bakst: orientalist fantasies

Léon Bakst was enthralled by the detail of Mughal and Persian art. Bright greens and pinks, azure and orange, yellow and chartreuse, mauve, black and gold not only produced the most dramatic stage harmonies seen to date by early 20th century audiences, but also interacted with the major artistic movements of the period.







So my Bakst infatch is going strong. Is that obvious? I'll put up a little costume and set design gallery as follow up to this post - later today if I have a moment. Gosh, Léon, ah just can't quit yew.

Thanks for bearing with me and my free associative wanderings, mes amis adorables.


Update: As promised (but without descriptive captions - those to follow), here are some more spectacular illustrations from Bakst's work for the theatre.

:(top image) costume study for nijinsky's role in la péri, 1913, watercolor, metropolitan museum of art; (second image) design for nathalie trouhanova's costume as la péri, 1911, lithograph colored by hand in watercolor, gold and silver paint, thyssen-bornemisza collection, lugano