Leon Bakst

 Leon Bakst (1866-1924), Russian decor and costume designer, born in Belorussia. The portrait of Isadora Duncan (Oxford, Ashmolean) in brush and ink, dates from her Russian tour in 1908. He was made famous by his work with the Ballets Russes.

Excerpt from a letter to Alexander Benois written in 1903.

   It's good, if you like it, because it's new and, one could say, pregnant with the future, but I would think that she [Isadora Duncan] has little of the feu sacré in her… In places Chopin`s presto is beautiful. She herself, however, is more like an inebriated, crazy Amazon.