BAKST, (1866-1924), Russian painter, passed his childhood in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). He attended the Impe rial Academy of Arts, but left after painting a too realistic "Pieta." A member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours and a teacher to the children of the Grand Duke Vladimir, he succeeded both as a court painter and in the fashionable world. From 1900 he was scenic artist, first at the Hermitage Court theatre and afterwards at the Imperial theatres. He designed the scenery and accessories for the tragedies of Sophocles in the spirit of the Greek theatre and in the archaic style of the Aegina sculptures. He made a voyage to Greece and Crete of which he wrote an account, and his famous picture "Terror Antiquus" expresses his vision of mythic Greece.
In 1906 he exhibited in the Russian section of the Salon d'Automne in Paris. Two years afterwards he achieved con siderable fame as the chief painter of scenery for the Russian ballets produced by Diaghilev. "Cleopatra," "Scheherazade" (2 909) and "Daphnis and Chloe" were among his most notable achievements. He returned to Russia and founded a liberal school of painting. Afterwards he settled in Paris, where he designed the setting of the tragedies of D'Annunzio and of a play of Verhaeren. He painted the scenery and designed the costumes for the "Sleeping Princess," the fairy ballet of Tchaikovski pro duced in London in 1921. He also produced several plays at the Paris Opera, among them the "Bewitched Night." Leon Bakst revolutionized the application of the decorative arts of the thea tre and aimed at unity of impression. The influence of his genius may also be seen in the costumes of the time. He died in Paris.
See Andre Levinson, The Story of Leon Bakst's Life (1921) .
(A. LE.)