Color in the Sets and Costumes of Leon Bakst - Research Paper Example

Essay on color in the sets and costumes of Leon Bakst   Introduction:        Since the late 19th century arena of Russian performing art was affectedby the social change that was occurring at the time. Impact of the changes was becoming obvious in the field of ballet and dramatic performances. Huntley Carter has argued over the social changes that were happening in the society in the contemporary time. Those aspects also point out to certain specific purposes behind the development of new forms of theatre, “ the New theatre, a theatre with a new purpose, was establishing by experiment. There was no exact model of the theatre required, and only by experiment could the original intention of those who conceived and organized the theatre – the intention of establishing a real emotional and utilitarian relationship between the theatre and the mass of people be realized.” (Carter, 1929, p. 3)  During this period, in Russia the traditional idea of art did not receive much appreciation from the general public. Intellectuals and the rest of the public started to believe that art actually had a certain purpose in order to educate people and expose the actual facts of the society. The mode of writing dramas, use of symbolism and setting of drama, including costumes as well as use of colors also changed in a rapid way compared to the past and at the same time the world of theatre was greatly influenced by the aesthetics of East, deriving different aspects from Oriental Art to initiate a new tradition, “It brought together the art of stage scenery, the design of sets, costumes and props, the music of song and instrumental pit, the architecture of both the building in which the performance took place and the fantasy world portrayed beyond the proscenium arch , and the text and characterization of the play.” (MacKenzie, 1995, p. 176) In Western tradition of Art, East has always been considered the land of perfection and idealism for its “mysturiours” oriental arts and idyllic landscapes with scenes that the west did not have. During the time period of 1905-1915 Russian theatre and ballet emerged as main sources of inspiration for the West as well as performing arts. Paris, in the global context, used to be considered as the center of artistic culture and creativity. “The Russian Ballet with productions that achieved ‘art’ status, was a breakthrough making the line between culture, set and stage design collapse. It became one of the leading ballet companies of the twentieth century.” (Mayer) The summer of 1909, Paris witnessed the emergence of a great master, Leon Bakst, who changed the traditional ideas regarding use of color in costumes and stage decoration. “With his designs and costumes for Cleopatre, Leon Bakst had replaced the pale, pastel world of nineteenth-century classic ballet with the violent, sexual hues of an imagined Orient – sapphire blue, oceanic turquoise, blazing yellow, burning orange, and shocking pink filled the stage and pilled over onto the boulevards of Paris.” (Bentley, 2005, p. 41) Through the genius application of color and varying its shades of application, Bakst revolutionized the idea of stage presentation.                      Such was the appeal of Leon Bakst’s presentation that a huge sensation was created amongst the common people of Paris. The females were more concerned about purchasing such apparels that would contain colors like those appearing on stage. The idea of “femme fatal”, according to many contemporaries Paris changed and became a mass psyche with the application of Bakst’s color and took the form of Cleopatre as Leon Bakst has presented her over stage.   Bakst Biography:         Leon Bakst was born in 1868 in Petrograd but came to Paris for the first time at the age of twenty-seven. His main inspirations of his designs and paintings for the first time came from the Finnish artist Albert Edelfeldt. At the same time, in was due to his influence that Bakst grew his affection for the impressionist cult of art. The main reason for is shifting to Paris was his artistic creations did not receive much appreciation in Russia but Serge de Diaghileff, who became his patron, later recognized his talent. During the summer of 1909 when he took an initiative to bring a Russian ballet troop to Paris, he also provided Bakst with the scope to exhibit his talent to the fashionable people of Paris. “In 1909, with the premiere of “Cleopatre”, the first of the De Diaghileff Ballet Russes, for which he designed scenery and costumes, he made his stage debut.” (Krows, 2007, p. 180) Though “Cleopatre” was a medium level success but in the next year (1910) he showed his mastery in another ballet “Scheherazade”.         The pervasive influence of orientalism in his artistic creations happened as he came to study Arts in Paris during the time period of 1893 to 1896. These three years his association with Jean-Leon Gerome and Albert Adelfelt developed much of his taste. Later on, as he went on experimenting with his own ideas about Art, he created a new horizon through his own creations in the contemporary field of artistic creations. During the time of his maturing process as a great artist of the modern era his connection with Benois also helped him a lot as though him he pondered deeper over the forms of retrospectivism and Orientalism. In order to incorporate different aspects of diversity in his art works, he derived inspiration from the Greek and Egyptian forms of art and at the same time received mastery over usage of symbolism. Not in the forms of painting but he also started applying all these forms in stage and costume decoration for ballet, providing a new boost to the process of Russian ballet performance in the global arena. His collaboration with Benois really proved to be effective in this context. Bakst’s collaboration with Diaghilev, in the ballet performance arena lasted almost for a decade, from 1909 to 1918. This partnership ended when Diaghilev found Andre Derain as the replacement of Bakst.          Works of Leon Bakst:   Different forms of art such as literature, painting, sculptures and architectures were best reflector of such social changes. Ballet, being a major form of performing arts, in the contemporary Western cultural arena, focused over different dimensions of an individual’s life. These different shades of psychology have also been observed as well as interpreted by Bakst in terms of color. In the context of Bakst’s contribution over sets and designs, Andre Levinson commented, “The sets and designs of Leon Bakst, the embroideries and the decorative splendor had an enthusiastic audience and an immediate appeal to designers and artists. Orientalism became the order of the day for fashion, furniture and interiors.” (Levinson, 1971, p. 14) His mastery over stage decoration and costume designing was observed for the first time in the “Cleopatra” (1909) and the last play for which he decorated the stage was “The Sleeping Princess” (1921). Amidst this period of time he was assigned with the responsibility to decorate stage and costume for several other plays, such as, “Schéhérazade” (1910), “Carnaval” (1910), “Firebird” (1910), “Narcisse”, “Le Spectre de la Rose”,(1911) “Daphnis et Chloé”, “L’après midi d’un faune”, “Le Die Bleu” and “Thamar”(1912), Jeux (1913), La légende de Joseph (1914). One of the most important aspects of Bakst’s extensive career has been his consistency to keep up with his genius. Throughout his career he never fell short of his capacity to produce marvelous dresses and amazing ideas of stage decoration, except the year 1916. This is only phase of his creative career that he exhibited less creative and original works, compared to the rest of his career.         Though his works were mainly aimed at enhancing movements and expression of the artists performing over stage, but at the same time the appeal of aesthetics that he mainly derived from Greek and Oriental traditions cannot be denied. The Narcisse: Two Bacchantes is a great example of such art work. With the use of colors, Bakst has attempted to show that how royalty or elitism (blue) is complemented and supplemented by the vitality or passion (red). Looking at the painting a viewer is sure to receive an impression of frenzy. Though both these aspects are separate but though the presentation or artistic vision of Bakst those have become one. Bakst drawing of Maurice Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chole (1912) provides us with realization that how with the use of perfect color an artist can provide impression to a viewer about different contrasting elements in a single landscape. His love for Greek style is reasserted as he has put an example of Greek architecture at the top of the hill with remarkable use color for the purpose of providing a real impression. In the context of depicting the Greek antiquity he commented, “I am up to the ears in work, even though I managed to do studies on the Lido where it is fantastically livelly, colourful and interesting. I have now a new and extremely bright colour range that has come of its own accord to come to stay.” (Bakst, 1909, p. 221) Alexander Benois praised his artworks as he commented that Bakst’s works would add a new dimension to the future of stage and costume designing and such observation proved to be true as Helena Rubistein, foundation of first international level cosmetic company was moved by his creations and changed the complete presentation of her interior decoration according to the use of color by Bakst.         When it comes to Bakst’s influence over common people New York Times has observed that contemporary French designers were carefully following Bakst’s décor and they are actually depicting the essence of his works as they are present in the ballet performance. His exotic-baroque style art works, though it did not influence American audience immediately, but the European audience was completely under the spell of his creations.   The Ballet and Color         An important feature of his artworks was that Bakst was never much inclined to use black and white colors in his creations. Though we see that he has quite frequently used dark and bright shades in his creations but those were mostly mix of different colors with the intention of brining the effect. He believed that black and white, though both these colors have special symbolic meaning of their own but shades of green or blue can be used in a strategic manner in order to provide the impression of despair. On the other hand diverse shades of red can also perfectly convey the message of optimism or passion or erotica or assassination. The Blue God is a great example in this context. Tough apparently a viewer observes the use of bright color on the dress but use of deep and dark shade of blue in the backdrop provides the viewer with the impression of despair within the nature of the God. In the same manner Cleopatra’s costume, though it conveys her royal and elegant nature with the use of bold golden and blue shades in the upper and lower parts of her dress respectively, but use of dark strips in the dress and their contrast with the apparent glamour also expresses the subdued grief in the character of the queen. In other famous pictures, such as the Indian Dance, or A Young Man or A Eunuch, we see that the artist has made excellent use of color to depict the nature of the person. In a Young Man we see the use of such colors the expresses the vitality of the character whereas in the Indian Dance we see exhibition and orientation of colors that represent vitality of the orient. Compared to both these pictures, the portrayal of A Eunuch is a bit different. Though we see use of bright color but there is a sense of monotony in the usage. It shows a desperate, yet non-elegant effort on the part of the subject so that the rest of the society could not properly determine the actual nature of the gender.         Such opulent yet spontaneous use of color in costumes as well as settings created a deep impact over the contemporary designers. Through the use of attractive forms and orientation of bold colors, Bakst assimilated perpendicular space with the movement of the characters or dancers on stage. Observing his creative genius in the plays “Cleopatra” and “Schéhérazade”, Bakst was approached by J. Paquin and in the year 1912 he came up with his collection. Immediately, it proved to be a matter of great success and once again it pointed out appeal of Bakst’s creation at the mass psyche. His creations occupied a special place among European ladies, “Subdued colors and delicate pastel shades ladylike reserve and youthful modesty were gone for ever swept away by a whirlwind of colour and intoxicating splendor. Dancers such as Isadora Duncan , Mata Hari, Ida Rubistein had ofcourse fired their audiences with enthusiasm and influenced couturiers in particulare Poiret, before.” (Konemann, 1999, p. 53-54)     Scheherazade        Inspiration of the ballet “Scheherazade” was derived from a story of “The Thousand and One Nights”. Traditionally, the Arab has always been considered by the West as the land of enchantment and mystery. At the same time, this Arabic exoticism has been further emphasized by the theme of the story. It’s a tale of a young peasant maid, who with the use of her beauty, intellect and elegance finally becomes wife of the Shah, the Middle Eastern king. The tale also bears deep and explicit connotation about erotic lust of the king and in order to satisfy his sexual appetite he spends nights with beautiful maidens of the country, only to execute them in the morning. (Riverol, 1992, p. 3) “Scheherazade”, shows how the protagonist saves herself from being executed through a sensuous story telling. The Golden Salve is another major symbol of exoticism and sensuality in the play.          “Scheherazade” has remained immortal in the history of ballet performance not only due to excellent dance performance from Nijinsky and brilliant Orientalist music composition from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov but also due to phenomenal costume designing as well as background decoration by Leon Bakst. (Greskovic, 2005, p. 54) Such aesthetically appealing decoration style, before emergence of Leon Bakst, was almost unknown to the Western audience. Looking at the background decoration of “Scheherazade” stage, we find fusion of diverse range of colors at the same time. Red and deep shades of blue are mostly prevalent in the stage. Red signifies the color of passion, vitality and exoticism that have remained major essence of the ballet performance. On the other hand blue is the color of elegance and royal approach. Application of this color as a prevalent shade for stage decoration automatically provides impression to the audience that they are present amidst a royal setting. Presence of both these colors in one set spontaneously implies the exotic charm and tremendous sexual appetite of Middle Eastern kings. The original painting that Bakst made of the set shows how he has visualized the setting. In it we see spontaneous spree of colors and reflection of impressionist aesthetics. Amidst abundant as well as strong usage of shades we also see symbolic application of light shades that implies the spontaneous charm of life is missing even amidst such grand existence. The greatness of the whole setting has been further enhanced with the stains of golden and silver colors over a moderately dark background. It signifies the sparkle of jewels and shows the importance of detail for Bakst.          These illustrations and his focus on details represent his mastery in the use of colors. Leon Bakst also expressed his opinion regarding the fact that colors, for him, are mediums to express different selves and psychological features of a person as well as of a particular ambiance. Thus, with the use of colors from an impressionist perspective he not only set the mood of the audience but at the same time elevated the level of spontaneity of the audience to appreciate the art of to a unique dimension. Leon Bakst not only made excellent use of colors to decorate the backdrop of “Scheherazade” but his genius has also been equally reflected though his use of colors that dressed the characters of the ballet.         Just like before decorating the stage for ballet performance he depicted his visualization about the settings in the form of a painting where the dancers were the main figures. In his sketches for the costumes colours and silhouettes were the most prominent features and then garments function and style. Closely observing the costume of the Golden Slave we see that he has made the sketch over the vibrant backdrop of red. The most explicit color in the dress of the dark skinned person is red with brilliant fusion of golden as royal blue color. As the Golden Slave used to be the most special of the male servants of the Shah, these small uses of gold and blue color signify that compared to other slaves he was situated at a higher level of hierarchy. References from the tale also provide us with the information that the slave used to be the most sensuous and desired among women in the Shah’s harem. The mastery of symbolic usage becomes most prominent as we see that the slave holds a bunch of golden keys. Thus symbolic is the fact that he holds access to the world of exoticism and to the domain of sensuous pleasure.         When we see that the decoration of the king’s costume we see the predominance of blue color, which signifies elegant and elite background. At the same time, his sexual appetite is signified with the use of strong shades of red color. The eyes of the king shows the absence of life in him and in support of such symbolic connotation we can refer to the actual story, which says that the king used to assassinate the ladies after satisfying his sexual appetite with them. The use of green color at the back of his wrap is striking. Green is the color of life but also of jealousy or envy. Using this color Bakst actually shows that the king, in his heart, bears an undercurrent of life. None other than Scheherazade, the protagonist finds out the source of life in him.         However, if we observe the costumes of the characters, we see a overview of the different personas of each character that helps us understand the flow of the play and helps the audience relate themselves with the as progress of the drama. The main reason for reflecting over the aspect of modernism was that the development of modernist conception among common people played a major part in appreciation of Leon Bakst’s artistic works. His art forms, sketches, background decoration and preparing dresses for the artists contained application of so diverse range of color, which was never witnessed before in the traditional form of Western theatrical performances. As he visited United States of America in the year 1916 with the Ballet Russe group, in one interview he clearly expressed his idea of application of color, “I often have noticed that in each color of the prism there exists a gradation which sometimes express frankness and chastity, sometimes sensuality and bestiality, sometimes pride, sometimes despair. Any of these may be given over to the public by the effect one makes of the various shadings. That is what I tried to do in ‘Scheherazade”…. (Krows, 2007, p. 181)        The set of the ballet contains use of strong shades, but at the same time we also observe use of light and dull patches in the setting. Sometimes we see that continuous application of strong shades gradually fades, this signifies glamour, grandeur and opulence spontaneity of life is fading away. Costumes of the characters with the many layers and colors signify the layers of a character’s personality. Every human being, in his/her subconscious mind, imagines a particular phase of his life in terms of specific images. Thus, when as an audience he witnesses the same kind of application of color in material form, he automatically correlates it with his nature or different dimensions of his nature. Though this process he also identifies himself with the characters over the stage. In this way, Bakst’s artistic works created a unique appeal to psyche of the audience of Paris in the contemporary era. Bakst has attempted to churn out the purity mingled with intelligence of females though the costume decoration of Scheherazade, the protagonist, or the apparent lifelessness with undercurrent of lust for life through the character of the Shah. With the application of color he was actually exposing different dimensions of human nature and putting those aspects in such a manner that people actually identify themselves though such application of colors.        In the earlier dramas, it was not possible for the audience to imagine what kind of role a character will play unless that character revels himself on stage but Bakst’s application of color provided him with such boost that the audience, with the very appearance of the person received an overview about his character and at the same time it becomes easy for it to communicate with the actions of the ballet.         During the middle part of 19th century, in the Russian culture, ballet lost a great deal of its appeal but ballet composers were still attempting to come up with new forms through experiments with this form of grand stage performance, so that rich discipline of artistic form can be rejuvenated. According to some of the critics of ballet, it was “somewhat eccentric and slightly depraved” (Frame, 2000, p. 112) but at the same time, to the Western society ballet received a great deal of appreciation. The main reason behind such appreciation was that ballet actually portrays the life of an individual in a melodramatic as well as symbolic way.         The Western audience somehow did not find ballet to be an eccentric art form and welcomed it with complete enthusiasm. One of the most important reasons for the wide appreciation of the ballet was, perhaps, the appeal of the melodramatic world and the new refined aesthetics that were presented. However, Leon Bakst’s presentation of ballet to the common western audience was a fusion of modernist thinking as well as classical presentation. Bakst as other designers did not alter the essence of ballet but established it with their novelties closer audience’s heart.                There are many reasons for wide appreciation of “Scheherazade” among the Western audience. The Western theatrical tradition was almost inexperienced regarding a ballet stage with so many show elements astounded the viewers. It is clear from the reflection of Leon Bakst that he actually aimed at presenting “a vision of barbaric and voluptuous orient” (Nava, 2007, p. 28) but at the same time it cannot also be denied that his décor actually shocked the whole audience and consequently, “his set and costumes became the most favorite décor of the age.” (Nava, 2007, p. 28)        With the shades of color he provided an impression to the audience about the voluptuous ambiance but it was never so explicit that it would breach the limits of elegance. Critics opined that such presentation cannot be called ballet in the strict sense of the term as it incorporated more elements of theater rather than ballet and the feeling of the narrative style was further enhanced with the application of different shades of color, application of sensuous symbols and finally wild rhythms. From the available references we come to know that the whole performance was so encapsulating that the audience applauded almost for twenty minutes after the curtain fall. (Nava, 2007, p. 28) Such was the influence of “Scheherazade” in 1910 that several of Western theatrical groups were also keen over incorporating all these aspects in their performances.         The general public was equally overwhelmed and they started putting on dresses having same kind of color combination according to their moods. Paris in the 1900s used to be considered as the main hub of fashion as well as artistic creations across the globe but during that time not many examples can be found who redefined the mass’s conception of fashion within such a short phase of time.  The use of rich and explicit shades of color used to be one of the most important features of Bakst artwork. Alla Rosenfeld has observed that Basket’s artistic works are featured with “heightened sonorous and decorative color; the contrasting combination of pure tones; the flat treatment of the line’s form, dynamic, and expression; the empathic expressiveness of the silhouette; the love for minute elaboration of details.” (Rosenfeld, 1999, p. 59)         Use of rich color as well as dark shades or silhouette in the costume of a character, Bakst attempted to depict the actual nature of the person or the kind of mental conflict that is going on in him or if he is inclined more to human virtues or vices. Such attempt of revelation of human nature through use of color was never before witnessed in the Western tradition.         As ballet is the depiction of life, his creation of costumes as well as backdrop of the stage also reveals that in which ways he actually perceives life in that particular setting. It is not that he attempted to persuade the audience with his thought or ways of interpretation.         It was not known to the Western cultural life that oriental elements can cast such huge impact over regular style and these aspects can also be used as a major source to influence people for the purpose of enhancing brand image. Since the emergence of Leon Bakst in the arena of artistic creativity, his approaches also opened new horizon for advertisement of products. Not only among people of Paris, but Bakst also received a great deal of appreciation from the U.S. also during his visit with Ballet Russes in the year 1916. Observing the great influence of color over mass psyche the traditional form of advertisement also received a great boost. The year 1920 in U.S. is characterized by evolution of modern advertising techniques. People belonging to the advertising industry stated using strong application of color to make promotion of their products livelier as well as with the intention of creating a unique appeal to the psyche of the mass.          Conclusion        While concluding it can be said that Leon Bakst’s artistic creations helped the evolution of modern theatrical forms. The genre of impressionism never depicts the actual picture of the whole situation but at he same time though the use of color, shades, focusing over intricate details and application of symbols it provides an impression of the situation or about the true nature of the subject. The use of color in stage decoration and costume making was happening long back than emergence of Leon Bakst as an artist but it did not have that much of diverse and bold application of color. In this context it can be said that Leon Bakst opened a new horizon when it comes to the use of color as reflection of different shades of life. Looking at today’s theatrical form we understand that Bakst not only influence theatrical tradition of the contemporary era but at the same time his successors have also derived diverse range of inspiration from him that not only contributed to develop a closer connection between theatre and the audience but use of color has also commenced to be used over different aspects of human life.   Works Cited:   1. Bentley, T., (2005), Sisters of Salome, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press 2. Carter, H., (1929), The new spirit in the Russian theatre, 1917-28: And a sketch of the Russian kinema and radio, 1919-28, showing the new communal relationship between the three, New Hampshire: Ayer Publishing 3. Clark, P. A., (2000), Organisations in action: competition between contexts, London: Routledge 4. Frame, M., (2000), The St. Petersburg imperial theaters: stage and state in revolutionary Russia, 1900-1920, North Carolina: McFarland 5. Grenz, S.J. (1996), A primer on postmodernism, Nebraska: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 6. Krows, A.E., (2007), Play Production in America, READ BOOKS 7. MacKenzie, J.M., (1995), Orientalism: history, theory, and the arts, Manchester: Manchester University Press 8. Nava, M., (2007), Visceral cosmopolitanism: gender, culture and the normalisation of difference, Oxford: Berg Publishers 9. Rosenfeld, A., (1999), Defining Russian graphic arts: from Diaghilev to Stalin, 1898-1934, North Carolina: Rutgers University Press 10. Vidler, A., (2002), Warped Space: Art, Architecture, and Anxiety in Modern Culture, Massachusetts: MIT Press 11. Riverol, A. (1992), Live from Atlantic City: the history of the Miss America Pageant before, after, and in spite of television, Wisconsin: Popular Press 12. Greskovic, R., (2005), Ballet 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving the Ballet, Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation Read More