Society and culture: “Leon Bakst. In Honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth” Exhibition to open in the Pushkin State Museum of Arts

The Pushkin State Museum of Arts from June 8, 2016 organizes an exhibition dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Leon Bakst’s birth (1866–1924). Bakst was a Russian theatrical designer, painter, portraitist, book illustrator, interior designer, and fashion designer during the 1910s. He published numerous articles on contemporary design and dance, he was also interested in photography and cinema, and wrote a novel based on his biography. Being fond of the art of Ancient Greece and Orient, Bakst merged classical motives with the eccentricity of Art Nouveau in his art.

Leon Bakst was a Russian and a European painter at the same time. His oeuvre is wholly integrated in the heyday of the European art of the first decennies of the 20th century.

This first retrospective exhibition of the artist to be shown in Russia will include more than 200 paintings, drawings, theatrical costumes and archive photos of Leon Bakst from Russian and Western state and private collections, gathered together by an international group of curators.