Designed for dance: The costumes of leon bakst and the art of Isadora Duncan

In considering Bakst's Ballets Russes costumes, and their associated works on paper, two aspects merit attention: their boldness and their wearability. His stunning juxtapositions of color, pattern, and texture are immediately striking and are what initially attract the viewer. The sources for this particular feature of Bakst's design concept have received considerable attention in scholarly literature and can be readily traced to his membership in the celebrated Mir Iskusstva or World of Art group. This group of intellectuals-which included, in addition to Bakst, both Benois and Diaghilev-flourished in St. Petersburg at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, and became involved in many diverse activities. Thus, the group members displayed an interest in Wagner and his idea of the total work of art or Gesamtkunstwerk. They were fascinated with exotic and past civilizations, yet they actively encouraged the rejuvenation and