MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF RUSSIA
State educational institution of higher professional education
"RUSSIAN STATE HUMANITARIAN UNIVERSITY"
(RGGU)
FACULTY OF ART HISTORY
High School of Restoration
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF A. BENOIT'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO A. S. PUSHKIN'S POEM "The BRONZE HORSEMAN"
Coursework of a 1st year student of the evening department
Moscow 2011
1. Introduction _________________________________________________ 3
2. Chapter I. Analysis of the historical and artistic context______ 5
3. Chapter II. Graphic sheets of the 3rd edition: description and analysis ____ 9
4. Chapter III. Features of the art of book graphics _____________ 15
5. Conclusion_______________________________________________ 19
6. List of sources and literature _____________________________ 21
Introduction
In the process of working on illustrations for the poem "The Bronze Horseman", which lasted almost 20 years, A. Benois created three editions of illustrations - 1903, 1905, 1916. The subject of analysis in this work is the illustrations of the third edition, which were published in the book edition of 1923. The original graphic sheets are made by Benois in ink, graphite pencil, watercolor. The illustrations are printed using the lithography technique.
A copy of the 1923 edition is in the RSL, also in the State Museum (GMP). The original sheets of different editions are divided into different museums: the Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin, GMP, Russian Museum, and are also in private collections.
The nature of the analyzed material, book illustration, determines two areas of analysis: book publication and graphic sheets.
The purpose of the work is to explore the relationship of artistic and technical features of illustrative material in the context of a book edition, the embodiment of the poetic images of the poem by artistic, graphic means.
To achieve this goal, the following tasks are solved - to identify Benois's artistic intention, the historical and cultural aspect in the creation of illustrative material, to identify the technical features of execution, to determine the significance of book graphics in the artist's work. The tasks of the work also include a comparison of illustrations in the 1916 edition with previous editions, which makes it possible to trace the development of the artist's creative thought.
In accordance with the goal and objectives, the subject of analysis, the work has a three-part structure. The first part is devoted to the analysis of the artistic and historical context of the artist's work, as well as Pushkin's poem. The second part is devoted to graphic sheets in the context of the general artistic outline of the poem. The third part discusses the features of book illustration in terms of technology and book architectonics.
ChapterI. Analysis of historical and artistic context
Studying, exploring the work of A. Benois, one should consider his artistic activity in the context of the World of Art association, which was one of the most significant cultural phenomena of the early 20th century. Benois, along with Somov, Bakst, Dobuzhinsky, was one of its founders. As N. Lapshina notes: “... the circle of interests of the World of Art, especially its largest representatives, was unusually wide and varied. In addition to easel painting and graphic art... they are the high achievers in the art of books... It can even be said that in theatrical scenery and book graphics, the work of the artists of the "World of Art" constituted the most important stage in the history of not only Russian, but also world art."
The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the flourishing of the art of book graphics, woodcuts and lithography. It should be noted the three-volume collection of works for the 100th anniversary of Pushkin with illustrations by Benois, Repin, Surikov, Vrubel, Serov, Levitan, Lanceray, in which Benois presented two illustrations for The Queen of Spades. The artist widely studies the history of book art and engraving, gives a course of lectures on the history of styles and ornament; he is known as a connoisseur and skillful connoisseur of the book.
The idea of illustrating the poem "The Bronze Horseman" came to Benois in 1903. Then he completed 32 drawings, but disagreements with publishers did not allow the planned enterprise to be realized. A feature of Benois's creative concept was verse-by-strophe illustration, strict adherence to Pushkin's text. This is how Benois describes the solution to his idea: “I conceived these illustrations in the form of compositions accompanying each page of the text. I set the format to a tiny, pocket one, like the almanacs of the Pushkin era.
The illustrations for the poem can be viewed in the context of Benois' general artistic activity in the "rehabilitation" of the artistic and cultural status of St. Petersburg. For many, Petersburg by that time seemed to be the center of the spirit of bureaucracy, bureaucracy; modern buildings violated the integrity of the architectural ensemble. In this vein, Benois' artistic publications arise, including "Picturesque Petersburg", a series of Petersburg watercolors of the years. Benois defines his attitude to the events taking place in the life of the city as “historical sentimentalism”, caused by the contrasts of the old, “classic”, and the new, industrial way of life, the onset of alien architectural elements (factory buildings, factory buildings), the destruction of historical monuments. Therefore, the appeal to the "Petersburg Tale" has a solid justification for the artist. “Until now, it is customary to look at St. Petersburg as something sluggish and pale, devoid of its own life. Only in the very last few years have they begun to somehow understand that St. Petersburg has a completely original and peculiar beauty. … Petersburg is something truly precious for the whole of Russian culture.” In this we discover the commonality of Pushkin's and Benoit's intentions - to create a hymn to the creation of Peter. The city is present in the poem not only as a decoration, a space for ongoing events, but reveals its own character, dominates the fate of a person. Peter is the genius of this city, and the Falconet monument is his personification.
Researchers point to the deep rootedness of the work of the artists of the "World of Art" in the history of St. Petersburg. “Their art was born in Petersburg. … they made me see the graphic character of the city with their art.”
Benois is a wonderful, subtle historical painter. Here you can recall his work "Parade under Paul I". The city in Benois's illustrations for The Bronze Horseman is presented in all the richness of its architecture and everyday features. The illustrations represent, in fact, a historical reconstruction, embody the spirit of the Alexander era. Benois's work is rooted in the Pushkin era, poetry, because it was she who served as the key to recreating the world so dear to the artist's heart.
Undoubtedly, in the context of this study, Benoit's appeal to the topic of catastrophe, the elements is curious. The beginning of the 20th century is filled with premonitions of upheavals. Russia was on the eve of great changes. How much more philosophical and tragic content is filled with a poem, illustrations in the perspective of future events. In such a prophetic vein, many considered the drawing illustrating the scene of the chase, the flight of Eugene, which became the frontispiece of the 1923 edition. Let us also note the flood that occurred in St. Petersburg in the autumn of 1903. It did not have such tragic consequences as in 1824, "... the water in the Neva and in the canals overflowed its banks, and the streets ... turned into rivers for several hours," however, it provided the artist with the most valuable living material for work.
Another aspect of Pushkin's poem seemed essential to Benois in the perception of the relationship between the hero (Eugene) and the city, Peter's creation. This is the unreality, the fantasticness of St. Petersburg, which lies in the very essence of the city, without understanding which it is difficult to appreciate the depth of the hero's tragedy. Benois himself emphasizes his passion for this particular characteristic: "... it was this poem that captivated me, touched and excited me with its mixture of the real and the fantastic ...". Apparently, this is the characteristic “palette” of the city, where white nights create a feeling of illusory, illusiveness of the surrounding space, where the swampy soil gives rise to crazy visions.
The second edition of the illustrations was made by Benois in 1905. The series consisted of six illustrations, including the famous frontispiece. The artist writes: “... I wanted the book to be “pocket”, in the format of almanacs of the Pushkin era, but I had to subordinate the drawings to the format of our magazine [World of Art, No. 1, 1904]. This is the reason why I decided in our other publishing house to release the same series of compositions in a much larger format.” The original frontispiece measures 42x31.5 cm, while the illustrations in the first edition measured 21.3x21.1 cm.
The illustrative material of the artistic edition of the poem "The Bronze Horseman" of 1923 is based on the third edition of Benois's drawings, made by him in 1916. He repeated six large sheets of the second edition almost without changes, the sheets of the first were drawn again with some corrections. Transferring the originals to the Russian Museum in 1918, the author made dedicatory and memorial inscriptions on almost each of them. These dedications are a kind of autobiographical subtext, an important link in understanding the illustrative material, bringing a personal aspect to their perception.
ChapterII. Graphic sheets of the 3rd edition: description and analysis
The drawings are made with ink, pen, graphite pencil with various tonal watercolor linings - gray, greenish, yellowish, applied with a brush. They create an atmosphere, convey the character of the city, its air space, the internal state of the protagonist. The color scheme of the drawings is quite monotonous, stingy, thereby more clearly denoting Evgeny's inner experiences, the dramatic nature of events. The techniques of watercolor, pastel, gouache were favorite in the work of the artists of the "World of Art", they served to embody such important sensations for artists as "the ephemeral nature of life, the fragility of dreams, the poeticity of experiences."
A feature of the illustrations is the coexistence of different graphic styles - color lithographs are interspersed with graphic screensavers that emphasize the final episodes of each of the parts. This gave rise to criticism of the artist, which contained a reproach for the lack of integrity, the fluctuation of the artistic idea. However, this approach was based on Benoit's desire to match "the generous variety of stylistic flows of Pushkin's St. Petersburg epos." Graphic headpieces are symbolic, reflecting the romantic, fantastic nature of the poem. Filling the pages with mythological images, such as Triton and a naiad (frequent characters in park sculpture), emphasizes the animation of the city, the elements, which in Pushkin's text are conveyed by various poetic images: “The Neva rushed about like a sick person in her bed”, “waves climb like animals through the windows "," The Neva breathed like a horse running from the battle. The outset of the conflict at the end of the first part of the poem is solved by Benois with the help of a graphic screen saver, which emphasizes the fantastic nature of the confrontation.
Let us dwell on the key episodes of the poetic and illustrative material. The edition opens with a frontispiece depicting a chase scene. As the basis of the poem, it seems to outline the leitmotif, the motive of confrontation, madness, phantasmagoria. In it, the contrast between the greatness of the monument and the insignificance of Eugene is most significantly expressed - it seems to spread along the ground, representing rather its own shadow, the shadow of the Giant's Shadow. The shining reflection of the moon on the brow of the monument enhances the impression of the fantastic nature of what is happening.
The illustrations accompanying the introduction to the poem are devoted to the glorification of the city in its arts, and are directly related to the motifs of the art of Pushkin's time.
In contrast to the 1903 edition, in which Peter occupies the central part of the drawing, facing the viewer “en face”, in the 1916 drawing Peter stands at a distance and faces the viewer sideways, almost with his back. Here we observe the correspondence of Pushkin's "He stood", the replacement of the name with the pronoun. This gives Peter the character of sublime, unattainable greatness. In the illustration, Benoit solves this problem in the following way. The posture of Peter, in contrast to his retinue, literally blown off his feet, is balanced and calm. The waves seem to roll peacefully at his feet. We understand that we are not an ordinary person. Greatness in the text is revealed by his aspirations, in the figure it is the breadth of the horizon, Peter's aspiration into the distance. Peter's gaze is directed not only into the distance, but also beyond the border of the illustration, which reflects only his intentions. It is curious that Benois "clears" the horizon from Pushkin's images of "poor boat", "dark hut". This reflected Benois's idea and the peculiarities of Pushkin's poetics - we perfectly see, feel the images outside the drawing; gusts of wind, uplifting clothes, make it possible to clearly distinguish the noisy forest behind the viewer. The rainy, hostile nature of the area is emphasized by expressive black lines and strokes.
“A hundred years have passed ...” we read in the Pushkin text, and the next illustration is a panorama of the city, ascending, according to N. Lapshina, to the landscape works of the remarkable painter of the Alexander era F. Alekseev. To the right is the corner bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress, in the distance the Stock Exchange building, rostral columns, to the left in the distance is the Admiralty. The space is organized by a perspective expanding in all directions. In the distance, in the background, we see a soaring, floating, fantastic city, ready to disappear into the ghostly white night, if it were not balanced by a corner bastion. In the boat floating on the river, arising from the previous stanza, we see a rower and two riders - a man and a woman. People almost completely disappeared into the surrounding landscape, the elements of granite and water.
This drawing is dedicated to "the wife and friend of Akita", and, perhaps, in the riders, the author represents himself and his girlfriend, thus transferring the graphic story through two centuries. Combining time layers, introducing his own element of the author-lyrical hero, Benois weaves personal feelings, his life into the fabric of the story. The poem takes on the character of historical continuity, and the events that take place take on a supra-historical character.
The next interior illustration, located on one spread in contrast with the panorama, takes us to the innermost abode of the artistic world of St. Petersburg. The poet, illuminated by the light of the white night, reads poetry to his friends in the twilight of the room. Poetry and graphics reign here. In this close circle, imperishable lines are born. The bright contrast between light and shadow of the composition emphasizes the mystery of what is happening.
In the introduction, we discovered the titanic aspirations of Peter, at the beginning of the first part we find out the modest, human dreams of Eugene, who will have to “break” on the granite of the monument. The room depicted in the illustration, in which Eugene is sitting, refers the reader to another Petersburg, the Petersburg of Dostoevsky's "poor people", Gogol's "Overcoat", thereby emphasizing the historical continuity, the significance of the theme of the little man raised by Pushkin in the poem.
The illustrations of the first part of the poem represent various scenes of the flood, the triumph of the elements, mythical natural forces. In the image of the elements, Benoit uses diagonal, broken lines, torn strokes. They destroy the integrity of the composition, the stability of the urban landscape. It can be said that the graphic harmonious rhythms of St. Petersburg are destroyed by the ragged diagonals of the waves and celestial outlines.
Let us turn to the illustration with Eugene on a lion (“on a marble beast, on horseback, without a hat, hands clasped in a cross”), which is the beginning of a dramatic conflict. Here we observe a departure from the figurative structure of the poem. "The idol on a bronze horse" rises above the Neva "in an unshakable height." However, the historical, topographic location of the lion on which Eugene sat did not allow Benois to realize the conflict in one illustration, the silhouette of the monument is only barely outlined by a spot in the distance. Therefore, the emergence of the conflict is transferred to the next page in the form of a graphic screen saver, giving a mythical character to future events. We see Peter on a pedestal, on which a mythical lion steps, as it were, woven from the elements. This decision, however, still somewhat detracts from the drama of the episode.
The illustrations of the second part are devoted to the personal tragedy of Eugene, his madness and opposition to Peter, the genius of St. Petersburg.
The scenes of Evgeny approaching the monument, the chases are cinematic in nature. Observing the monument from different angles, we seem to feel its materiality. Expressed in a series of successively unfolding scenes around the monument, Yevgeny's flight, the illustrative canvas conveys the dynamism and tension of the chase. The horseman galloping after Eugene is not a revived sculpture, but an imprinted monument to Falcone. Depicting a jumping monument in the form of a silhouette, Benois emphasizes its phantasmagoric, ghostly character. The silhouette also means the conventionality of the background, transfers the characters from the depths of the scenery to the plane of the sheet.
The monument, towering at the level of a three-story house in the last scene, overwhelms with its grandeur, seems to be the apotheosis of hallucinations. Eugene, pressed his back against the building, no longer sees, does not feel the idol behind him, he is everywhere. From the night streets of St. Petersburg, we are transported into the inner world of Eugene, as if we look into his eyes and see a nightmare vision there.
Drawing scenes of a night chase, Eugene's madness, Benois uses contrasts, creating a sense of tension. The sky, filled with alternating, broken stripes of ink and white, conveys thunder, the emptiness of the streets intensifies the tension of what is happening, the white used by the author creates an illusion of lighting; the full moon arises as the apotheosis of madness.
In contrast to the last picture of madness, the following illustration has a mundane, realistic character. Eugene wanders among the passers-by, he is completely destroyed by his madness, and his tragedy seems to be lost in the general diverse rhythm of the city. The monument firmly and unwaveringly sits on a pedestal, as Peter once stood confidently on the shore of desert waves. We see the moment of movement when Eugene and the rider intersect on the same straight line of perspective, representing a complete opposite in their direction.
Let us additionally designate a number of artistic features of the illustrations. They are equally, sequentially placed on each page, determining the strict narrative nature of the illustrative material. In different places, we observe framing techniques. In the illustration “On the Shore of Desert Waves”, Peter looks into the distance, filled with “great thoughts”, in the next frame we see, as it were, the image of his thoughts, the city that has arisen; The Emperor, looking towards the Exchange, and then the rostral column, with the waves crashing on it; Eugene, riding a lion, thinks about Parasha, and in the next illustration we see a house on the island flooded by waves. The illustrative material is also rich in plastic connections and repetitions. Watching Eugene destroyed by madness in the last scene against the background of the monument, we see the same monument, unshakably rising among the waves of the flood.
If we follow Whipper's apt remark that in order to evaluate the work of an illustrator "it is always ultimately decided by the criterion - ... whether the spirit of the work is captured by [the artist", then Benoit's work seems to be the pinnacle of book illustration skill. He achieved remarkable authenticity in conveying the spirit of the Alexander, Pushkin era, the depth of psychological confrontation, the tragedy of the contradiction between the greatness of Peter's work and the sad fate of the "little man". It can be argued that the depth of penetration into the text, its interpretation depends on the amount of artistic talent, which Benois fully possessed. This determined the inherent value of his illustrations, which are both an example of a remarkable unity of graphics and poetics, and an independent, self-valuable graphic cycle.
ChapterIII. Features of the art of book graphics
Speaking of a book as a single object, one should talk about its architectonics, that is, the correspondence of various parts to a common structure, a holistic impression. This is the form of the book, the features of type and illustrative material in the organization of the space of the white sheet. Text and illustration (printed graphics), thus, appear to be related phenomena, and their stylistic unity comes to the fore. Vipper highlights the following consonant features: “... the desire for consonance with white paper, the language of black and white contrasts, decorative functions, a certain freedom in relation to spatial and temporal unity. These properties help book graphics to get closer to literature, to poetry.
Stylistic unity is most fully realized when using the same technique for preparing clichés. This technique was woodcut. Clear, precise, concise lines drawn with a chisel, the conventionality of the background corresponded to the font set. Here we can mention the block book, where the text and illustration were printed from one board. Over time, other techniques developed - engraving, lithography. They bring to the illustration the plasticity of images, the depth of perspective, imparting to the illustration the nature of its own weight, separation from the book page.
Book illustrations for the poem are made in the technique of lithography. Let us turn to the author's comment: "The prints received from the printing house, reproducing my drawings (made in the style of polytypes of the 30s), I immediately painted in "neutral" tones, which were then to be printed lithographically." Lithographs are characterized by the most complete transfer of the features of the original technique, wide pictorial possibilities. Technical features of lithographic technique - soft touch, smooth transitions, depth of contrasts. “Night and fog are closer to lithography than daylight. Her language is built on transitions and reticences.
What else could be more suitable for conveying the spirit of Petersburg, “the most deliberate and abstract city”, its illusory, ephemeral nature? The stylistic features of the lithography served to reveal the romantic image of the poem. Probably, in addition to purely handicraft features, it was the real-fictional, romantic nature of the "Petersburg Tale", the city itself, which Benois was so passionate about, determined the artist's choice in favor of lithography. The use of a pen and a graphite pencil allowed the artist to convey the classicism of the city, expressed with a laconic stroke, precise lines.
Book illustrations are a type of accompanying graphics. This determines the direction of the artist's work - the interpretation of poetic images by graphic means, rhythms. For Benois, the pictorial and poetic balance of the composition is especially important. Let us note that Pushkin's word has visual clarity, figurative richness of the poetic, sound range. Literally following the text could bring discord into the composition, weaken poetic experiences. So, we can talk about the validity of various reticences, or the introduction of innovations on the part of the artist.
Conceived for the format of a pocket almanac, the first edition of the illustrations was reflected in their character - this is conciseness, simplicity. The absence of a frame, a frame, takes the characters directly to the plane of the page. In rough sketches, Benois resorts to some ornamentation in the design of illustrations, but later refuses in favor of simplicity, naturalness, corresponding to the spirit of Pushkin's poetry.
The drawings of 1916 are framed with a black line, which gives the character of weightiness, some picturesqueness of the illustrations. This affects a certain isolation of illustrations from the text, which can be observed in comparison with graphic screen savers, which in some places appear among the illustrations. They have a great connection with text, font. For Benois theatrical artist, there may have been an element of theatricality, conventionality - the frame seems to separate the stage from the viewer.
Benois was characterized by the recognition of the own meaning of illustration, the responsibility of artistic interpretation. The main purpose of the illustration is "to sharpen the persuasiveness of those images that were generated by reading, ... to remain in close harmony with the main content of the book ...". Illustrations should serve as "decoration ... in the sense of genuinely enlivening the text, in the sense of explaining it ...". We see here an indication of two accompanying functions of book illustration - ornamental and figurative. Whipper argues in a similar way in his work: "... a book illustration should be both an image and an ornamental sign." Thus, united by the unity of the sheet and the fabric of history, the text and the drawing represent two planes of narration coexisting in a subtle unity.
Recognition of the dignity of Benois's graphic works was widespread, they were highly appreciated by Grabar, Repin, Kustodiev, they were enthusiastically received at the exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists in 1904. The frontispiece of 1905 was also recognized as a significant phenomenon and made a huge impression. In the work of Benois there was a convergence of Russian poetry with the Russian art book.
The “material” features of the publication, such as the quality of paper and printing, made it possible to speak of the book as “one of the largest printing achievements of the revolutionary time”, however, the separation of graphic styles, the pictorial, “non-bookish” nature of the illustrations that suppress thin columns of text, led to critical comments on the publication. The “failure” of the 1923 book was also acknowledged by the most serious critics: the book evoked a feeling of disharmony, inconsistency, randomness. But there were other opinions as well. A. Ospovat writes: "The emptiness of the slips and fields, which arose due to the difference in the width of the text and illustrations ... reads like a chivalrous gesture of graphics towards poetry." The whiteness of the book sheet in this case personifies the receptacle of the author's voice, which represents the sound ornament of a poetic work.
Conclusion
Illustrations for Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman" are one of the peaks in the work of the artist Alexander Benois. He managed to embody in his work the spirit of the Pushkin era, the beauty of the arts that fill the space of St. Petersburg, and at the same time convey one of the most important motifs of Pushkin's story - the tragedy of a little man in the light of the greatness of the historical design.
An important moment in the birth of Benois' artistic conception is its commonality with Pushkin's conception - the creation of a hymn to the creation of Peter. Exploring the origins of the idea, it was important for us to turn to the work of the "World of Art" association, one of the directions of which was the "rehabilitation" of the artistic heritage of Russian culture of the 19th century.
Following the graphic narrative, we found a number of features - cinematic framing techniques, plastic repetitions, the use of contrasts and oppositions that reflect the dynamics, rhythm of the poem, the intensity of emotions, the dramatic nature of events. A feature of the illustrative material is also the coexistence of two graphic styles - these are colored lithographs and graphic headpieces, reflecting the diversity of the stylistic flows of Pushkin's text, the coexistence of the real and mystical layers of the poem.
To understand the unity of illustration and text, the commonality of their tasks is the development of the space of a white sheet. Having studied the artist's approach to book illustration, we have identified two components of the function: figurative and ornamental. It is the close unity of these functions that is the key to the coexistence of illustration and text.
Having determined the features of lithographic technique, such as soft strokes, smooth transitions, depth of contrasts, we came to understand their correspondence to the romantic, fantastic spirit of Pushkin's poem.
Having studied the development of the artist's creative concept in various editions, we have outlined their features. So, the first edition most closely matches the technique of woodcuts, reveals proximity to the text, type set. The illustrations of the latest edition have a more picturesque, weighty character, representing a valuable graphic cycle in itself. This approach reflected Benois' idea of the proper meaning of illustration, the responsible interpretation of poetic images.
List of sources and literature
Sources
1. Benois A. My memories. In 5 books. Book. 1-3. - M.: Nauka, 1990. - 712 p.
2. Benois A. My memories. In 5 books. Book. 4, 5. - M.: Nauka, 1990. - 744 p.
3. Pushkin the rider: Petersburg story / ill. A. Benois. - St. Petersburg: Committee for the Popularization of Artistic Publications, 1923. - 78 p.
4. Pushkin rider. - L.: Nauka, 1978. - 288 p.
Literature
5. Alpatov on the general history of arts. - M.: Soviet artist, 1979. - 288 p.
6. Alexandre Benois reflects... / edition prepared, . - M.: Soviet artist, 1968. - 752 p.
7. Vipper in the historical study of art. - M.: V. Shevchuk Publishing House, 2008. - 368 p.
8. Gerchuk graphics and art books: a study guide. - M.: Aspect Press, 2000. - 320 p.
9. Gusar's art. - L.: Artist of the RSFSR, 1972. - 100 p.
10. Silberstein finds: The era of Pushkin. - M.: Visual arts, 1993. - 296 p.
11. Lapshina of art: essays on history and creative practice. - M.: Art, 1977. - 344 p.
Lapshina of Art: Essays on History and Creative Practice. M., 1977. S. 7.
Benois A. My memories. In 5 books. Book. 4, 5. M., 1990. S. 392.
Gusarov art. L., 1972. S. 22.
Benoit A. Decree. op. S. 394.
Alexander Benois reflects ... M., 1968. S. 713.
Alexander Benois reflects... M., 1968. S. 713-714.
Gusarova. op. S. 28.
Ospovat. op. S. 248.
Vipper in the historical study of art. M., 2008. S. 91.
Gerchuk graphics and art books: a study guide. M., 2000. S. 5.
Whipper. op. pp. 87-88.
Benoit A. Decree. op. S. 393.
Whipper. op. S. 72.
Alexander Benois reflects… M., 1968. S. 322.
There. pp. 322-323.
Whipper. op. S. 84.
Ospovat. op. S. 228.
Ospovat. op. S. 233.
SPb.: Committee for the Popularization of Artistic Publications, 1923. 73, p.: tsv. ill., 1 l. front, (ill.). Circulation 1000 copies. Copies are numbered, the edition is printed on laid paper. In an illustrated two-colour publisher's cover. 35x27 cm. The set was made back in 1917 in the old orthography with a special decorative font. The circulation was printed in the Ivan Fedorov Printing House (the former printing house of the suppliers of the Court of His Imperial Majesty R. Golike and A. Vilborg - one of the best Russian printing houses) under the supervision of the most authoritative printer of the first quarter of the 20th century V.I. Anisimov. The publication is made on hand-made paper, made before the revolution. Filigree - "Seal of the Imperial Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture" with a double-headed eagle. Bibliophilic edition, which has become a work of printed and artistic art.
The publication was designed by the outstanding watercolor artist, talented art critic Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870-1960), the founder and inspirer of the famous art association "World of Art". Contemporaries saw in the artist a living embodiment of the spirit of artistry. In his work, A. Benois is inspired by the aesthetics of French romanticism of the 18th century, the architecture of Versailles and old St. Petersburg. It is in it that the origins of a bold reassessment of the art of the 18th century lie, which is one of the greatest merits of the "World of Art" and A. Benois personally. Of great importance in the formation of artistic ideas of A. Benois was a passion for the theater and the genre of drama, one of the clearest expressions of which was the production of works by A.S. Pushkin. The first edition of the illustrations for The Bronze Horseman was created in 1903 in Rome and St. Petersburg. “The crown of Petersburg illustration”, “the most remarkable book of the Committee”, publications, this was conceived by the Circle of Lovers of Russian Fine Editions: in 1903, by order! Chairman of the Circle V.A. Vereshchagin A.N. Benois made 33 drawings in black ink, but they were rejected as "decadent". The illustrations were purchased by S.P. Diaghilev and published them together with the poem in the magazine World of Art! (1904. No. 1). Benoit's drawings "made a splash and were recognized by all connoisseurs of the book as an ideal graphic work." In 1905, the artist, while in Versailles, reworked six of his previous illustrations and completed the frontispiece for The Bronze Horseman - for an edition issued in 1912 by the St. Petersburg Literacy Society, and then in 1916 - for the Community of St. Evgeniya. In 1916, 1921-1922, the cycle was revised for the third time and supplemented with new drawings, and already in this final form saw the light. In the year of the publication of the book, 20 years have passed since the beginning of work on this cycle. In 1917, the book was typed in the printing house of R.R. Golik and A.I. Vilborg, but this enterprise was nationalized, and the book was published only in 1923 - under the brand of the Committee for the Promotion of Artistic Publications.
It was printed in the State Printing House. Ivan Fedorov under the supervision of its director V.I. Anisimov and with the assistance of the Petrograd branch of the State Publishing House. The book includes 37 drawings by Benois: a frontispiece, 29 full-page illustrations (they accompanied each page of the text on the spread), 6 black-and-white intros and endings, and a plot vignette on the cover. All of them, with the exception of the famous frontispiece, made for the first edition of the 1905 cycle, were created anew. Using the best of the previous drawings, Benoit reworked them, increasing the size and outlining each with a contour line. Executed in ink and watercolor, the drawings imitated colored woodcuts. In the book, all images in color are reproduced by photochromolithography, black - by zincography, vignette on the cover - by phototype. In an effort to create a compositional harmony of drawing and text, the artist carefully thought out the layout of the book. Drawings of different sizes, shapes and proportions, he arranged either horizontally or vertically, each time giving the spread a visual variety.
And although the opinion of the critics was not unanimous, the majority nevertheless agreed that "the illustrations for The Bronze Horseman supplemented Pushkin's work so much that the graphics and the St. Petersburg story were an inseparable whole and are currently unthinkable one without the other." The text of The Bronze Horseman was first printed in the final edition of the poet, without censorship distortions and according to the old spelling (from a set made back in 1917, for which the publishing house had to obtain special permission). The font of the publication is stylized as the font of Pushkin's time, which completed the feeling of organic unity of all elements of the publication and formed its unique aesthetics. The introductory article to the publication was written by the famous Pushkinist P.E. Shchegolev. At the end of the book was placed "Information about the illustrations for the Bronze Horseman", which briefly outlined the history of the creation of this graphic series. The edition was published in an illustrated cover and dust jacket. The title, the author's surname on the cover, the title page and half-titles, the texts inside the book were typed in typographic type, stylized as the type of Pushkin's time. As part of the circulation, nominal and numbered copies were issued.
Most of the edition was printed on yellowish paper, the rest - on white paper with a watermark depicting a double-headed eagle, with an inscription around it: “Print by Imi. Acad. painting, sculpture and architecture. The edition was sold quite expensive - 15 rubles each. The significance of Benois's illustrations for The Bronze Horseman is far from being exhausted by their purely graphic quality. The artist has invested in this work and his life experience. It is the "modernity" of Benois's illustrations that is no less significant in this publication than the artist's inherent sense of style, understanding of the Pushkin era and the ability to skillfully theatricalize the action. In Benois's drawings, the images of Pushkin's "Petersburg Tale" are colored by the reflections and experiences of a man of the early 20th century, which makes the "Bronze Horseman" of the KPHI a historically significant publication. The publication of The Bronze Horseman with illustrations by A. Benois was a landmark event in the history of publishing and book graphics.
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A.S. Pushkin "The Bronze Horseman"
The history of the creation of the poem The poem is based on the real story of the flood that occurred in November 1824 in St. Petersburg. During the flood, Pushkin was in exile in Mikhailovsky, so in the poem he described the events according to the testimony of eyewitnesses. The story about the "revived monument" could have been taken by Pushkin from the story of how in 1812 Emperor Alexander I wanted to take the monument to Peter out of St. Petersburg. But the emperor was stopped by reporting a major's dream. In his dream, the major saw the "Bronze Horseman" galloping through the streets of St. Petersburg and, approaching the emperor, said to him: "Young man! What have you brought my Russia to! But for now I am in place, my city has nothing to fear." According to another version, Pushkin could borrow the idea of a revived monument from Don Juan.
Illustrations by A. N. Benois for the poem "The Bronze Horseman" Eugene at the place where his beloved lived Eugene talking to the Bronze Horseman
Alexander Nikolaevich Benois Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (April 21, 1870, St. Petersburg - February 9, 1960, Paris) - Russian artist, art historian, art critic, founder and main ideologist of the World of Art association.
Born on April 21, 1870 in St. Petersburg, in the family of architect Nikolai Leontievich Benois and his wife Camilla, daughter of architect A.K. Kavos. 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 graduated from the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. 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. 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 and director, in particular, he worked on staging and designing performances of the Petrograd Bolshoi Drama Theater. In 1925 he took part in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. In 1926 A. N. Benois left the USSR. He lived in Paris, where he worked on sketches of theatrical scenery and costumes. Participated in S. Diaghilev's ballet entreprise "Ballets Russes" as an artist and director of performances. He died on February 9, 1960 in Paris. In recent years, he worked on memoirs.
Illustrations by M. S. Rodionov for the poem "The Bronze Horseman" Death of Eugene Peter I on the banks of the Neva
Mikhail Semenovich Rodionov Mikhail Semyonovich Rodionov (1885, Uryupinsk district of the Volgograd region - 1956, Moscow) - Russian artist and art teacher.
He studied in Moscow, initially in the studios of F. Rerberg and I. Mashkov, then at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in the painting department (1908-1910) and after a break in sculpture (1915-1918). In the 1920s was a member of the art association "Makovets". In the pre-war period, he actively worked in the field of book illustration, especially for the works of L. N. Tolstoy; The Great Encyclopedia "Terra" names the best of these works as the lithographs for the story "Kholstomer" (1934, for the publishing house "Academia"). Among the later works, a series of lithographic portraits of cultural figures stands out. He was married to Elizaveta Vladimirovna Giatsintova (1888-1965), daughter of art critic Vladimir Giatsintov and sister of actress Sofya Giatsintova.
"ABC in Pictures" by Alexandre Benois (1904)
Alexandre Benois, painter, graphic artist, theater artist, historian and art theorist, started with landscapes and worked mainly in watercolor. Since 1898, he has mastered the genre of book illustration, discovering a new area of fine art. The main body of his graphic works is associated with illustrations for Pushkin's works. In 1904, the ABC in Pictures saw the light of day, during the creation of which Benois acted both as the author of the idea, and as an illustrator and designer. The artist was faced with the task of not only illustrating, but inventing the artistic construction of the ABC.
Benois does not depict a specific object alone, but a situation where this object plays a key role. The artist prefers not a portrait, but a detailed narrative scene, with characters, with many small details. A cross-cutting character also appears in the ABC, who, according to the author's intention, masters the alphabet together with the child: his first portrait opens a series of illustrations, and the second one completes it.
Each era in Russia offered its own type of alphabet. The Silver Age brought readers the ABC in the style of the World of Art. The refined graphics of Benois are still an unsurpassed example of book illustration. Each page of the "ABC" is an amazing bewitching fairy-tale world.
Looking at a book evokes many associations, and when doing the traditional “story by picture” task for children, the imagination of young readers and their parents or mentors can be simply limitless. "Azbuka" received censorship permission on October 24, 1904, the production cycle for its publication took about six months. According to some information, 34 chromolithographs with gold and silver were printed in cooperation with I.Kadushin's printing house. A high retail price of 3 rubles was set for the book. The circulation was 2500 copies.
Each page of the "ABC" is an amazing, bewitching, fairy-tale world - a cheerful scene full of action and characters. These scenes are permeated with the spirit of home theaters, which were not uncommon in Russia in the former cozy times, with the poetry of "Petersburg children's rooms", which was noted with admiration by the writer Mikhail Kuzmin, according to whom Benois "himself, all, entirely in these rooms, these delights and phantasmagories. It's very homey, local, personal…"
Once, reflecting on children's books, Benois said that he would like to express in them "direct passion, fun, real, unimagined feelings, sun, forest, flowers, dreams of a distant and dangerous, courageous, heroic spirit, desire for a feat, beautiful pride ". We can easily find all this on the pages of the ABC in Pictures, sparkling with fantasy and fun...
Before the reform of Russian orthography in 1918, the letter "i" existed in the Russian language. It was used before vowels and before the letter "y" in such words as iod, history, Russian, Jerusalem.
Now, when we read pre-revolutionary texts, we must sometimes be very careful, because the letter "i" could seriously change the meaning of the word. For example, Vladimir Dal in his famous “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” distinguished between the words “mir” and “peace”.
"mir" - "the universe<…>, our land, the globe, all people, the whole world, the community, the society of peasants,
"peace" - "absence of quarrel, enmity, disagreement, war".
The letter "i" also got into the famous "ABC in Pictures", created by Alexandre Benois in 1904.
15.
"Academician Alexander Benois is the finest esthete, a wonderful artist, a charming person." A.V. Lunacharsky
worldwide fame Alexander Nikolaevich Benois acquired as a decorator and director of Russian ballets in Paris, but this is only part of the activity of an ever-seeking, addicted nature, who had irresistible charm and the ability to light others with her necks. Art historian, art critic, editor of the two largest art magazines "World of Art" and "Apollo", head of the painting department of the Hermitage and, finally, just a painter.
Himself Benois Alexander Nikolaevich wrote to his son from Paris in 1953 that "... the only work worthy of outliving me ... will probably be" a multi-volume book " A. Benois remembers", because "this story about Shurenka is at the same time quite detailed about a whole culture."
In his memoirs, Benois calls himself "the product of an artistic family." Indeed, his father Nicholas Benois was a famous architect, maternal grandfather A.K. Kavos - no less significant architect, creator of St. Petersburg theaters. Elder brother A.N. Benois-Albert is a popular watercolourist. With no less success, one can say that he was a "product" of an international family. On the father's side - a Frenchman, on the mother's side - an Italian, more precisely a Venetian. His kinship with Venice - the city of beautiful corruption of once powerful muses - Alexander Nikolaevich Benois felt particularly acute. He also had Russian blood. The Catholic religion did not interfere with the amazing reverence of the family for the Orthodox Church. One of the strongest childhood impressions of A. Benois is St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral (St. Nicholas of the Sea), a work of the Baroque era, the view of which was opened from the windows of the Benois family house. With all the understandable cosmopolitanism, Benois was the only place in the world that he loved with all his heart and considered his homeland - Petersburg. In this creation of Peter, which crossed Russia and Europe, he felt "some great, strict force, great predestination."
That amazing charge of harmony and beauty, which A. Benois received in childhood, helped to make his life something like a work of art, striking in its integrity. This was especially evident in his novel of life. On the threshold of the ninth decade, Benoit admits that he feels very young, and explains this "curiosity" by the fact that his adored wife's attitude towards him has not changed over time. AND " Memories He dedicated his own to her, Dear Ate"- Anna Karlovna Benois (née Kind). Their lives are connected from the age of 16. Atya was the first to share his artistic enthusiasm, the first creative tests. She was his muse, sensitive, very cheerful, artistically gifted. Not being a beauty, she seemed irresistible to Benois with her charming appearance, grace, and lively mind. But the serene happiness of the children in love was to be tested. Tired of the disapproval of relatives, they parted, but the feeling of emptiness did not leave them during the years of separation. And, finally, with what joy they met again and married in 1893.
The couple Benoit had three children - two daughters: Anna and Elena, and son Nikolai, who became a worthy successor to his father's work, a theater artist who worked a lot in Rome and in the Milan theater ...
A. Benois is often called " artist of Versailles". Versailles symbolizes in his work the triumph of art over the chaos of the universe.
This theme determines the originality of Benoit's historical retrospectivism, the sophistication of his stylization. The first Versailles series appears in 1896 - 1898. She was named " The last walks of Louis XIV". It includes such famous works as " The king walked in any weather», « Fish feeding". Versailles Benoit begins in Peterhof and Oranienbaum, where he spent his childhood years.
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Nevertheless, the first impression of Versailles, where he got for the first time during his honeymoon trip, was stunning. The artist was seized by the feeling that he "already once experienced it." Everywhere in the works of Versailles there is a slightly dejected, but still outstanding personality of Louis XIV, the King - the Sun. The feeling of the decline of a once majestic culture was extremely consonant with the era of the end of the century, when he lived Benoit.
In a more refined form, these ideas were embodied in the second Versailles series of 1906, in the most famous works of the artist: "", "", " Chinese pavilion», « jealous», « Fantasy on a Versailles theme". The grandiose in them coexists with the curious and exquisitely fragile.
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Finally, let us turn to the most significant that was created by the artist in the theater. This is primarily a staging of the ballet "" to the music of N. Cherepnin in 1909 and the ballet " Parsley to the music of I. Stravinsky in 1911.
Benois in these productions showed himself not only as a brilliant theater artist, but also as a talented libretto author. These ballets, as it were, personify the two ideals that lived in his soul. "" - the embodiment of European culture, the Baroque style, its pomp and grandeur, combined with overripeness and withering. In the libretto, which is a free adaptation of the famous work by Torquato Tasso " Liberated Jerusalem”, tells about a certain young man, Viscount Rene de Beaugency, who, during a hunt, finds himself in the lost pavilion of an old park, where he is miraculously transported to the world of a living tapestry - the beautiful gardens of Armida. But the spell is dispelled, and he, having seen the highest beauty, returns to reality. What remains is the eerie impression of life forever poisoned by mortal longing for extinct beauty, for fantastic reality. In this magnificent performance, the world of retrospective paintings seems to come to life. Benoit.
IN " Petrushka But the Russian theme was embodied, the search for the ideal of the people's soul. This performance sounded all the more poignant and nostalgic because the booths and their hero Petrushka, so beloved by Benois, were already becoming the past. In the play, dolls animated by the evil will of the old man - a magician act: Petrushka - an inanimate character, endowed with all the living qualities that a suffering and spiritualized person has; his lady Colombina is a symbol of eternal femininity and "arap" is rude and undeservedly triumphant. But the end of this puppet drama Benoit sees not the same as in the usual farce theater.
In 1918, Benois became the head of the Hermitage art gallery and did a lot to make the museum the largest in the world. In the late 1920s, the artist left Russia and lived in Paris for almost half a century. He died in 1960 at the age of 90. A few years before death Benoit writes to his friend I.E. Grabar, to Russia: “And how I would like to be where my eyes were opened to the beauty of life and nature, where I first tasted love. Why am I not at home?! Everyone remembers some pieces of the most modest, but so sweet landscape.
