Working on a painting in the studio, creating sketches for theatrical costumes and scenery, preparing for the publication of another article about art... Such was an ordinary day for Alexandre Benois - an artist, critic, art critic and theater figure.
From the Benois dynasty
Alexander Benois was born in St. Petersburg in the family of architect Nikolai Benois and his wife Camilla. Among the relatives of Alexander Benois was Albert Cavos, the creator of the Mariinsky Theater project, the actor Peter Ustinov, the artist Zinaida Serebryakova. Almost half of the representatives of the culture of the Silver Age were somehow connected with the Benois family.
In his memoirs, the artist emphasized that his artistic and aesthetic views formed two categories of experiences. The first and strongest is theater. Alexandre Benois forever connected the concept of "artistry" with the concept of "theatricality". It is on the stage, in his opinion, that it is possible to achieve the highest goal of art - the synthesis of arts. The second category of experiences is impressions from acquaintance with the St. Petersburg royal residences and suburbs.
“From these diverse Peterhof impressions ... probably, my entire further cult of Peterhof, Tsarskoe Selo, Versailles originated.”
Alexander Benois
“To cover the subject as broadly as possible and to study as deeply as possible”
Alexander Benois studied at the private Karl May Gymnasium in St. Petersburg. Here he became close to Sergei Diaghilev and other members of the future "World of Art". For some time he attended evening classes at the Academy of Arts. He was taught basic painting skills by his brother Albert.
Alexandre Benois believed that only through self-education can excellence be achieved in one's profession. Throughout his life he studied fine arts, became a brilliant art critic. Among his works is a chapter on Russian artists for the German collection The History of Painting of the 19th Century, The History of Painting of All Times and Peoples, one of the best guides to the Hermitage, and much more.
"To the simplest and truest images of reality"
“In me, “passeism” began to appear as something completely natural in early childhood. ... Much in the past seems to me well and long familiar, perhaps even more familiar than the present.<...>I also have a more tender, more loving attitude towards the past than towards the present.
Alexander Benois
Especially often, Benois paints Tsarist Petersburg and its palace and park ensembles, scenes from the life of historical figures, landscapes of France and Versailles parks.
Benois wrote The ABC in Pictures and created illustrations for The Bronze Horseman and The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin, which entered the history of book graphics.
Theater occupies a special place in his work. Benois created scenery for productions, developed sketches of costumes. He helped design several performances for the Russian Seasons in Paris.
Alexandre Benois in the Gorky Commission
Alexandre Benois fought for the preservation of cultural heritage. Immediately after the October Revolution, he worked closely with Maxim Gorky in the Commission for the Protection of Art Monuments. The artist was one of the first to visit the Winter Palace after it was stormed and described it in his memoirs.
Benois helped restore the activities of the Russian Museum and compile a new exhibition of art of the 18th-20th centuries. Later, the artist became the head of an art gallery in the State Hermitage Museum, and at the same time carried out research work.
He also worked on the preservation of the architectural monuments of St. Petersburg and its suburbs, and he covered the results of his work in a series of articles.
“This is the people's property, this is our good, and everything in our power must be done so that the people realize this and so that they come into possession of what belongs to them by right. The very idea of the nationality of any art, of everything in which people from the people invested their ideals of beauty, this idea should now be revealed and come to life with special force.
Alexander Benois
Aesthetic views of the "World of Art"
The World of Art circle (like his magazine) became, according to Benois, "a practical necessity." There was a crisis in the society of the Wanderers, and the artists needed a new vector of movement. The magazine introduced the audience to Western classics and modern, Russian art and architecture.
At various times, the association included Valentin Serov, Isaac Levitan, Mikhail Nesterov, Mikhail Vrubel, Lev Bakst, Konstantin Somov and, of course, Sergei Diaghilev. Shared the views of Miriskuniki and Ilya Repin.
“We were guided not so much by considerations of an “ideological” order, as by considerations of practical necessity. A number of young artists had nowhere to go.”
Alexander Benois
"World of Art" declared beauty the main goal of creativity. The subjectivity of this goal gave the artists complete freedom - both in choosing a theme and in choosing artistic means.
Self-portrait 1896 (paper, ink, pen)
Biography of Alexandre Benois
Benois Alexander Nikolaevich(1870-1960) graphic artist, painter, theater artist, publisher, writer, one of the authors of the modern image of the book. Representative of Russian modernity.
A. N. Benois was born into the family of a famous architect and grew up in an atmosphere of reverence for art, but did not receive an art education. He studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University (1890-94), but at the same time independently studied the history of art and was engaged in drawing and painting (mainly watercolor). He did this so thoroughly that he managed to write a chapter on Russian art for the third volume of "The History of Painting in the 19th Century" by R. Muther, published in 1894.
They immediately started talking about him as a talented art critic who turned over the established ideas about the development of domestic art. In 1897, based on impressions from trips to France, he created the first serious work - a series of watercolors "The Last Walks of Louis XIV", showing himself in it as an original artist.
Repeated trips to Italy and France and copying artistic treasures there, studying the writings of Saint-Simon, Western literature of the 17th-19th centuries, and interest in ancient engravings formed the foundation of his artistic education. In 1893, Benois acted as a landscape painter, creating watercolors of the environs of St. Petersburg. In 1897-1898 he paints in watercolor and gouache a series of landscape paintings of the Versailles parks, recreating in them the spirit and atmosphere of antiquity.
By the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Benois again returned to the landscapes of Peterhof, Oranienbaum, Pavlovsk. It glorifies the beauty and grandeur of 18th century architecture. Nature interests the artist mainly in its connection with history. Possessing a pedagogical gift and erudition, he at the end of the 19th century. organized the "World of Art" association, becoming its theorist and inspirer. He worked a lot in book graphics. He often appeared in the press and every week published his "Artistic Letters" (1908-16) in the newspaper "Rech".
He worked no less fruitfully as an art historian: he published in two editions (1901, 1902) the widely known book Russian Painting in the 19th Century, substantially reworking his earlier essay for it; began to publish serial publications "Russian School of Painting" and "History of Painting of All Times and Peoples" (1910-17; the publication was interrupted with the beginning of the revolution) and the magazine "Art Treasures of Russia"; created a wonderful "Guide to the Hermitage Art Gallery" (1911).
After the revolution of 1917, Benois took an active part in the work of various organizations, mainly related to the protection of monuments of art and antiquity, and from 1918 he also took up museum work - he became in charge of the Hermitage Art Gallery. He developed and successfully implemented a completely new plan for the general exposition of the museum, which contributed to the most expressive demonstration of each work.
At the beginning of the XX century. Benois illustrates the works of Pushkin A.S. Acts as a critic and art historian. In the 1910s, people came to the center of the artist's interests. Such is his painting "Peter I on a walk in the Summer Garden", where in a multi-figured scene the appearance of a past life seen through the eyes of a contemporary is recreated.
In the work of Benois the artist, history decisively prevailed. Two topics invariably attracted his attention: "Petersburg in the 18th - early 19th centuries." and "The France of Louis XIV". He addressed them primarily in his historical compositions - in two "Versailles series" (1897, 1905-06), in the well-known paintings "Parade under Paul I" (1907), "Exit of Catherine II in Tsarskoye Selo Palace" (1907 ) and others, reproducing a long-gone life with deep knowledge and a subtle sense of style. The same themes, in essence, were devoted to his numerous natural landscapes, which he usually performed either in St. Petersburg and its suburbs, or in Versailles (Benoit regularly traveled to France and lived there for a long time). The artist entered the history of Russian book graphics with his book "The Alphabet in the Pictures of Alexander Benois" (1905) and illustrations for "The Queen of Spades" by A. S. Pushkin, performed in two versions (1899, 1910), as well as wonderful illustrations for "The Bronze Horseman" ", to the three variants of which he devoted almost twenty years of work (1903-22).
In the same years, he took part in the design of the "Russian Seasons", organized by Diaghilev S.P. in Paris, which included in their program not only opera and ballet performances, but also symphony concerts.
Benois designed R. Wagner's opera The Death of the Gods on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and then performed sketches for the scenery for N. N. Tcherepnin's ballet The Pavilion of Armida (1903), the libretto of which he composed himself. The passion for ballet turned out to be so strong that on the initiative of Benois and with his direct participation, a private ballet troupe was organized, which began triumphant performances in Paris in 1909 - "Russian Seasons". Benois, who took the post of artistic director in the troupe, performed the design for several performances.
One of his highest achievements was the scenery for I. F. Stravinsky's ballet "Petrushka" (1911). Soon, Benois began working with the Moscow Art Theater, where he successfully designed two performances based on the plays of J.-B. Moliere (1913) and for some time even participated in the management of the theater along with K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.
From 1926 he lived in Paris, where he died. The main works of the artist: "The Walk of the King" (1906), "Fantasy on the Versailles theme" (1906), "Italian comedy" (1906), illustrations for the Bronze Horseman by Pushkin A.S. (1903) and others.
Alexander Nikolaevich Benois is a Russian painter, graphic artist, art critic, one of the founders of the art association "World of Art", the author of numerous literary works covering the work of Russian and foreign masters, an excellent decorator who worked in theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in many cities of Europe and America. An extraordinarily gifted artist, art propagandist, organizer of numerous exhibitions, museum worker, the most active figure in theater and cinema, Benois made a huge contribution to the history of Russian artistic culture of the 20th century.
A.N. was born Benois on May 3, 1870 in the city of Petersburg. The son of the professor of architecture Nikolai Leontyevich Benois, the grandson of Louis-Jules Benois (in French - Benois), a native of France, the maternal grandson of the architect Albert K. Cavos, the builder of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow; brother of the watercolourist Albert H. Benois and the architect Leonty Benois. Childhood and many years of life of A.N. Benois marched in St. Petersburg, at house number 15 on Glinka Street, not far from the Kryukov Canal.
The situation in the house that surrounded Alexander Nikolaevich contributed to his artistic development. Since childhood, he fell in love with "old Petersburg", the suburbs of the capital. And also a love for the stage was born in him early, he kept it for life. Alexandre Benois was gifted with an exceptional ear for music and a rare visual memory. The works created by him in extreme old age, “drawings-memories”, indicate the amazing resilience and strength of his life perception.
Benois began to study drawing in a private kindergarten, he was completely absorbed in art all his life. From 1885 to 1890, Benois was a student of the May Gymnasium in St. Petersburg, where he became closely acquainted with D.V. Filosofov, K.A. Somov and V.F. Nouvel; in 1890, Filosofov's cousin S.P. joined them. Diaghilev, artist Lev Bakst and musicologist A.P. Nurok. Subsequently, all together founded the art organization "World of Art" and a magazine with the same name, the main task of which was to promote foreign and especially Russian art. "The World of Art" revealed many forgotten or unnoticed names, drew attention to applied art, architecture, folk crafts, raised the importance of graphics, decoration and illustration of the book. Alexandre Benois was the soul of the "World of Art" and an indispensable member of the magazine. He did not graduate from the Academy of Arts, believing that one can become an artist only by continuously working. Exceptional ability to work allowed him to fill in an album with drawings in one day, work in the studio on the painting he had begun, visit the workshops of the theater, delving into the details of sketches of scenery and costumes, directing and even working out roles with actors. In addition, Benois managed to prepare an article for a magazine or newspaper, write several letters, always interesting thoughts about art.
He also devoted a lot of time to his family. Son Nikolai, daughters Elena and Anna, nephews and their little friends found in "Uncle Shura" a participant in curious undertakings, useful activities and never felt either irritation or fatigue of this busy but tireless person.
At the end of 1896, together with friends, Alexandre Benois traveled to Paris for the first time; here he created the famous "Versailles Series", depicting the beauty of the parks and the walks of the "Sun King" (Louis XIV). Perfectly versed in the events of the past, Benois was able to see through the eyes of a person of the 20th century. An example of this is the painting “Parade under Paul I”, which shows a subtle knowledge of history, costumes, architecture, life, and at the same time, a hint of humor, almost satire, is felt. “No matter what nonsense contemporary artistic writers may talk about me, about my “aestheticism”, my sympathies attracted and now attract me to the simplest and most faithful images of reality,” said Benois.
The artist knew how to appreciate the greatness of the art of the past. This played an important role in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, when capitalist buildings, ugly tenement houses began to threaten the classic appearance of the city. Benois was a consistent defender of the values of antiquity.
In the work of A.N. Benois draws special attention to graphic comments on works of literature. The highest achievement of book graphics was the illustrations for Alexander Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman"; the artist worked on them for more than twenty years. Unique in artistic merit, temperament and strength, this work alone could give Alexandre Benois the name of the greatest artist of the early 20th century.
Benois was also a famous theatrical figure. He started working with K.S. Stanislavsky, and after the Great October Revolution, together with A.M. Gorky participated in the organization of the Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater, for which he created a number of brilliant performances. The design of Le nozze di Figaro, staged in 1926, is Benois' last work in Soviet Russia.
The life of the artist was interrupted in Paris. He worked extensively in Milan at the famous La Scala Theatre. But the memory of his homeland, where he participated in the implementation of the first measures of the Soviet government for the organization of museums, was a leading employee of the Hermitage and the Russian Museum, concern for the protection of ancient monuments, has always been the most precious thing in his life for A. Benois.
Back in the 1910s, as one of the most active figures and organizers (together with S. Diaghilev) of the tour of the Russian ballet in Paris, A. Benois most of all cared that these performances contributed to the world fame of Russian art. All of his last works are devoted to the continuation and variations of the "Russian series", begun in 1907-1910. He constantly returned to the images of Pushkin's poetry that were dear to him: "On the shore of desert waves", "Flood in St. Petersburg in 1824" In the last years of his life, A. Benois again, but already in painting, developed these subjects. Working for cinematography, Benois turned to the images of F.M. Dostoevsky, to Russian themes. In music, he passionately loved Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov. Alexander Nikolaevich Benois died on February 9, 1960.
Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (April 21 (May 3), 1870, St. Petersburg - February 9, 1960, Paris) - Russian artist, art historian, art critic, founder and main ideologist of the World of Art association.
Biography of Alexandre Benois
Alexander Benois was born on April 21 (May 3), 1870 in St. Petersburg, in the family of Russian architect Nikolai Leontyevich Benois and Camilla Albertovna Benois (née Kavos).
He graduated from the prestigious 2nd St. Petersburg Gymnasium. For some time he studied at the Academy of Arts, also studied fine art on his own and under the guidance of his older brother Albert.
In 1894, he began his career as a theorist and art historian, writing a chapter on Russian artists for the German collection History of Painting of the 19th Century.
In 1896-1898 and 1905-1907 he worked in France.
Creativity Benoit
He became one of the organizers and ideologists of the artistic association "World of Art", founded the magazine of the same name.
In 1916-1918, the artist created illustrations for A. S. Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman". In 1918
Benois headed the Art Gallery of the Hermitage and published its new catalogue. He continued to work as a book and theater artist, in particular, he worked on the design of BDT performances.
In 1925 he took part in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.
In 1926, Benois left the USSR without returning from a business trip abroad. He lived in Paris, worked mainly on sketches of theatrical scenery and costumes.
Alexandre Benois played a significant role in the productions of S. Diaghilev's ballet enterprise "Ballets Russes", as an artist and author - director of performances.
Benois began his career as a landscape painter and throughout his life he painted landscapes, mostly watercolors. They make up almost half of his heritage. The very appeal to the landscape in Benoit was dictated by an interest in history. Two topics invariably attracted his attention: "Petersburg in the 18th - early 19th centuries." and "The France of Louis XIV".
The earliest of Benoit's retrospective works are related to his work at Versailles. By 1897-1898, there is a series of small paintings made in watercolor and gouache and united by a common theme - “The last walks of Louis XIV”. This is an example of the historical reconstruction of the past by the artist, characteristic of Benois's work, inspired by the living impressions of the parks of Versailles with their sculpture and architecture; but at the same time, the results of a scrupulous study of old French art, especially engravings of the 17th-18th centuries, are summed up here. The famous "Notes" of Duke Louis de Saint Simon gave the artist the plot outline of "The Last Walks of Louis XIV" and, together with other memoirs and literary sources, introduced Benois into the atmosphere of the era.
One of his highest achievements was the scenery for the ballet I. F. Stravinsky "Petrushka" (1911); this ballet was created according to the idea of Benois himself and according to the libretto written by him. Soon after, the artist's cooperation with the Moscow Art Theater was born, where he successfully designed two performances based on the plays of J.-B. Moliere (1913) and for some time even participated in the management of the theater along with K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.
Artist's work
- Cemetery
- Carnival on the Fontanka
- Summer garden under Peter the Great
- Rei embankment in Basel in the rain
- Oranienbaum. Japanese garden
- Versailles. Trianon Garden
- Versailles. alley
- From the fantasy world
- Parade under Pavel 1
- Italian comedy. "Love Note"
- Berta (costume sketch by V. Komissarzhevskaya)
- Evening
- Petrushka (costume design for Stravinsky's Petrushka)
- Herman in front of the windows of the Countess (screen saver for Pushkin's The Queen of Spades)
- Illustration for Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman"
- From the series "The last walks of Louis 14"
- Masquerade under Louis 14
- Marquise's Bath
- wedding walk
- Peterhof. Flower beds under the Grand Palace
- Peterhof. The lower fountain at the Cascade
- Peterhof. Grand Cascade
- Peterhof. main fountain
- Pavilion
Self-portrait. 1896 (paper, ink, pen)
Benois Alexander Nikolaevich
Marquise bath. 1906 
Carnival-on-Fontanka. 
Italian comedy. "Love note". 1907. 
Summer garden under Peter the Great. 1902 
Pavilion. 1906 
Oranienbaum. Japanese Hall 1901 
Quay Rey in Basel in the rain. 1902 
Masquerade under Louis 14. 1898 
Parade under Pavel 1. 1907 
Wedding walk. 1906 
Paris. Carruzel. 1927 
Peterhof. Flower beds under the Grand Palace. 1918
Peterhof. The lower fountain at the Cascade. 1942
Peterhof. main fountain. 1942 
Peterhof. Big cascade. 1901-17
Biography of Alexandre Benois.
Benois Alexander Nikolaevich(1870-1960) graphic artist, painter, theater artist, publisher, writer, one of the authors of the modern image of the book. Representative of Russian modernity.
A. N. Benois was born into the family of a famous architect and grew up in an atmosphere of reverence for art, but did not receive an art education. He studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University (1890-94), but at the same time independently studied the history of art and was engaged in drawing and painting (mainly watercolor). He did this so thoroughly that he managed to write a chapter on Russian art for the third volume of "The History of Painting in the 19th Century" by R. Muther, published in 1894.
They immediately started talking about him as a talented art critic who turned over the established ideas about the development of domestic art. In 1897, based on impressions from trips to France, he created the first serious work - a series of watercolors "The Last Walks of Louis XIV", - showing himself in it as an original artist.
Repeated trips to Italy and France and copying artistic treasures there, studying the writings of Saint-Simon, Western literature of the 17th-19th centuries, and interest in ancient engravings formed the foundation of his artistic education. In 1893, Benois acted as a landscape painter, creating watercolors of the environs of St. Petersburg. In 1897-1898 he paints in watercolor and gouache a series of landscape paintings of the Versailles parks, recreating in them the spirit and atmosphere of antiquity.
By the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Benois again returns to the landscapes of Peterhof, Oranienbaum, Pavlovsk. It glorifies the beauty and grandeur of 18th century architecture. Nature interests the artist mainly in its connection with history. Possessing a pedagogical gift and erudition, he at the end of the 19th century. organized the "World of Art" association, becoming its theorist and inspirer. He worked a lot in book graphics. He often appeared in the press and every week published his "Artistic Letters" (1908-16) in the newspaper "Rech".
He worked no less fruitfully as an art historian: he published in two editions (1901, 1902) the widely known book Russian Painting in the 19th Century, substantially reworking his earlier essay for it; began to publish serial publications "Russian School of Painting" and "History of Painting of All Times and Peoples" (1910-17; the publication was interrupted with the beginning of the revolution) and the magazine "Art Treasures of Russia"; created a wonderful "Guide to the Hermitage Art Gallery" (1911).
After the revolution of 1917, Benois took an active part in the work of various organizations, mainly related to the protection of monuments of art and antiquity, and from 1918 he also took up museum work - he became in charge of the Hermitage Art Gallery. He developed and successfully implemented a completely new plan for the general exposition of the museum, which contributed to the most expressive demonstration of each work.
At the beginning of the XX century. Benois illustrates the works of Pushkin A.S. Acts as a critic and art historian. In the 1910s, people came to the center of the artist's interests. Such is his painting "Peter I on a walk in the Summer Garden", where in a multi-figured scene the appearance of a past life seen through the eyes of a contemporary is recreated.
In the work of Benois the artist, history decisively prevailed. Two topics invariably attracted his attention: "Petersburg in the 18th - early 19th centuries." and "The France of Louis XIV". He addressed them primarily in his historical compositions - in two "Versailles series" (1897, 1905-06), in the well-known paintings "Parade under Paul I" (1907), "Exit of Catherine II in Tsarskoye Selo Palace" (1907 ) and others, reproducing a long-gone life with deep knowledge and a subtle sense of style. The same themes, in essence, were devoted to his numerous natural landscapes, which he usually performed in St. Petersburg and its suburbs, then in Versailles (Benoit regularly traveled to France and lived there for a long time). The artist entered the history of Russian book graphics with his book "The Alphabet in the Pictures of Alexander Benois" (1905) and illustrations for "The Queen of Spades" by A. S. Pushkin, performed in two versions (1899, 1910), as well as wonderful illustrations for "The Bronze Horseman" ", to the three variants of which he devoted almost twenty years of work (1903-22).
In the same years, he took part in the design of the "Russian Seasons", organized by Diaghilev S.P. in Paris, which included in their program not only opera and ballet performances, but also symphony concerts.
Benois designed R. Wagner's opera The Death of the Gods on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and then performed sketches for the scenery for N. N. Tcherepnin's ballet The Pavilion of Armida (1903), the libretto of which he composed himself. The passion for ballet turned out to be so strong that on the initiative of Benois and with his direct participation, a private ballet troupe was organized, which began triumphant performances in Paris in 1909 - "Russian Seasons". Benois, who took the post of artistic director in the troupe, performed the design for several performances.
One of his highest achievements was the scenery for I. F. Stravinsky's ballet "Petrushka" (1911). Soon, Benois began working with the Moscow Art Theater, where he successfully designed two performances based on the plays of J.-B. Moliere (1913) and for some time even participated in the management of the theater along with K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.
From 1926 he lived in Paris, where he died. The main works of the artist: "The Walk of the King" (1906), "Fantasy on the Versailles theme" (1906), "Italian comedy" (1906), illustrations for the Bronze Horseman by Pushkin A.S. (1903) and others
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