This publication, conceived as an extension of the eponymous exhibition and its design, gathers scientific contributions from leading researchers and art and dance historians alongside in situ installation views, paying tribute to Léon Bakst, the greatest set designer of the modern era.
Viewing
theater as a total artwork in which
choreography,
music, costumes and sets were of equal importance, Léon Bakst (1866-1924) worked closely with artists such as Serge Diaghilev, Vaslav Nijinsky, Jean Cocteau, Ida Rubinstein and Igor Stravinsky, transforming the perception of ballet.
Like the exhibition, the book highlights Bakst's finest achievements in stage design, while also revealing his decisive influence in the field of
textile design. The cloth covers of each publication, available in five colors, were stenciled by Nick Mauss during a residency in Monaco using motifs created by Léon Bakst.
Designing Dreams, A Celebration of Léon Bakst celebrates the artform of the book and offers a detailed presentation of Bakst's
drawings, costume and textile designs, previously unpublished writings on ornament and
fashion, new scholarship on Bakst's sources and the impact of his vision, as well in situ views of the scenography created by
Nick Mauss for the exhibition.
