice the art easel - played excellent graphic portraits of Isaac Levitan, FA Malyavina (1899), A. White (1905), and 3. Gippius (1906) and the portraits of Rozanov (1901), Sergei Diaghilev with the nanny (1906).
Furious disputes critics called his painting "Dinner" (1902), which became a kind of manifesto of Art Nouveau in Russian art . Later a strong impression on the audience made ​​his painting "Ancient Horror (Terror Antiquus)" (1906-08), which embodies the symbolist idea of the inevitability of fate.

During the First Russian Revolution Bakst contributed to the satirical magazine "bogey", then in the magazines "Satyricon", "The Golden Fleece", "Apollo", successfully engaged in book design and the decorative arts (decorated interiors, exhibitions). But by the end of 1900. limited myself to work in the theater, occasionally making an exception for graphic portraits of people close to him, and it went down in history as a prominent theater artist of the modern era.

He made his debut in the theater in 1902, issuing a pantomime "Heart Marquise." Then there was the ballet "The Fairy Doll" (1903), who had a success largely because of its scenery. He has designed a few plays, made some costumes for actors, in particular for Anna Pavlova in the famous "Swan" Fokine (1907). But the real talent Bakst turned in ballet productions of "Russian Seasons", and then "Russian ballet Diaghilev." "Cleopatra" (1909), "Scheherazade" and "Carnival" (1910), "Spectre de la Rose" and "Narcissus" (1911), "Blue God", "Daphnis and Chloe" and "Afternoon of a Faun" (1912) "Games" (1913) hit the blase western audience decorative fantasy, wealth, and power of color, and designed by Bakst decorating techniques laid the foundation for a new era in ballet scenography.

 Name Bakst, the leading artist of "Russian Seasons", thundered along with the names of the best performers and famous choreographers. It rained interesting orders from other teatrov.Vse Bakst these years he lived in Europe, only occasionally returning to their homeland. This was due not only to the need to constantly be at the ballet company, but also with the fact that he, as a Jew, who had a so-called right of residence could not stay for long in St. Petersburg. However, in 1914, he was elected a member of the Academy of Arts and got this right, but the First World War finally cut him from the country. He continued to work with Diaghilev's troupe, but between him and the SP Diaghilev gradually increased conflict, and in 1918 left the company Bakst. He worked tirelessly, but failed to create anything new. Death from pulmonary edema caught Bakst at the time of his fame, the truth begins to fade, but still brilliant.