Artist Lev Bakst - portrait of the writer Zinaida Gippius. Clever soul (about Bakst) Bakst portrait of Zinaida Gippius description

Leon Bakst is called a great theater artist, and rightly so. But is it possible that the works he performed in differentusing techniques portraits or genre painting less good? Judge for yourself...

Portrait of a girl in a Russian kokoshnik, 1911

K. Sokolsky - I dreamed

Leon Bakst (1866-1924) - one of the most prominent representatives of Russian Art Nouveau, artist, set designer, master of easel painting and theatrical graphics, was born in Grodno. His father is Israel Rosenberg. Some call him a Talmudic scholar, others call him a mediocre businessman. It is possible that he was both at the same time. Israel Rosenberg named his son Leib-Chaim. Later, Leib became Leo. Leo - Leon. The usual transformation of Jewish names in the Russian-speaking environment. Soon after the birth of their son, the Rosenberg family moved from Grodno to St. Petersburg.

Portrait of a Woman, 1906

He spent his childhood in St. Petersburg, where his grandfather lived, who loved social life and luxury. Grandfather was a rich tailor. The boy grew up sickly and had a noticeable imbalance of character. From his mother he inherited a love of books and read them voraciously, at random. The child owed his first vivid impressions to his grandfather, a former Parisian who brought the chic of a French salon to his apartment on Nevsky Prospekt. Walls covered with yellow silk, antique furniture, paintings, ornamental plants, gilded cages with canaries - everything here was “not at home”, everything delighted the emotional boy. The stories of parents returning from the Italian opera also caused joyful excitement.

Young Dahomean, 1895

As a boy, he enthusiastically performed in front of his sisters plays he had invented and staged. Figures cut out from books and magazines turned into heroes of dramatizations performed in front of the sisters. But then the moment came when adults began to take the boy with them to the theater, and a Magic world. Could anyone have thought then that it was here that many years later he would find his true calling.

Portrait of Alexandre Benois, 1898

Very early on, Leo developed a passion for painting. My father resisted to the best of his ability. As a Talmudist, it’s not a Jewish thing to “paint little men.” And as a businessman. Painting was considered unprofitable. The artists, for the most part, led a semi-beggarly existence. Israel Rosenberg was a tolerant man. And, in order to make sure what the picturesque efforts of the indomitable son were, either through mutual friends or through relatives, he contacted the sculptor Mark Antokolky. The master looked at the drawings, found in them undoubted signs of talent and strongly advised him to study.

Portrait of a dancer M. Casati, 1912

The advice took effect and in 1883 young Rosenberg entered the Academy of Arts as a volunteer. The future Bakst stayed here from 1883 to 1887. Academic training did not correspond much to the trends of the era. The professors, for the most part, strictly adhered to the classical canons. And they completely ignored new trends in painting, the notorious Art Nouveau in its diverse forms and manifestations. And, to the best of our ability, we discouraged students from leaving the once and for all beaten path. Bakst did not study too hard. Failed the competition for a silver medal. After which he left the Academy. Either as a sign of protest. Either having finally lost faith.

Lady on the Sofa, 1905

After Leon Bakst left the Academy, at that time Rosenberg was still studying painting with Albert Benois. The father, apparently, refused to further finance his son’s creative endeavors. And the young artist earned his living and paid for his lessons in some publishing house. He illustrated children's books. In 1889, Leib-Chaim Rosenberg became Leon Bakst. My new surname, or rather the pseudonym, the artist borrowed from his maternal grandmother, shortening it somewhat. Grandmother's last name was Baxter. The appearance of the catchy pseudonym was associated with the first exhibition at which the artist decided to present his works. It seemed to him that in the eyes of the Russian public, an artist named Leon Bakst had undeniable advantages over the artist Leib-Chaim Rosenberg.

Portrait of Zinaida Gippius, 1906

Also in 1893, Leon Bakst arrived in Paris. He studied at Jerome's studio and at the Académie Julien. In places widely known among artists all over the world, where one could learn and, accordingly, learn new art, not connected with centuries-old traditions. Life was difficult for Bakst in Paris. He lived mainly from the sales of his paintings. More precisely sketches. In a letter to a friend, Leon Bakst complained bitterly: “I am still struggling not to leave Paris... The art seller impudently takes my best sketches for a pittance.” Leon Bakst lived in Paris for six years.

Portrait of Andrei Lvovich Bakst, son of the artist, 1908

From time to time he came to St. Petersburg. Either to unwind and relax, or to make new connections and exchange impressions. During one of his visits, Leon Bakst met the Neva Pickwickians. It was a self-education circle organized by the famous Russian artist, art historian, and art critic Alexander Benois. The circle included Konstantin Somov, Dmitry Filosofov, Sergei Diaghilev and some other artists, art critics and writers, who eventually formed the famous artistic association “World of Art”.

Portrait of the future Countess Henri de Boisgelin, 1924

In 1898, the first issue of the magazine "World of Art" was published - the organ of an artistic association and a group of symbolist writers. The editor of the magazine was Sergei Diaghilev. The magazine's editorial office was located in the editor's house; the first years on Liteiny Prospekt, 45, and from 1900 on the Fontanka River Embankment, 11. The art department of the magazine was headed by Leon Bakst. He also came up with a stamp for the magazine with an eagle “reigning arrogantly, mysteriously and lonely on a snowy peak.” The art department of the magazine widely exhibited the works of outstanding representatives of Russian and foreign painting. What determined the high artistic and aesthetic level of the publication, made it a mouthpiece for new trends in art, and influenced the development Russian culture at the turn of the century.

Model

In 1903, Bakst became friends with the widow of the artist Gritsenko, Lyubov Pavlovna. She was the daughter of an eminent merchant, a great connoisseur and collector of paintings, the founder of the world famous gallery P.M. Tretyakov. Tretyakov adhered to liberal views and had nothing against Jews in general, and Bakst himself in particular. I appreciated him as an artist. I willingly bought paintings. But Baksta did not perceive Baksta as a son-in-law as a Jew. A Jew - no matter what. But a Jew, a person associated with Jewish religion, did not fit into the centuries-old family traditions. And Bakst had to make concessions. According to one version, he converted from Judaism to Lutheranism. According to another, he became Orthodox in order to perform a church wedding ceremony.

Portrait of Walter Fedorovich Nouvel, 1895

In 1907, Bakst had a son, Andrei (future theater and film artist, died in 1972 in Paris). The marriage turned out to be fragile. In 1909, Leon Bakst left the family. The divorce did not affect the relationship with ex-wife. They remained invariably friendly. When Lyubov Pavlovna left Russia with her son in 1921, Leon Bakst supported them financially until the end of his days. Another thing is interesting. Soon after the divorce, Christian convert Leon Bakst returned to the faith of his fathers.

Portrait of Anna Pavlova, 1908

In 1909, in accordance with the new law on Jews in Russian Empire, he was offered to leave St. Petersburg. Bakst had extensive connections. Many influential acquaintances. The Imperial Court used his services. But he decided not to resort to anyone's help. And he left for Paris. The powers that be changed their anger to the mercy of those in power in 1914. This year Bakst was elected a member of the Academy of Arts. And in this capacity, regardless of religion, he had the right to live wherever he pleased.

Portrait of a girl. 1905

From 1908 to 1910, during trips from Paris to St. Petersburg, Leon Bakst taught at private school painting by Zvantseva One of Bakst’s students was Marc Chagall. Bakst drew attention to the remarkable talent of the young Chagall. Although, as they write, he did not entirely approve of him and was strict in his assessments. For all his innovation, Bakst believed that for an artist, regardless of direction, nature should serve as a model. Chagall's alogisms and Chagall's notorious "picture mania" embarrassed him. Chagall's fellow student Obolenskaya recalled that, looking at Chagall's painting, which depicted a violinist sitting on a mountain, Bakst could not understand how the violinist managed to drag him up such a mountain. big mountain such a big chair.

Portrait of Andrei Bely, 1905

Chagall wanted to follow his teacher to Paris. He was irresistibly drawn to Europe. Bakst was against it. “So you are happy with the prospect of dying among 30 thousand artists flocking to Paris from all over the world,” he said. Judging by the manuscript of Chagall's book "My Life", Bakst simply cursed his student. Chagall's wife Bella, while preparing the book for publication, blotted out several out-of-the-ordinary expressions. In those years, unlike our time, profanity was not allowed on the pages of literary works. According to Chagall, Bakst handed him one hundred rubles and advised him to use them to greater advantage in Russia. He had supported Chagall financially before.

Portrait of the writer Dmitry Fedorovich Filosofov, 1897

Bakst worked hard and willingly portrait painting. His brushes include portraits famous figures literature and art: Levitan, Diaghilev, Rozanov, Zinaida Gippius, Isadora Duncan, Jean Cocteau, Konstantin Somov, Andrei Bely. Andrei Bely recalled: “The red-haired, ruddy, clever Bakst refused to write me simply, he needed me to be animated to the point of ecstasy! To do this, he brought his friend from the editorial office of the World of Art magazine, who ate ten dogs in terms of the ability to revive and tell clever stories and anecdotes, then the predatory tiger Bakst, his eyes flashing, sneaked up on me, clutching my brush.” Art historians consider Bakst one of the most prominent Russian portrait painters of the early twentieth century.

Portrait of Princess Olga Konstantinovna Orlova, 1909

Leon Bakst was not only a wonderful portrait painter. He proved himself to be an outstanding landscape painter. His graphic works, as contemporaries noted, were “strikingly decorative, full of special mysterious poetry and very bookish.” Despite the variety of manifestations artistic talent and the opportunities associated with this, Bakst did not have any special income. Constantly in need of money, Bakst collaborated with satirical magazines, worked on book graphics, and designed the interiors of various exhibitions. He also taught drawing to children of wealthy parents.

Portrait of L.P. Gritsenko (wife of L. Bakst and daughter of P.M. Tretyakov), 1903

In 1903, in St. Petersburg, Bakst was asked to take part in the design of the ballet “The Fairy of Puppets”. The set and costume designs created by Bakst were received enthusiastically. “From the first steps,” Alexander Benois later wrote, “Bakst took a truly dominant position and since then has remained unique and unsurpassed.”

Portrait of Madame T., 1918

In Paris, Bakst joined the ballet group of the organizer of the Russian Seasons in Paris, Sergei Diaghilev. Sergei Pavlovich brought several ballets to Paris. These ballets, which served as the basis for the Russian Seasons, shocked the jaded French and aroused in them a storm of incomparable delight. Diaghilev's Russian Seasons owed its triumph, first of all, to Bakst's exceptionally beautiful productions. A special, “Bakst” style, with its wonderful, almost mysterious, amazing interweaving of the magic of ornament and combination of colors.

Portrait of Sergei Diaghilev with his nanny, 1906

The theatrical costumes created by Bakst, which were written about a lot in various art-related publications, thanks to rhythmically repeating color patterns, emphasized the dynamics of the dance and the actor’s movements. The pinnacle of Bakst's creativity was the scenery for Diaghilev's ballets: "Cleopatra" 1909, "Scheherazade" 1910, "Carnival" 1910, "Narcissus" 1911, "Daphnis and Chloe" 1912. These productions, as critics wrote, literally “drove Paris crazy.” And they laid the foundation for the artist’s world fame.

Nude, 1905

The Russian artist, art critic and memoirist Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, who knew Bakst since the days of joint teaching at the Zvantseva school of painting and was thoroughly familiar with his work, wrote: “He was recognized and “crowned” by the refined and capricious Paris itself, and what is surprising, despite the kaleidoscopic the change of idols, the variability of Parisian hobbies, despite all the “shifts” caused by the war, new phenomena in the field of art, the noise of futurism - Bakst still remained one of the unchangeable legislators of “taste.” Paris had already forgotten that Bakst was a foreigner, that his “roots” are in St. Petersburg, that he is the artist of the “World of Art” Leon Bakst - began to sound like the most Parisian of Parisian names.”

Lady with Oranges (Dinner), 1902

In 1918, Leon Bakst left Diaghilev's group. His departure is attributed to a number of reasons. This and World War. The French had no time for "Russian Seasons". In addition, Bakst found himself cut off from Diaghilev’s troupe. The troupe remained in Paris, and Bakst was in Switzerland at that time. Bakst’s departure from the troupe, and this is perhaps the most important thing, was prompted by aesthetic differences with Diaghilev and growing contradictions. Diaghilev was a dictator. Long before the “Paris Seasons,” while working on a portrait of Diaghilev, Bakst complained that Diaghilev absolutely did not know how to pose, watched literally every stroke, and demanded that he look more beautiful in the portrait than in life. Apparently, while working on the sketches, Diaghilev tried to influence, strongly advised something, and made demands. Bakst didn't like it. And at some stage he refused to cooperate.

Portrait of Isaac Levitan, 1899

In Paris, Bakst was extremely popular. His style was adopted by the trendsetters of Parisian fashion. And they began to use it widely. Russian poet Maximilian Voloshin wrote: “Bakst managed to capture that elusive nerve of Paris that rules fashion, and its influence is now being felt everywhere in Paris - both in ladies’ dresses and at art exhibitions.” A book dedicated to Bakst’s work was published. This book, according to contemporaries, “represented the height of technical perfection.” The French government awarded Bakst the Order of the Legion of Honor.

Portrait of Isadora Duncan

Bakst's loud Parisian fame and his world fame meant little for Russia. For the Russian authorities, Bakst, first of all, was a Jew, with all the ensuing consequences. Russian publicist, art and literary critic Dmitry Filosofov wrote: “After the first revolution, already “famous”, with a red ribbon in his buttonhole, he came from Paris to St. Petersburg, completely forgetting that he was a Jew from the Pale of Settlement. Imagine his surprise when a police officer came to him and said that he must immediately leave either for Berdichev or for Zhitomir.” The late vice-president of the Academy of Arts, Count Ivan Ivanovich Tolstoy (later the mayor) was indignant, the press made a fuss, and Bakst was left alone. Yes, of course, he was a Jew. But he felt like a son of Russia, firstly, and a human being, secondly. And most importantly, an artist.

Self-portrait, 1893

Bakst's popularity and his great fame had a tragic impact on his fate. Bakst was inundated with orders that he could not, and did not want to refuse. Overwork undermined his health. Leon Bakst died on December 27, 1924 in Paris, at the age of 58. While working on the ballet "Istar" for Ida Rubinstein's troupe, he suffered a "nervous attack." Bakst was hospitalized at the Riel-Malmaison hospital. They couldn't help him. According to another version, kidney disease brought Bakst to his grave. Another cause is called “pulmonary edema”. Perhaps we are talking about manifestations of the same disease. People who were not very knowledgeable in medicine were based not so much on the diagnosis as on its dominant manifestations. Bakst was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris.

Portrait of Countess Keller, 1902

Based on materials from Valentin Domil’s article “The Great Bakst”

Carnival in Paris in honor of the arrival of Russian sailors October 5, 1893, 1900

Rainfall, 1906

And yet, when talking about the famous theater artist Leon Bakst, one cannot do without his amazing sketches stage costumes and decorations (it’s a pity, you have to limit yourself in quantity):

Costume design for a dancer for Paul Paré's ballet "Confused Artemis", 1922

Costume design for the ballet "Scheherazade" - Silver Negro, 1910

Costume design for Ethel Levy for the revue Hello Tango, 1914

Sketch of Paganini's costume for the ballet " Magic night"Gabriele d'Annunzio"

Set design for the ballet "Scheherazade", 1910

Costume design for Cleopatra for Ida Rubinstein for the ballet "Cleopatra"

Costume design for the ballet "Narcissus" - The Bacchae, 1911

Costume design by Tamara Karsavina for the ballet "Firebird", 1910

Costume design for the ballet "The Blue God" - The Bride, 1912

Set design for the ballet "Daphnis and Chloe"

Fantasia on the Theme of Modern Costume (Atalanta), 1912

Ida Rubinstein as Istar in the ballet of the same name by Vincent d'Indy, 1924

Set design for the ballet "The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian", 1911

Dance of the Seven Veils. Costume design for Salome for O. Wilde's drama "Salome", 1908

Costume design for the ballet "Afternoon of a Faun" - Second Nymph, 1912

Costume design for Ida Rubinstein for the mystery play "The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian", 1911

Costume design for Ida Rubinstein in the role of Helen in the tragedy "Helen in Sparta"

Set design for the ballet "The Afternoon of a Faun", 1911

Sketch of an odalisque costume for the production of "Scheherazade", 1910

Costume design for the ballet "Indian Love", 1913

Chinese mandarin. Costume design for The Sleeping Beauty, 1921

Costume design for Vaslav Nijinsky for Paul Dukas's choreographic poem "Peri", 1911

Set design for the ballet "The Sleeping Beauty", 1921

Costume of Natalia Trukhanova as Peri, 1911 / Costume design for the ballet "Scheherazade" - Blue Sultan, 1910 (right)

Sketch of the Harlequin costume in R. Schumann's "Carnival" / Drawing by Vaslav Nijinsky in "Scheherazade" (right)

Set design for the production of "Boris Godunov", 1913

Leon Bakst's first “adult” works were illustrations for children's books. He later became a famous portrait painter and revolutionary theater decorator, the artist who "drunk Paris" and a designer whose lectures cost two thousand dollars in 1920s America.

Art teacher in the imperial family

Leon Bakst was born in 1866 in Grodno into a Jewish family. At birth he was named Leib-Chaim Rosenberg. When the family moved to the capital, the boy often visited his grandfather, a fashionable tailor, in an elegant old apartment in the very center of St. Petersburg. Leon Bakst read a lot, staged children's puppet shows and listened to the stories of my parents and grandfather about the theater. Since childhood, Bakst was also interested in drawing. His father showed his drawings to the sculptor Mark Antokolsky, and he advised the boy to study painting.

Leon Bakst entered the Academy of Arts as a volunteer, but did not graduate. He took lessons from Alexandre Benois and worked part-time creating illustrations for children's books. At the first exhibition of his work in 1889, Leib-Chaim Rosenberg took the pseudonym Leon Bakst.

In 1893, Bakst left for Paris. Here he continued to study painting, and paintings became the only source of income young artist. In a letter to a friend, Bakst wrote: “The art seller is impudently taking my best sketches for pennies”.

During one of his visits to St. Petersburg, Leon Bakst began to visit Alexander Benois's circle. It included artists, writers and art lovers, who later formed the artistic association “World of Art”. When the Miriskus students began publishing their own magazine, Bakst headed the art department. Soon he was invited to his place Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich - give drawing lessons to children.

In the early 1910s, Leon Bakst created a whole gallery of portraits of his contemporaries - Philip Malyavin and Vasily Rozanov, Zinaida Gippius and Jean Cocteau, Sergei Diaghilev and Isadora Duncan.

“The red-haired, ruddy, clever Bakst refused to paint me simply, he needed me to be animated to the point of ecstasy! To do this, he brought his friend from the editorial office of the World of Art magazine, who ate ten dogs in terms of the ability to revive and tell smart stories and anecdotes, then the predatory tiger Bakst, his eyes flashing, would sneak up on me, clutching his brush.”

Andrey Bely

Leon Bakst created a number of landscapes and children's portraits, mystical paintings "Ancient Horror" and "Elysium". Vasily Rozanov wrote about the famous painting “Dinner”: “A stylish decadent of the end of the century, black and white, thin as an ermine, with a mysterious smile a la Gioconda, eating oranges”.

Leon Bakst. Ancient horror. 1908. State Russian Museum

Leon Bakst. Dinner. 1902. State Russian Museum

Leon Bakst. Elysium. 1906. State Tretyakov Gallery

“Paris is truly drunk with Bakst”

In 1903, Leon Bakst first created the scenery for the play and sketches theatrical costumes. Brothers-choreographers Nikolai and Sergei Legat from the St. Petersburg Imperial Troupe asked the artist to design their ballet “Fairy of Puppets”. Alexandre Benois later recalled this event: “From the first steps, Bakst took a downright dominant position and since then has remained unique and unsurpassed.”.

In the same year, the artist married Lyubov Tretyakova. Pavel Tretyakov agreed to the marriage with one condition: Bakst had to change his religion. The artist converted to Lutheranism. In 1907, the couple separated, and Bakst - now that was his official surname - again converted to Judaism. For this he was expelled from St. Petersburg: in those years, not all Jews had the right to live in the capital.

Leon Bakst went to Greece - together with the artist Valentin Serov. There he made studies of Mediterranean landscapes and sketches, which later became fragments of new theatrical scenery.

Since 1910, Leon Bakst again settled in Paris. During these years he earned real world fame for his theatrical scenery- voluminous, multi-layered and fabulous. He designed Diaghilev's ballets for his Parisian Russian seasons - Cleopatra, Scheherazade, Carnival and Narcissus.

Costumes for artists were made according to his sketches Imperial theaters- Vaslav and Bronislav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina, Vera Fokina. Bakst also collaborated with Ida Rubinstein's pioneering theater troupe. The artist carefully thought out the details of the costumes, their colors and patterns, which emphasized the plasticity and flexibility of the actors during the dances. Art critic Mstislav Dobuzhinsky wrote: “he was recognized and “crowned” by the sophisticated and capricious Paris itself”, and Andrey Levinson - “Paris is truly drunk with Bakst”.

Leon Bakst. Design for Sylvia's costume for the Mariinsky Theater production. 1901. State Russian Museum

Leon Bakst. Sketch of the Firebird costume for Sergei Diaghilev's enterprise. 1910. State Central Theater Museum named after A.A. Bakhrushin

Leon Bakst. Costume design for Salome for a private performance by Ida Rubinstein. 1908. State Tretyakov Gallery

Leon Bakst. Sketch of an “Assyrian-Egyptian” costume for Tamara Karsavina. 1907. State Russian Museum

World famous fashion designer

The capital of France was swept by the fashion for everything oriental and Russian, and these were echoes of the Russian seasons. Turbans and wigs, shawls and dresses reminiscent of actors' costumes appeared in stores. Leon Bakst developed the design of interiors and accessories, furniture and dishes, jewelry and even cars. During these years he became one of the most popular designers in Paris. Maximilian Voloshin wrote about the artist: “Bakst managed to capture that elusive nerve of Paris that rules fashion, and its influence is now being felt everywhere in Paris - both in ladies’ dresses and at art exhibitions.”.

A book about Bakst’s work was published in Paris, and the French government awarded him the Order of the Legion of Honor. The artist published his articles about contemporary art, took a lot of photographs, wrote autobiographical novel and gave lectures on contemporary art in Russia, America and Europe.

Leon Bakst also developed the fabric design. After the Russian seasons, expensive French stores began selling “Odalisque” and “Scheherazade” fabrics. For the Parisian couturier Paul Poiret, Bakst created original ornaments and sophisticated designs. Bakst's fabrics were popular not only in Europe, but also in America. One of the latest creative projects worldwide famous artist became a hundred sketches of fabrics for mass production.

It is interesting to look closely at the image of Zinaida Nikolaevna Gippius, whom Alexander Blok called the “Green-eyed Naiad”, Igor Severyanin – “Golden-faced Skanda”, Valery Bryusov – “Zinaida the Beautiful”, Pyotr Pertsov – “Decadet Madonna with a Botticelli-esque appearance”. The artist Alexander Benois did not lag behind the writers, calling her “Princess Dreams,” adding that she had “the smile of Mona Lisa.” Only two people dared to note the opposite and not entirely unsavory side of this woman’s personality. So Leon Trotsky considered her a “Satan and a witch,” and Dmitry Merezhkovsky considered her a “White Devil.”

FROM THE HOURS

Her contemporary politician, writer and journalist Ariadna Vladimirovna Tyrkova-Williams wrote very eloquently about Gippius’s appearance: “Familiar and strangers called her Zinaida behind her back. She was very beautiful. Tall, thin, like a youth, flexible. Golden braids wrapped twice around her small, well-set head. The eyes are large, green, mermaid-like, restless and sliding. The smile almost never left her face, but it didn’t make her look good. It seemed as if a prickly, unkind word was about to fall from those brightly painted thin lips. She really wanted to amaze, attract, enchant, conquer. In those days, at the end of the 19th century, it was not customary to smear yourself like that... But Zinaida blushed and whitened thickly, openly, as actresses do for the stage. This gave her face the appearance of a mask, emphasizing her quirks, her artificiality... She dressed picturesquely, but also with a twist... she came in a long white silk tunic, tied with a gold cord. Wide, folded-back sleeves moved behind her back like wings.” Full-fledged psychological picture young Gippius.

Years later, the personal secretary of the Merezhkovsky couple since 1919, V.A. Zlobin, expressed his opinion about Zinaida Nikolaevna: “This was a strange creature, as if from another planet. At times she seemed unreal, as often happens when there is great beauty or excessive ugliness. A brick blush all over her cheek, dyed red hair that looked like a wig... She dressed complicatedly: some kind of shawls, furs - she was always frozen - in which she was hopelessly tangled. Her clothes were not always successful and were not always befitting her age and rank. She made a scarecrow out of herself. It made a painful impression and was repulsive.”

And one more testimony from contemporary Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi, also concerning recent years life Gippius: “Zinaida Gippius was once pretty. I didn’t find this time anymore. She was very thin, almost disembodied. Huge, once red hair was strangely curled and pulled in by a net. The cheeks are painted a bright blotting paper pink. Slanted, greenish, poorly seeing eyes. She dressed very strangely. In her youth, she was original: she wore a men's suit, an evening dress with white wings, and tied a ribbon around her head with a brooch on her forehead. Over the years, this originality turned into some kind of nonsense. She pulled a pink ribbon around her neck and threw a cord behind her ear, on which the monocle dangled near her cheek. In winter, she wore some kind of warmer, capes, several pieces at once, one on top of the other. When she was offered a cigarette, from this pile of shaggy wrappers, quickly, like an anteater’s tongue, a dry hand would stretch out, tenaciously grab it and retract again.”

And yet, despite the above excerpts from her memoirs, reflecting a number of oddities inherent in Gippius, she “was recognized as the only real woman writer in Russia and the smartest woman in the empire. Her opinion in the literary world meant extremely much,” said our contemporary Vitaly Yakovlevich Wulf.

Many photographs of Gippius have been preserved, depicting her at various age periods of her life. Of the portraits, the most famous are two drawings - I.E. Repin (1894. Museum-apartment of I.I. Brodsky. St. Petersburg) and L.N. Bakst (1906. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow).

In 2007, the ECHO Moscow radio station broadcast a wonderful program entitled “The Artist Lev Bakst - a Portrait of the Writer Zinaida Gippius.”
Presenter - Echo of Moscow journalist Ksenia Larina began the program in the following words: “Today our heroine Zinaida Gippius, but not alone, but together with her Pygmalion, with the artist Lev Bakst. We will talk about this portrait today with our guest Valentina Bialik, senior researcher at the Tretyakov Gallery.” It was from the text of this program that the basic information was gleaned, which then spread across many Internet sites.

L. Bakst. Portrait of Z. N. Gippius. 1906 Paper, pastel.

In the drawing by L.N. Bakst, Gippius is only 37 years old. She has almost as many years of life ahead of her. The graphic portrait was made on a glued sheet of paper, the dimensions of which are small - 54x44 cm. At first, just a sketch was made, which gradually turned into a portrait. It seems that the artist set out to show first of all the “wonderful” and “endless” legs of Gippius. Or was it her idea? Difficult to answer this question. The figure is placed diagonally on the sheet and a little more than half of it is allocated to the legs. But the hands are not depicted. It's a pity. Their “expression” can tell a lot. Apparently, Zinaida Nikolaevna is wearing the costume of the young Lord Pumplerob, the hero of the story by the Anglo-American writer Bardned, published in 1888. This golden-haired seven-year-old boy, who turned out to be a lord by birth, appeared before his grandfather-lord in a black velvet suit, short trousers, and a shirt with a lace frill. This is how he appeared before the readers. And the fashion for wearing this costume lasted until late XIX century.

She had beautiful hair - reddish and curly, reminiscent of the hair color of the Pre-Raphaelite heroines. Their color contrasts sharply with the color of black eyebrows. Like they belong different women. Eyes narrowed. Either because of disdain for others, or, more likely, because of severe myopia. And this look and pose precisely emphasize her peculiarity and even a certain detachment.

“As for this portrait itself, today we are so tolerant in the sense of fashion and morality that to understand how scandalous this portrait was, how scandalous it was, I’m not afraid of this word, is indecent, today it simply wouldn’t occur to anyone talk... Of course, well, here it was also difficult to immediately make out - where is the outward shockingness, some acting manifestations, her challenge to society, and where is her real essence,” say the participants of the program.

Now the opinion of I.N. Pruzhan, who published a monograph on Bakst’s creative path in 1975: “Bakst’s graphic portraits have the greatest psychological acuity. Among them, the portrait of Z.N. Gippius stands out for its unusual solution.
A thin, graceful woman with lush red hair, in a camisole and knee-length trousers, reclines on a chair. Her long crossed legs are stretched diagonally across the sheet, making the whole figure seem even more elongated. In Gippius’s costume and pose there is a lot of provocative, mannered, unnatural, designed for external effect. On a pale face, bordered with a white frill, under narrow, sharply defined eyebrows, there are slightly mocking and contemptuous eyes, thin evil lips. “She had a special way of smoking, squinting her right eye, a special way of talking. She was sometimes quite poisonous, sometimes somewhat arrogant…” Golovin recalls Gippius. Bakst strengthened these features. He emphasized the angularity of the knees, somewhat lengthened the arms and legs, thereby giving the model’s entire appearance a sharpness and prickliness. “Your soul is without tenderness, and your heart is like a needle...” - these words of the poetess could serve as an epigraph to her own portrait.
Without deviating from nature, the artist selected in it those features that seemed decisive to him. Their maximum sharpening, bordering on the grotesque, helped him create expressive image representatives of decadent decadent poetry and go beyond individual characteristics - the portrait of Gippius turned into a document of the era.”

L.N.BAKST AND “WORLD OF ART”

The question rightly arises: why exactly did he immortalize Gippius? Let's start with the fact that they were almost the same age - Leon Nikolaevich was only three years older. And here the first difficulty is - how to correctly identify this artist? In fact, his real name sounds like Leib-Chaim Izrailevich, which then turned into Lev Samoilovich Rosenberg, and in conclusion the artist began to be called Leon (Lev) Nikolaevich Bakst. This is already a pseudonym. At the first exhibition, held in 1889, he was designated by a shortened surname after the surname of Baxter's grandmother - Bakst.

L.Bakst. Self-portrait. 1893

The time these two representatives met Silver Age refers to the emergence of first a society, and then a magazine called “World of Art”.
Bakst became famous for his graphic works for the World of Art magazine. He continued to study and easel art- performed excellent graphic portraits of I. I. Levitan, F. A. Malyavin (1899), A. Bely (1905) and Z. N. Gippius (1906) and painting portraits of V. V. Rozanov (1901), S. P . Diaghilev with a nanny (1906).
His painting “Dinner” (1902), which became a kind of manifesto of the Art Nouveau style in Russian art, caused fierce controversy among critics. Later, his painting “Terror Antiquus” (1906-08), which embodied the symbolist idea of ​​the inevitability of fate, made a strong impression on viewers.

As you know, in 1898 the artistic association “World of Art” was formed and Bakst became its active participant. He is the author of the World of Art brand symbol - a white eagle sitting on a mountain top on a black background. Together with Diaghilev, he takes part in the founding of the World of Art magazine. The graphics published in this magazine brought Bakst fame. His talent also manifested itself in type design: “For the first time, he, Lanseray and Golovin began to make artistic inscriptions for magazines, draw letters and covers - the embryo of the future entire field of graphics in the heyday of book art,” wrote M.V. Dobuzhinsky.

“He is an artist at heart” - these are the words of Alexander Nikolaevich Benois from the chapter of his book “My Memoirs”, which is called “Levushka Bakst”. Benois met him in March 1890 and immediately decided to involve him in cooperation in a circle in which the contours of the future “World of Art” were discerned. First impressions were contradictory. “Mr. Rosenberg’s appearance,” wrote Benoit, “was not remarkable in any respect. The rather regular features of the face were harmed by blind eyes (“slits”), bright red hair and a thin mustache above the sinuous lips. At the same time, the shy and almost ingratiating demeanor produced, if not repulsive, then still not a particularly pleasant impression.”

The magazine "World of Art" did not exist for long - until the end of 1904. In total, 96 of its issues were published. In Soviet literature, it was assessed unequivocally: “the magazine preached lack of ideas, apoliticality in art, and mysticism.”

It should be noted that in 1901 he painted a portrait of Rozanov, and in 1903 he created a very unique summer, light, beautiful portrait Lyubov Pavlovna Gritsenko, née Tretyakova, third daughter of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, who became Bakst’s wife.
In 1900 she was widowed. Her husband was wonderful man and the beloved son-in-law of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, Nikolai Gritsenko, a naval officer and watercolor artist. Wonderful photographs have been preserved where Gritsenko is next to Pavel Mikhailovich. But, alas, he passed away very young, in 1900. Bakst really was out of great love, he was completely obsessed with Lyubov Pavlovna, and married this woman.
He painted her portrait in Minton. This is a summer portrait where she is standing on the terrace of a house. She is wearing white clothes. Her hat resembles either a flower or a butterfly. The portrait is built on the ratio of white, lilac, pinkish, that is, the dress is written in the most complex shades, and the sea and greenery are in the background.

I would like to point out that if we are talking about portraits, then it was in the same year, 1906, when the portrait of Gippius was painted, that a portrait of Diaghilev with his nanny was created. The portrait is located in St. Petersburg, in the Russian Museum. Excellent oil work. That is, it should be noted that these things are unequal - a large, monumental portrait of Diaghilev and this graphic, beautiful, elegant, but completely different size portrait of Zinaida Nikolaevna.
Probably, Bakst, as not just a good physiognomist, but a person with an innate sense of theater, with an innate ability to perceive the acting of others, he was very successful in precisely those heroes who acted not on stage, but even in life.
Therefore, Sergei Diaghilev, who stood up so well that he does not look too corpulent, Sergei Diaghilev with his head raised so well, with this gray tuft of hair above his forehead, he is quite impressive here, self-confident, handsome, and an elegant hint of democracy - the presence of a nanny in the background canvases. That is, it seemed like it shouldn’t have existed at first, it appeared by chance, it seems to be unfinished here, but there is theatrical irony, grace, and magnificent compositional foundness in it. So, this portrait is, of course, infinitely interesting.

And then they began Summer seasons S. Diaghilev and life abroad.
Death from pulmonary edema overtook Bakst in Paris in 1924, at the time of his fame, although beginning to fade, but still brilliant. This was facilitated by overwork and primarily nervous fatigue, which led to him being ill for almost four months.

But it should be said that the name of Bakst is not completely forgotten. In the thirties, a worthy lady met who was the editor of the publishing house “Art” - Marina Nikolaevna Gritsenko - this is the daughter of Lyubov Pavlovna, nee Tretyakova and Nikolai Gritsenko, and the son of Andrei Lyubov Pavlovna and Bakst, who lived his life in Paris.
He became an artist. And there is a wonderful photograph when, already elderly people, at the doors of the Tretyakov Gallery, these stepbrother and sister pose with dignity.

GIPPIUS BAKSTU and about BAKSTU

Even before the portrait was completed, Zinaida Nikolaevna dedicated two sonnets to Bakst. Since these names are now half-forgotten and even more so rarely mentioned together, it is quite appropriate to give them in full. We are talking about 1901.

I. Salvation

We judge, sometimes we speak so beautifully,
And it seems that great powers have been given to us.
We preach, we are intoxicated with ourselves,
And we call everyone to us decisively and authoritatively.
Alas for us: we are walking along a dangerous road.
We are doomed to remain silent before someone else's grief, -
We are so helpless, so pitiful and funny,
When we try to help others in vain.

Only the one who will console you in sorrow, will help you
Who is joyful and simple and always believes,
That life is joy, that everything is blessed;
Who loves without longing and lives like a child.
I humbly bow before the true power;
We don’t save the world: love will save it.

Through the path into the forest, in the welcoming comfort,
Filled with sunshine and shade,
The spider's thread is elastic and clean,
Hung in the sky; and unnoticeable trembling
The wind shakes the thread, trying in vain to break;
It is strong, thin, transparent and simple.
The living emptiness of the sky is cut
A sparkling line - a multi-colored string.

We are accustomed to appreciate what is unclear.
In tangled knots, with some false passion,
We look for subtleties, not believing what is possible
Combine greatness with simplicity in the soul.
But everything that is complex is pitiful, deathly and rude;
And the subtle soul is as simple as this thread.

And no matter what they say about the oddities of Zinaida Nikolaevna’s character and behavior, she was a truthful and somewhat obligatory person. Having learned about such early death Baksta, I found the strength to write my memoirs. Just three pages of text. They begin with the words: “...They talk most about a person when he has barely died. That's how it is. But I can't do this. I’m talking either about the living or about those who died a long time ago, accustomed to being dead. And death is near - it should infect with silence. I will talk about Bakst briefly, quietly, in a half whisper.” The final phrase is shocking: “It will take me a long time to get used to the fact that Bakst has died, that his excited, gentle and intelligent soul has gone somewhere.” And it was the words “Clever Soul” that she put in the title of her memoirs.

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“They spoke of her as a provincial girl who had risen to the literary salon in Paris,
evil, proud, smart, conceited.
Except for “smart”, everything is wrong, that is, maybe evil,
Yes, not to the extent, not in the style that is commonly thought of.
No more proud than those who know their worth.
Self-important - no, not at all in a bad way.
But of course she knows hers specific gravity …»,
- Bunin’s wife would later write in her memoirs.
"The Uniqueness of Zinaida Gippius"
That's what Alexander Blok called
a completely unique combination of personality and poetry.

Berdyaev wrote about her in his autobiography “Self-Knowledge”: “I consider Zinaida Nikolaevna very wonderful person, but also very painful. I was always amazed by her serpentine coldness. There was no human warmth in her. There was clearly a mixture of feminine and masculine natures, and it was difficult to determine which was stronger. There was genuine suffering. Zinaida Nikolaevna is an unhappy person by nature."

They called her both a “witch” and a “Satan,” they praised her literary talent and called her the “Decade Madonna,” they feared and worshiped her. A green-eyed beauty, a dashing Amazon with a floor-length braid, a slender figure and a halo of sunny hair, teasing her fans with caustic words and caustic hints. Calm in her marriage from St. Petersburg socialite, owner of a famous salon in St. Petersburg. A tireless debater and organizer of daily heated philosophical, literary, political and historical discussions. All this is her - Zinaida Gippius.
Challenging the public, even ten years after her wedding to Merezhkovsky, she appeared in public with a braid - an emphasized sign of virginity. In general, she allowed herself everything that was forbidden to others. For example, she wore men's clothes (as depicted in her famous portrait by Lev Bakst) or sewed dresses for herself, which passers-by in St. Petersburg and Paris looked at in bewilderment and horror; she obviously used cosmetics indecently - she applied a thick layer of powder to her delicate white skin brick color. And in 1905, long before Coco Chanel, she made short haircut. - See more at: http://labrys.ru/node/6939#sthash.rgHnw1Ry.dpuf

Through the path into the forest, in the welcoming comfort,
Filled with sunshine and shade,
The spider's thread is elastic and clean,
Hung in the sky; and unnoticeable trembling
The wind shakes the thread, trying in vain to break;
It is strong, thin, transparent and simple.
The living emptiness of the sky is cut
A sparkling line - a multi-colored string.
We are accustomed to appreciate what is unclear.
In tangled knots, with some false passion,
We look for subtleties, not believing what is possible
Combine greatness with simplicity in the soul.
But everything that is complex is pitiful, deathly and rude;
And the subtle soul is as simple as this thread...
Zinaida GIPPIUS

Rumors, gossip, and legends swarmed around her, which Gippius not only collected with pleasure, but also actively multiplied. She was very fond of hoaxes. For example, she wrote letters to her husband in different handwritings, as if from fans, in which, depending on the situation, she scolded or praised him. In Silver Age intellectual and artistic circles, Gippius was well known for her advocacy of "androgynous and psychological unisex." Sergei Makovsky wrote about her: “She was all “on the contrary”, defiantly, not like everyone else..”

Hobbies and loves happened to both spouses (including same-sex ones). But Zinaida Nikolaevna never went beyond kissing. Gippius believed that only in a kiss lovers are equal, and in what should follow next, someone will definitely stand above the other. And Zinaida could not allow this under any circumstances. For her, the most important thing has always been equality and union of souls - but not bodies. All this made it possible to call the marriage of Gippius and Merezhkovsky “the union of a lesbian and a homosexual.” Letters were thrown into Merezhkovsky’s apartment: “Aphrodite took revenge on you by sending her hermaphrodite wife.”

Dmitry Merezhkovsky Nizhny Novgorod, 1890s

L.Bakst, Portrait

L.S.Bakst. Portrait of D.V. Filosofov. 1898

S.I. Vitkevich (Vitkatsi). Portrait of D.V. Filosofov. June 1932.
http://www.nasledie-rus.ru/podshivka/6406.php

Zinaida Gippius and ballet critic L.S. Volynsky. .

In the late 1890s, Gippius was in a close relationship with the English Baroness Elisabeth von Overbeck. Coming from a family of Russified Germans, Elisabeth von Overbeck collaborated as a composer with Merezhkovsky - she wrote music for the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles translated by him, which were staged at the Alexandrinsky Theater. Gippius dedicated several poems to Elisabeth von Overbeck.

Today your name I'll hide
And I won’t say it out loud to others.
But you will hear that I am with you,
Again you - alone - I live.
In the humid sky the star is huge,
Its edges tremble, flowing.
And I look into the night, and my heart remembers,
That this night is yours, yours!
Let me see my dear eyes again,
Look into their depth - into their breadth - and blue.
Earthly heart on the great night
In his melancholy - oh, don’t leave!
And more and more greedily, more and more steadily
It calls - one - you.
Take my heart in your hands,
Warm - comfort - comfort, loving...

From Gippius's intimate diary "Contes d'amour" (1893) it is clear that she liked courtship and was attracted to some men, but at the same time they repelled her. "In my thoughts, my desires, in my spirit - I more man, in my body - me more woman. But they are so merged that I don’t know anything." She tried to enter into love affair with Dmitry Filosofov, a companion of the Merezhkovskys, based on the fact that he is a person with a clear predominance of the feminine principle (he was a homosexual), and she herself has a pronounced masculine character. Naturally, nothing came of this; Gippius wrote a story about this failure in letters

Looks like she's still a virgin. But their fifty-year spiritual union with Dmitry Merezhkovsky gave Russian culture and literature perhaps much more than if they had been a traditional married couple. Her death caused an explosion of emotions. Those who hated Gippius came to see for themselves that she was dead. Those who respected and appreciated her saw in her death the end of an era... Ivan Bunin, who never came to the funeral - he was terrified of death and everything connected with it - practically did not leave the coffin....1902

I honor the High One
His covenant.
For the lonely -
There is no victory.
But there's only one way
Open to the soul
And the mysterious call
Like a war cry,
It sounds, it sounds...
Lord epiphany
He gave us now;
For achievement -
The road is narrow,
Let the bold one
But unchanging
One, - joint -
He pointed.
1902

Time cuts flowers and herbs
At the very root of a shiny scythe:
Buttercup of love, aster of glory...
But the roots are all intact - there, underground.

Life and my mind, fiery-clear!
You two are the most merciless to me:
You tear up by the roots what is beautiful,
In my soul after you - nothing, nothing!
1903