N the book of fame, the name of Leon Bakst is writ large. Many a time and oft, illustrious critics have heralded his praises. In speaking today of the contribution made by Bakst, there is really nothing that one can add or improve upon. The inventory of his achievements has been completed; the unexampled influence which he never ceased to exercise has been rightly evaluated. Nevertheless, there remains a task which must not be neglected. Paris, to be sure, enthusiastically watched the development of his art; but for us, Russians, has been reserved the most thrilling experience of all—that of chronicling the unfolding of his genius. We have here the spectacle of a towering, unusual, self=revealing personality, and of a style that develops progressively and that blazes new ways after bitter struggles.
More than that, in order to obtain a composite picture of his work, in order to arrive at a general estimate of the man, we must try to reproduce the intimate atmosphere of his artistic development, the material and intellectual surroundings which shaped his course.
As a compatriot and contemporary of the master, I have, on the whole, breathed this same atmosphere. I have been an eye=witness of those earlier creations of his that mark an epoch in the history of Russian painting and of the Russian theater. This knowledge constitutes my qualification for attempting this biography. The latter would be incomplete unless his childhood and adolescence were also to be recalled. In so far as this period of his life is concerned, I am reporting Bakst’s own words; with moderation I have supplied a running comment.
Thus these pages present the first attempt at a story of Bakst’s life.
