Bakst: The Art of Theatre and Dance (Temporis) (Hardcover)

~ Elisabeth Ingles (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Born Lev Rosenberg in Belarus in 1866 to modest means, Leon Bakst was already an accomplished artist when he joined the creative circle around Sergei Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes. Bakst's bold, colorful set designs and exotic costumes became integral to Fokine's innovative choreography and forever changed ballet. Oriental exotica like Scheherezade, Cleopatre, and Thamar and daring ballets like L'Apres-midi d'un Faune are indelibly associated with Bakst, as are The Firebird, Le Spectre de la Rose, and The Sleeping Beauty. Nijinsky, Karsavina, Ida Rubinstein, and Pavlova wore costumes by Bakst in some of their most famous performances. Some of the ballets are still performed today using his costume and set designs. Mostly in color, the 170 illustrations found here vibrantly display Bakst's artistry. The text by freelance writer Ingles is briefer than Charles Spencer's Leon Bakst and the Ballets Russes (Academy Ed., 1995. o.p.), but Ingles's book is a gorgeous, visual tribute to an artist every lover of ballet and theater must know. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.DTherese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Leon Bakst (1866-1924) was a painter, illustrator, stage designer and costume designer. He is universally acknowledged for representing a synthesis of creative energy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bakst travelled widely throughout Europe and in 1890 joined the World of Art journal circle which numbered many artists among its members, the most famous being Benois and Diaghliev. This book illustrates the wealth of Bakst's contribution to the world of the theatre and dance. His best known work includes sets for Stravinsky's Firebird, and Weber's Spectre de la Rose.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Parkstone Press; 1ST edition (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859954995
• ISBN-13: 978-1859954997
• Product Dimensions: 13 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #205,351 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pity..., March 30, 2005

By	Ekaterina Smoldyreva (Dubai, UAE) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

To my mind, this book is designed and published in the most amateur way. The page layouts seem not to be carefully thought through. Some pictures are laid one upon another in the most unfavourable way, others are cut and/or placed too close to the binding in the center. What is the most annoying, several pics are "broken" - placed in such a way that the most part of the picture is on one page and 1/6 of it is on the opposite one (whereas the binding is quite tight), though could be zoomed in to see it as a whole.
Some pictures are magnified to such extend that lose their sharpness and really look like the pictures I sometimes print out using my DeskJet printer (even the photographs of ballet scenes are grainy!)
At least one picture is mistakenly described as the costume design for Salome, though is is clearly written on the drawing itself by the hand of Bakst: "Swan Lake" (in Russian). This leaves me wondering whether the author made a thorough investigation.

What I cannot understand is that if the book is about Bakst and his art, why there are so many reproductions of other painters' works (Serov, Bilibin, Shishkin, Chagall, Matisse, Gauguin, etc.)? No doubt, it is important to mention in the narrative all the influences on Bakst's art as well as the historical preconditions of his development as an artist, but why to include all these works, especially in such a large format?! For example, it is just briefly mentioned that Bakst was invited to teach at Zvantseva's school of art where Marc Chagall later studied, and there is a huge ("broken") Chagall's painting on the opposite page! I cannot get rid of the impression that the author didn't know how to fill in the pages.

On the brighter side, there are a lot of beautiful Bakst's works and despite of all its faults, I do not really regret bying the book, especially as there aren't (unfortunately) many books on this artist.

3.0 out of 5 stars mediocre, October 30, 2007

By	AH Art lover UK - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bakst: The Art of Theatre and Dance (Temporis) (Hardcover)

This definately has the feel of a cheap, mass-market art book, and considering what is currently available for this sort of price, is not worth what they are charging. The photos of the drawings are poor quality and generally slightly out of focus, while the layout is done in that rather annoying way of cheap art books dealing with the graphic arts - namely overlapping illustrations, drawn borders around pictures, and occasional patterned borders to the pages. The text is spare, but informative, and the book would have been much improved with more of the contemporary photos of the productions. However, as a significant number of Bakst's wonderful designs are illustrated, the book is "better than nothing". I am awaiting a high quality calalogue raisonne!