Russian painter, graphic artist, and stage designer, active for much of his career in Paris. He was a founder member of the World of Art group in 1898. Originally he made his reputation as a portraitist, but from about 1902 he turned increasingly to stage design and is now remembered above all for his costumes and sets for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, his work playing a major part in the tremendous impact the company made in the West.