Sleeping Beauty: The Paintings of Léon Bakst

This year Waddesdon is transforming for Christmas once again. Inspired by a set of painted panels by Russian artist Léon Bakst, the house and grounds will tell the story of Sleeping Beauty, immersing visitors in the vibrant world of the fairytale. Bakst’s panels have been at Waddesdon Manor since the 1990s, but the artist’s association with the family that built it goes back over 100 years.

Léon Bakst was a designer and artist best known for his collaborations with the Ballet Russes in Paris at the start of the 20^th century. While many people nowadays might think of ballet as somewhat old-fashioned, in Bakst’s time the Ballet Russes was at the cutting-edge of modernity. In the 19^th century the design of ballet had been reasonably consistent across productions. For Bakst, however, the image of the ballerina in pink satin shoes and a shuffling tutu dancing across a realist stage simply would not do for the age of the electric light. He saw the ballet as a spectacle: not a collection of tiny impressions, but a sweeping, fantastic expression of art. His designs reflected this vision – 1909’s Cléopâtre saw a set designed after an Egyptian temple, replete with hulking statues awash with the vibrant pink light of an exotic imagined East. Costumes for this show and others were dense with pattern and colour, bursting out from the bodies of the performers in bright, flowing forms. This was ballet dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 20^th century – later designers for the Ballets Russes would include Picasso, Matisse, and Coco Chanel.

While Bakst was transforming the ballet, James de Rothschild, eventual owner of Waddesdon Manor, was looking for somebody to produce a mural for his London house. In 1912, on the advice of a friend, he visited an exhibition of Bakst’s paintings and drawings, and his mind was made: Léon Bakst was the man for the job. Despite claiming to have never painted a mural before, the Russian artist and designer accepted the commission in 1913. The subject of the mural was left up to Bakst, who chose the theme of Sleeping Beauty, probably inspired by Tchaikovsky’s ballet on the same theme that he had watched in 1890. Bakst would later say that it was watching this St Petersburg performance that his vocation as a designer was decided.

When the First World War made it difficult to find models in Paris, Bakst focused on developing other parts of the commission, dedicating his time to the themes, fabrics, and styles of the panels. In 1918 it was suggested that, to overcome this model shortage, the Rothschilds’ family and friends should be included in the paintings. James de Rothschild, the commissioner, was to be Prince Charming, and his trainer of racehorses, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister, mother, father, and wife, Dorothy, all appear in the panels, among many others. Even family pets appear: the cat in the foreground as the princess pricks her finger was owned by James’ Sister, Alexandrine de Rothschild, and the little dog by her side as she awakens again was Muffin, Dorothy’s lapdog.

By 1921 work was proceeding in earnest: Bakst had completed sketches of many of the family members and was enjoying the fresh challenges of painting a mural, writing in a letter that he should like to do more in the future. His designs fully embraced their fairytale setting: medieval landscapes and details were complemented by the dense, modern pattern of his designs for the ballet, enlivening carpets, architecture, and, of course, the clothes of the characters themselves. The mural was finally completed in 1922 – the same year that James inherited Waddesdon Manor from his aunt, Alice. The panels were reported in the New York Times as the “great work” of Bakst’s career, and James was so charmed by them that he refused to have them reproduced: they were his to enjoy, and would remain objects for private appreciation until their arrival at Waddesdon.

In the Sleeping Beauty panels Léon Bakst combined a sumptuous fairytale setting with a personal touch. The celebrated designer, at the peak of his powers and renown, produced a fabulous narrative populated by figures significant not just to James de Rothschild, but to the history of Waddesdon Manor and its collection. This Christmas at Waddesdon that fairytale will burst out of the panels to fill the house – like James, Dorothy, and Muffin, you are invited to step into the story.

Images:

Bakst Panels (89.1995.1-7)

Costume Design for a Dancer (727.1995)

Preparatory sketch for panel 4 (61.1996)

Sketch of Dorothy’s dog, Muffin (58.1996)

Sketch of James de Rothschild (59.1996)