Rarely seen Léon Bakst costume, set designs on display at Johns Hopkins museum

A new permanent exhibition celebrating Evergreen Museum & Library's rich collection of work by revolutionary stage designer and artist Léon Bakst, who was a guest at Evergreen during the winter of 1923–24, is now on view at the museum.

Born in Russia in 1866, Bakst belonged to that young generation of European artists who rebelled against 19th-century stage realism, which had become pedantic and literal, without imagination or theatricality. Bakst's fame lay in the scenery he designed for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

This rotating "open storage" installation highlights treasures from the museum's Bakst collection that normally are out of view, including rarely seen costume and set designs for the Ballets Russes' legendary production of The Sleeping Princess and works commissioned for Evergreen's private theater.

The exhibition is guest curated by Nissa Cheng, a classics major who graduated from the university in May, and is included with paid museum admission and on view as part of the guided tour.