the poet zinaida gippius 1906 Leon Bakst

Description of Leon Bakst’s painting "Portrait of Zinaida Gippius".

Leon (or "Lev") Samoylovich Bakst was one of the most talented stage designers and artists of the turn of the century.

First making his mark in the art association World of Art, where he worked side by side with his friend Alexander Benois, Bakst was rapidly gaining popularity in pictorial circles with his successful graphic sketches, book illustrations, sketches for theatrical productions of many theaters and, of course, his marvelous in their simplicity portraits.

Lev Samoylovich constantly existed among the brilliant national intelligentsia - poets, writers, artists - and many of them were destined to remain imprinted by the brush of his talented friend.

Zinaida Gippius was no exception. The famous poetess, known for her shocking behavior to the entire cultural capital, is depicted by Bakst freely sitting on a chair in an unusual costume. It is an old man’s attire, consisting of pants, a snow-white shirt with a collar and a jacket.

It was impossible for a woman to appear in pants and a man’s jacket at that time - it was not allowed in society. But Gippius breaks stereotypes easily and tastefully, and Bakst skillfully captures her epatastic move in this portrait.

The work is painted in the tradition of Bakst’s best portraits. The artist worked on it in 1906 and coped very quickly. The image of the figure is given in full-length, interesting composition leaves an impression on the viewer. The heroine is positioned in full format, which conventionally stretches her out and the black and white coloring simplifies and emphasizes the line.

Bakst deliberately leaves the background blank, painting in detail the poetess’s face and her costume, which has clearly been emphasized in order to increase the significance of the character’s personality and to show the attention that Gippius always deserved.