Zinaida Nikolayevna Gippius (Зинаи́да Никола́евна Ги́ппиус) was a Russian poet, playwright, novelist, editor, and religious thinker. She is considered one of the major figures in Russian symbolism. Gippius treated her poetry as something intimate, calling her verses “personal prayers.” Dealing with the darker side of the human soul and exploring sexual ambiguity and narcissism, many of those “prayers” were considered blasphemous at the time. Detractors called Gippius a “demoness,” the “queen of duality,” and a “decadent Madonna.” Enjoying the notoriety, she exploited her androgynous image, used male clothes and pseudonyms, shocked her guests with insults (“to watch their reaction,” as she once explained to Nadezhda Teffi), and for a decade remained the Russian symbol of “sexual liberation;” holding high what she in one of her diary entries termed as the “cross of sensuality.” In 1901, all this transformed into the ideology of the "New Church" of which she was the instigator. This “gathering for free discussion,” focusing on the synthesis of culture and religion, brought together an eclectic mix of intellectuals and is now regarded as an important, if short-lived attempt to pull Russia back from the major social upheavals for which it was headed. Gippius together with her husband, poet Dmitry Merezhkovsky, opposed autocracy as well as conservatism. She denounced the 1917 October Revolution and, in early 1920, the Merezhkovskys emigrated to France. Russian painter Léon (Lev) Samoylovich Bakst (Russian: Леон (Лев) Самойлович Бакст), born Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich Rosenberg, sketched Gippius with reddish curly hair, dressed in aristocratic men’s clothing: black jacket over a lighter-colored waistcoat, a crisp white jabot at the neck, tight black trousers, and narrow black slip-on shoes. She casually reclines on a small white stool with her hands in her pants pockets and legs comfortably stretched out conveying a sense of relaxed confidence.

“Portrait of Zinaida Gippius” by Léon Bakst (Russian) - Pencil & chalk on paper & cardboard / 1906 - Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow, Russia) #WomenInArt #art #artwork #ArtText #TretyakovGallery #ZinaidaGippius #LéonBakst #Bakst #LeonBakst #Womensart #portraitofawoman #RussianArtist #JewishArtist #style