Designing Dreams: A Celebration of Leon Bakst

Published to accompany an exhibition at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, this volume, which gathers scientific contributions from leading researchers, art historians, along with in situ installation views, pays tribute to 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 worked closely with artists such as Serge Diaghilev, Vaslav Nijinsky, Jean Cocteau, Isadora Duncan, Ida Rubinstein and Igor Stravinsky, transforming the perception of the ballet. Designing Dreams: A Celebration of Léon Bakst highlights Bakst’s finest achievements in stage design, while also revealing his decisive influence in the field of textile design.

Conceived especially by Nick Mauss, in parallel to the exhibition design, Designing Dreams presents in detail Bakst's drawings, costume and textile designs, previously unpublished writings on ornament and fashion, new scholarship on Bakst’s sources and the impact of his vision, as well as exhibition views of the scenography realized in situ by Mauss. Available in five different colors, cloth covers stenciled by Nick Mauss.