The Omaha
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AnOJdanJ
Striking Ballet
Cost urn 9
The
Master-
pieces
of
This Color Master
to Be Seen
When the Great
Ballet Russe Arrives
EON BAKST, Russia's master
colorist, will come to Amer
ica In a few weeks, a fact
which, no doubt, will be hailed
with delight by all who have ad
mired the bold sweep of his brush,
the glow of his color and the range
nd richness of his pictorial Imagi
nation in the pictures so far teen
la America.
When he arrives it will not be
with a few examples of his handi
work, but with an entire ballet
aggregation, Serge de Dlaghileff'a
Russian Ballet, for which he has
designed the scenic backgrounds
gainst which the dancers move,
and also the wealth of costumes
used. The latter especially are aa
essential part of the beauty and
force of Illusion for which this bal
let la celebrated.
Who Is this Bakst, who "makes
his colors shout with Joyous aban
don, who has dramatized color, and
whose erery daub of pigment on
canvas or costume has a deep and
pregnant significance ?"
The city of Paris, France, claims
Bakst as Its own, and calls him
"our Incomparable." But so does
Petrograd and the whole of Russia.
Dlaghlleff, the man who founded
the ballet which bears his name,
- might be said to have discovered
Bakst Petrograd, his birthplace,
treated him rather harshly, because
he had new ideas. The Russian
reactionary Influences made It hard
for him to show his genius. But
this was not so in the other centres
of Europe. Serge de Dlaghlleff, a
wealthy Russian amateur, child of
a noble family, educated in the
Moscow University, honored with
the position of counsellor at court
and friend of the Empress, decided
that the West should be shown the
the talents of the Russian Occident
At an exhibit he arranged in
Paris In 1906, he showed the works
of the young Russian artist, Bakst,
and all Paris, startled, talked about
the originality of this Russian in
v. - ft-
IT
wrnsfo
as The
Spectre
Rose"
novator. But It was not until the
opening of the Theatre du Chatelet
in June, 1909, that be created for
himself his present nam through
making the settings and costuming
for the ballet "Cleopatra."
The charming Karsavlna, the In
imitable NUlnsky, the dancing mas
ter, Bolm, all of whom will come to
America this year with the ballet
at the Metropolitan Opera House,
appeared in that production. The
composer, the maltre de ballet, the
stage director, the designers and
the mlmea were all of them Rus
sians. An artistic entity, such as
had never been seen before was
produced. The fame of the ballets
of Dlaghlleff was assured, but so
was Bakst's. He was acclaimed
the greatest stage decorator and
costumer In the world, over night
In Paris and London, In Vienna
and Monte Carlo, where this ballet
and the others that DiaghileS un
dertook were repeated, Bakst's
work and that of the dancers be
came a consistent and continual
triumph. And so It was with his
every creation. He extracted the
poetry hidden In every epoch and
brought those periods before ns In
the form of beautiful color combi
nations. As one critic put It, "Emerald,
Indigo and geranium, the leopards'
spots and the scales of the serpent,
black, rose, vermilion and trium
phant orange, were all shrteklns to
be beard, and shrieking In har
mony. It was an orgy of color to
the last possible tension."
The sombre magnificence) of
Bakst's setting and costumes) for
"Scheherasade," the massed color
and fantastic detail of his India In
'"Le Dieu Bleu." the vague and
vaporous beauty of his hillside for
the faun, the endless opulence of
his color that floods "Narclsse,"
and the ominous tower In which
Thamar waits for bis prey are his.
Bakst does not end with the
theatre. Ills color combinations are
more th- mere drawings or fash-
t r
Sunday Bee Magazine Pagi
1
Ion plates. They are Intensely
alive, singularly persuasive, and
their value Increases as they are
becoming of historical Importance.
Even now they bring as nigh
a price as any extant
A fashion drawing, after Its
original cost to the producer of the
ballet. Is eagerly looked for by
art lovers, and sells for about three
hundred to six hundred dollars.
This Is a small ten by eight-inch
drawing, bo valuable are they, In
fact, that Bakst Is one of the few
living artists whose drawings have
been widely counterfeited and at
tempts made to sell them. A clever
forger sold a number to an English
newspaper, which published them
nnder the title of the "Amazing
Bakst" One collector in England
was Induced to purchase no lest!
than a dosen of "Bakst's" water
colors at a tremendous price only
to find that be, too, had been the
victim of the gang of forgers who
try to live on the great Russian
artist's name.
What Bakst's effect wl'l be npon
America none can yet tell. A ren
nalsance of color probably will set
in. Already women's fashions In
dress have been modeled after his
work. Bakst's name can properly
be classed with those of the great
Innovators of modern times.
Copyright.
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P
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Cos fumes of
th?7ypicdl
Russian Type
Creation.
1915, by the Star Company. Ora( Britain Rights Reserved,
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