To mark the 150th birthday of the famous stage-designer for the Ballets Russes, the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco presents Designing Dreams, A Celebration of Leon Bakst, an exhibition running from 23 October 2016 to 15 January 2017 at the Villa Sauber.
The dazzling sets and costumes designed by Bakst for the Ballets Russes company in Paris, London and Monte Carlo in the 1910s and early 1920s contributed to the global triumph of iconic shows such as Shéhérazade, Le Spectre de la rose, and L'Après-midi d'un faune.
Designing Dreams, A Celebration of Leon Bakst highlights Bakst’s finest achievements in stage design, while also revealing his decisive influence in the field of textile design. At the invitation of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, visual artist Nick Mauss has re-framed and interpreted Bakst's work and its wide-ranging influence, embracing the visual and sensorial aspects of exhibition design as an art form.
The exhibition features more than 150 drawings, models and costumes in a unique, dreamlike scenography. These pieces are documented by numerous period archives and accompanied by the works of artists such as Jean Cocteau, Valentine Hugo and George Barbier.
Finally, Bakst’s influence on fashion will be on display in a special presentation of several accessorized models from Yves Saint Laurent’s 1991 SAINT LAURENT rive gauche collection, inspired by the drawings and costumes for Shéhérazade and Narcisse.
