---> "World of Art": stages and nature of activity. Easel and theatrical and decorative arts, magazine graphics and literary illustration. A.A. Benois is the leader of the art association. The "older" generation of organizers of the "World of Art" at the turn of the 1890s -
In 1898, a new art association was founded in St. Petersburg, called the World of Art. The artist A.N. Benois and philanthropist S.P. Diaghilev were at the head of the formed circle. The main core of the association was L.S. Bakst, E.E. Lansere, K.A. Somov. The World of Art arranged exhibitions and published a magazine under the same name. The association included a lot of artists: M.A. Vrubel, V.A. Serov, I.I. Levitan, M.V. Nesterov, A.P. Ryabushkin, N.K. Roerich, B.M. Kustodiev, ZE .Serebryakova, K.S. Petrov-Vodkin.
"Classic" period of activity of the "World of Art" - 1898-1904; During this time, 6 exhibitions were organized. The last, sixth exhibition was an attempt by S.P. Diaghilev to prevent the active delimitation of creative forces within the "World of Art" (in 1901 a number of Moscow artists left the society and organized an "Exhibition of 36 Artists", in 1903 - the "Union of Russian Artists" was formed).
The aesthetics of most representatives of the "World of Art" is a Russian version of Art Nouveau. Miriskussniki defended the freedom of individual creativity. Beauty was recognized as the main source of inspiration. The modern world, in their opinion, is devoid of beauty and therefore unworthy of attention. In search of the beautiful, the artists of the "World of Art" often turn to the monuments of the past in their works. For artists of the early twentieth century, social problems in history lose their paramount importance, the leading place in their work is occupied by the image of the beauty of ancient life, the reconstruction of historical landscapes, the creation of a poetic romantic image of "bygone centuries". Acute collisions and significant historical figures interested them much less than the originality of the costume, the unique flavor of antiquity. The leading in the works of many artists who were part of the "World of Art" was the historical and everyday genre.
The classical period in the life of the association fell on 1900-1904 - at this time, the group was characterized by a special unity of aesthetic and ideological principles. Artists organized exhibitions under the auspices of the World of Art magazine.
The artistic orientation of the "World of Art" was associated with Art Nouveau and Symbolism. In contrast to the ideas of the Wanderers, the artists of the World of Art proclaimed the priority of the aesthetic principle in art. The members of the "World of Art" argued that art is primarily an expression of the artist's personality. In one of the first issues of the magazine, S. Diaghilev wrote: "A work of art is important not in itself, but only as an expression of the creator's personality." Believing that modern civilization is antagonistic to culture, the "World of Art" sought an ideal in the art of the past. Artists and writers, in their paintings and on magazine pages, revealed to the Russian society the then little appreciated beauty of medieval architecture and ancient Russian icon painting, the grace of classical Petersburg and the palaces surrounding it, made them think about the modern sound of ancient civilizations and re-evaluate their own artistic and literary heritage.
In the history of theatrical and decorative painting of the 20th century, the masters of the "World of Art" played an outstanding role, the significance of which is not limited by the boundaries of the national visual culture. We are talking not only about the wide European recognition of Russian theater artists, but also about the direct impact of the latter on the world theatrical and decorative painting. By this time, Russian theatrical and decorative painting, which once knew periods of high prosperity, managed to fall into a miserable decline, because it had largely lost touch with the advanced phenomena of modern national art. From the hands of great artists, it passed into the hands of "professionals" who knew nothing outside their narrow specialty, and even in it they rarely rose above the craft level. At the Mammoth Opera, this practice was abandoned. Great painters again turned to theatrical work - at first the Wanderers V.M. Vasnetsov and V.D. Polenov, and after them the masters of the younger generation - M. Vrubel and K. Korovin. As a result of their activities, the role of the artist in the theater has increased again, and the confidence in the creative environment has grown stronger that the scenery and costumes are an integral element of the artistic image created by the performance. The work of M. Vrubel, A. Golovin and K. Korovin had yet another meaning: overcoming the “everydayism” of impersonal standard scenery, they created on the stage an atmosphere of a special “theatrical reality”, poetically exalted above everyday life.
Individual artists of the "World of Art" were involved in theatrical life at a time when such productions as the opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" in the scenery of Vrubel (1900), the ballet "The Little Humpbacked Horse" in the scenery of K. Korovin (1901) had already been created and the opera The Maid of Pskov in the scenery of Golovin (1901). A new stage in the development of Russian decorative painting began.
In 1898, the first issue of the monthly illustrated art magazine "World of Arts" was published in St. Petersburg, which was published until 1904. The magazine was the organ of the artistic association "World of Art" and symbolist writers.
From the first issue, the artists who rallied around S.P. Diaghilev, not only participated in the creation of the magazine, making covers, preparing illustrations, screensavers and vignettes, but formed a new idea of popular and artistic publications. They drew attention to the importance of font and format, the relationship between text and illustrations.
The Bronze Horseman with illustrations by A.N. Benois and White Nights in the design of M.V. Dobuzhinsky. In exile, the "World of Art" continued to create illustrated editions, which were printed in Paris, Berlin, Rome and New York. A.N. Benois illustrated "The Captain's Daughter" by A.S. Pushkin, "The Sinner" by Henri de Regnier. I.Ya.Bilibin made drawings for Russian folk tales and French medieval ballads. B.D. Grigoriev performed 60 illustrations for "The Brothers Karamazov" by F.M. Dostoevsky, designed "First Love" by I.S. Turgenev, "Childhood" by A.M. Gorky and "Children's Island" by S. Cherny.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION "World of Art", Russian art association. Formed in the late 1890s. Petersburg on the basis of a circle of young artists and art lovers, headed by A. N. Benois and S. P. Diaghilev. It existed in its original form as an exhibition union under the auspices of the World of Art magazine until 1904; in an expanded composition, having lost their ideological and creative unity, in the majority of the masters “M. And." was a member of the Union of Russian Artists. In addition to the main core (L. S. Bakst, M. V. Dobuzhinsky, E. E. Lancers, A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, K. A. Somov), “M. And." included many St. Petersburg and Moscow painters and graphic artists (I. Ya. Bilibin, A. Ya. Golovin, I. E. Grabar, K. A. Korovin, B. M. Kustodiev, N. K. Roerich, V. A. Serov and etc.). In the exhibitions "M. And." M. A. Vrubel, I. I. Levitan, M. V. Nesterov, as well as some foreign artists participated.
THE WORLD OF ARTS MAGAZINE The Mir Iskusstva art association announced itself by issuing a magazine of the same name at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The release of the first issue of the magazine "World of Art" in St. Petersburg at the end of 1898 was the result of ten years of communication between a group of painters and graphic artists headed by Alexander Nikolaevich Benois ().
IDEA BASIS The main idea of the association was expressed in the article of the outstanding philanthropist and connoisseur of art Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev () “Difficult questions. Our imaginary decline. The main goal of artistic creativity was declared to be beauty, and beauty in the subjective understanding of each master. Such an attitude to the tasks of art gave the artist absolute freedom in choosing themes, images and means of expression, which was quite new and unusual for Russia.
Of great importance for the masters who united around Benois and Diaghilev was cooperation with Symbolist writers. In the twelfth issue of the magazine for 1902, the poet Andrei Bely published an article "Forms of Art", and since then the largest symbolist poets have been regularly published on its pages.
ALEXANDER BENOIS Benois's best graphic works; among them, illustrations for the poem by A. S. Pushkin "The Bronze Horseman" (gg.) are especially interesting. Petersburg became the main “hero” of the whole cycle: its streets, canals, architectural masterpieces appear either in the cold severity of thin lines, or in the dramatic contrast of bright and dark spots. At the climax of the tragedy, when Eugene is running from the formidable giant, a monument to Peter, galloping after him, the master paints the city with dark, gloomy colors.
LEON BAKST The design of theatrical performances is the brightest page in the work of Lev Samuilovich Bakst (real name Rosenberg;). His most interesting works are associated with opera and ballet productions of the Russian Seasons in Paris. a kind of festival of Russian art, organized by Diaghilev.
LEON BAKST Particularly remarkable are the sketches of the costumes, which have become independent graphic works. The artist modeled the costume, focusing on the system of movements of the dancer, through lines and color, he sought to reveal the pattern of the dance and the nature of the music. In his sketches, the sharpness of vision of the image, a deep understanding of the nature of ballet movements and amazing grace are striking.
WORLD ARTISTS AND ROCOCO One of the main themes for many masters of the "World of Art" was the appeal to the past, longing for the lost ideal world. Favorite era was the XVIII century, and above all the Rococo period. The artists not only tried to resurrect this time in their work, they drew public attention to the true art of the 18th century, actually rediscovering the work of the French painters Antoine Watteau and Honore Fragonard and their compatriots Fyodor Rokotov and Dmitry Levitsky.
KONSTANTIN SOMOV With particular expressiveness, rococo motifs appeared in the works of Konstantin Andreevich Somov (). He early joined the history of art (the artist's father was the curator of the Hermitage collections). After graduating from the Academy of Arts, the young master became a great connoisseur of old painting.
KONSTANTIN SOMOV Somov brilliantly imitated her technique in his paintings. The main genre of his work could be called variations on the theme of the "gallant scene". Indeed, on the canvases of the artist, the characters of Watteau, ladies in magnificent dresses and wigs, actors of the comedy of masks, seem to come to life again. They flirt, flirt, sing serenades in the alleys of the park, surrounded by the caressing glow of the sunset light.
KONSTANTIN SOMOV Somov managed to express his nostalgic admiration for the past especially subtly through female images. The famous work "Lady in Blue" (gg.) Portrait of a contemporary master artist E. M. Martynova. She is dressed in old fashion and is depicted against the backdrop of a poetic landscape park. The manner of painting brilliantly imitates the Biedermeier style. But the obvious morbidity of the heroine's appearance (Martynova soon died of tuberculosis) evokes a feeling of acute longing, and the idyllic softness of the landscape seems unreal, existing only in the artist's imagination.
NICHOLAS RERICH Russian artist, philosopher, mystic, scientist, writer, traveler, archaeologist, public figure, freemason, poet, teacher. Creator of about 7,000 paintings (many of which are in famous galleries around the world) and about 30 literary works, author of the idea and initiator of the Roerich Pact, founder of the international cultural movements "Peace through Culture" and "Banner of Peace".
NICHOLAS RERICH Art will unite humanity. Art is one and indivisible. Art has many branches, but the root is one... Everyone feels the truth of beauty. The gates of the sacred spring must be opened to all. The light of art will illuminate countless hearts with new love. At first, this feeling will come unconsciously, but after that it will purify the entire human consciousness. How many young hearts are looking for something beautiful and true. Give it to them. Give art to the people where it belongs.
CONTROL QUESTIONS (CONTINUED) 7 - WHO WROTE THE PORTRAIT OF ZINAIDA GIPPIUS? 8 - WHO WAS FAMOUS FOR WORK RELATED TO OPERA AND BALLET STATIONS? 9 - WHO WERE CALLED "THE RAINBOW SINGER"? 10 - WHO EARNED THE REPUTATION OF THE SEER, THE GURU? 11 - NAME ROSENBERG'S NAME.
« WORLD OF ART» -
Russian art association, which took shape in the late 1890s. (officially - in 1900) on the basis of a circle of young artists and art lovers, headed by A. Benois and S. Diaghilev.
World of Art. Symbolism. Russia.
Bakst, Lev Samoilovich. Portrait of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev with his nanny
As an exhibition union under the auspices of the World of Art, the association existed until 1904, in an expanded membership - in 1910-1924.
In 1904-1910 most of the masters of the "World of Art" were members of the Union of Russian Artists.
In addition to the main core (L. Bakst, M. Dobuzhinsky, E. Lansere, A. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, K. Somov), the World of Art included many St. Petersburg and Moscow painters and graphic artists (I. Bilibin, A. Golovin, I. Grabar , K. Korovin, B. Kustodiev, N. Roerich, V. Serov and others).
M. Vrubel, I. Levitan, M. Nesterov and others participated in the exhibitions of the World of Art.
The ideological attitudes of the figures of the "World of Art" were largely determined by the sharp rejection of the anti-aestheticism of modern society, the desire for "eternal" spiritual and artistic values.
Recognition of the social role of artistic creativity, called, according to the theorists of the "World of Art", to aesthetically transform the surrounding reality, they combined with the ideal of "free" or "pure" art; declaring its independence, they rejected both academicism and the work of the Wanderers (recognizing, however, the aesthetic significance of the latter), criticized the aesthetics of Russian revolutionary democrats and the concepts of V. Stasov.
Ideologically and stylistically, the early "World of Art" was close to Western European art groups that united theorists and practitioners of modernity: the figurative structure of the works of a significant part of the artists of the "World of Art" was also formed on the basis of the poetics of symbolism and, more broadly, neo-romanticism.
At the same time, a common feature of the majority of the "World of Art" was the recognition of the artistic charm of the past as the main source of inspiration.
In their works, they (often in an ironic, on the verge of self-parody vein) revived the elegance and peculiar "puppetry" of Rococo, the noble austerity of the Russian Empire.
They created a special lyrical type of historical landscape, tinged either with elegy (Benois) or with major romance (Lancere).
Refined decorativeism, elegant linearity, sometimes turning into ornamentation, and an exquisite combination of matte tones have become common to the works of members of the World of Art.
The work of a number of representatives of the World of Art was characterized by neoclassical tendencies (Bakst, Serov, Dobuzhinsky) or a passion for ancient Russian culture and history (Bilibin, Roerich).
The search for a style-forming beginning, “holistic art” was most fully realized by the masters of the “World of Art” in their works for the theater, in a few experiments in interior design, and mainly in graphics, which played a leading role in their work.
Their activities are associated with the final transformation of engraving from a reproduction technique into a creative type of graphics (color prints by Ostroumova-Lebedeva, etc.), the flowering of book illustration and the art of the book (Benois, Bilibin, etc.).
After 1904, significant changes took place in the ideological and aesthetic views of the leading artists of the World of Art.
During the Revolution of 1905-1907. some of them (Dobuzhinsky, Lansere, Serov, and others) appear as masters of political satire.
The new stage in the existence of the "World of Art" is also characterized by its dissociation from the extreme leftist trends in Russian art, statements in favor of the regulation of artistic creativity (the idea of the "new Academy" put forward by Benois), the intensification of theatrical activities and the promotion of contemporary Russian art abroad (participation in foreign enterprise of Diaghilev).
Since 1917, a number of members of the "World of Art" (Benois, Grabar, and others) turned to museum-organizational and restoration activities.
World of Art
World of Art (1898-1924) - an artistic association formed in Russia
in the late 1890s. A magazine published under the same name began in 1898.
group members.
A.N. Benois among artists. August 1898
World of Art - a monthly illustrated art magazine, published in St. Petersburg
from 1898 to 1904, entirely devoted to the promotion of the work of Russian symbolists and
which was the body of the association of the same name - "World of Art" and symbolist writers.
Publishers - Princess M. K. Tenisheva and S. I. Mamontov, editor was S. P. Diaghilev;
since 1902 Diaghilev became the publisher; with No. 10 for 1903, the editor was also
A. N. Benois.
Magazine cover for 1901 Benois among the artists. August 1898
The association loudly declared itself by organizing the "Exhibition of Russian and Finnish
Artists" in 1898 at the Museum of the Central School of Technical Drawing
Baron A. L. Stieglitz.
The classical period in the life of the association fell on 1900-1904. - at this time for
The group was characterized by a special unity of aesthetic and ideological principles. Artists
arranged exhibitions under the auspices of the magazine "World of Art".
After 1904, the association expanded and lost its ideological unity. In 1904-1910
most of the members of the "World of Art" were members of the "Union of Russian Artists".
Artists of the Society "World of Art" in the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts.
Petersburg. March 1914
At the founding meeting on October 19, 1910, the art society "World of Art"
was revived (N. K. Roerich was elected chairman). After the revolution, many of its leaders
were forced to emigrate. The association actually ceased to exist in 1924.
B. M. Kustodiev. "Group portrait of the members of the association "World of Art"". 1916-1920.
Left to right: I.E. Grabar, N.K. Roerich, E.E. Lansere, B.M. Kustodiev, I.Ya. Bilibin,
A.P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, A.N. Benois, G.I. Narbut, K.S. Petrov-Vodkin, N.D. Milioti,
K.A. Somov, M.V. Dobuzhinsky.
After the successful Russian-Finnish exhibition at the end of 1898, an association was created
"World of Art", one of the founders of which was Benois. Together with S. Diaghilev
he becomes the editor of the magazine of the same name, which became the herald of neo-romanticism.
Motivating the emergence of the "World of Art", Benoit wrote:
"We were guided not so much by considerations of an 'ideological' order, but by considerations
practical necessity. A number of young artists had nowhere to go. Their
or were not accepted at all to large exhibitions - academic, traveling and watercolor,
or accepted only with a rejection of everything in which the artists themselves saw the most
a clear expression of his quest ... And that's why Vrubel turned out to be next to us
Bakst, and Somov next to Malyavin. The "unrecognized" were joined by those of the "recognized"
who were uncomfortable in the approved groups. Mainly, we were approached by Levitan,
Korovin and, to our greatest joy, Serov. Again, ideologically and by the whole culture they
belonged to a different circle, they were the last offspring of realism, not devoid of
"peredvizhnaya coloring". But with us they were connected by hatred for everything stale,
established, dead."
Magazine cover from 1900
The World of Art magazine came out in the fall of 1898, with an 1899 imprint. He
caused even more noise than the exhibition. Setting the World of Art on pure art,
free from ideological predilections, of course, wandering and academism,
seemed obviously flawed, which was also found in the paintings of young artists.
Similar phenomena occurred in architecture, and in poetry, and in the theater, which
perceived as decadence and what was defined as Russian modern.
Harlequinade. Screensaver in the magazine "World of Art", 1902, N ° 7-9. 1902
"The World of Art" was published until 1901 - once every 2 weeks, then - monthly.
It was a literary and artistic illustrated magazine of the widest content,
which sealed his fate. They talk about the popularization of Russian art XVIII -
the beginning of the 19th century, on the promotion of samples of folk art and handicrafts
crafts, which manifested the aesthetics of the World of Art and the interests of patrons
Elephants. Screensaver in the magazine "World of Art", 1902. N ° 7-9. 1902
The magazine widely introduced the reader to modern Russian and foreign art
life (articles and notes by A.N. Benois, I.E. Grabar, S.P. Diaghilev, V.V. Kandinsky,
excerpts from Op. R. Muther and J. Meyer-Grefe, reviews of foreign publications,
reproduction of exhibition expositions, reproductions of modern Russian and
Western European painting and graphics).
This corresponded to the main aspirations of friends from the Benois circle - the achievement of development
Russian art in line with European and global art, based on
thoughts about our backwardness, which, however, will reveal something unexpected: the development of Russian
classical literature, music and painting will turn into a revolution in the theater in the world
scale and what we now recognize as a Renaissance phenomenon.
In addition, literary-critical articles were published on the pages of the World of Art
V.Ya.Bryusov and Andrei Bely, who formulated the aesthetics of Russian symbolism.
But most of all the place was occupied by the religious and philosophical works of D. S. Merezhkovsky,
Z. N. Gippius, N. M. Minsky, L. Shestova, V. V. Rozanov.
With notebooks of his poems,
Long ago you crumbled to dust,
Like branches flown around lilacs.
You are in a country where there are no ready-made forms,
Where everything is scattered, mixed, broken,
Where instead of the sky - only a grave hill
And the lunar orbit is motionless.
There in a different, slurred language
Sings the synclit of soundless insects,
There with a small flashlight in hand
Beetle-man greets acquaintances.
Are you calm, my comrades?
Is it easy for you? And have you forgotten everything?
Now you are brothers - roots, ants,
Blades of grass, sighs, columns of dust.
Now you sisters are flowers of carnations,
Lilac nipples, slivers, chickens...
And I can't remember your language
There's a left brother up there.
He still has no place in those parts,
Where did you disappear, light as shadows,
In wide hats, long jackets,
With notebooks of his poems.
Nikolay Zabolotsky.
COURSE WORK
in the discipline "Culturology"
on the topic: "Association" World of Art ""
Introduction
1. The history of the journal and the role of Diaghilev in its creation
2. Principles of publishing the journal and its concept
3. The role and significance of the journal in the cultural life of Russia
Conclusion
In the cultural life of Russia, the turn of the two centuries of the 19th and 20th centuries was marked by the founding of the journal "World of Art". The first to gain self-confidence in order to break out of the framework of private art to the general public were not critics and poets, but artists, musicians and people in love with opera, theater and ballet. It was they who first founded the association, and then the first Russian modernist magazine. They set themselves the task of "grooming Russian painting, cleaning it up and, most importantly, bringing it to the West, glorifying it in the West."
The purpose of the course work is to study in detail the activities of the modernist magazine "World of Art". To achieve the goal, the following tasks were set: to consider in detail the creation of the association of artists "World of Art" and the magazine "World of Art"; study the concept of the journal and the principles of its publication; to analyze the role and significance of the magazine "World of Art" in the cultural life of Russia.
At the end of the 19th century, artistic life in Russia was very lively. The society showed an increased interest in numerous art exhibitions and auctions, in articles and periodicals devoted to fine arts. Not only Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also many provincial newspapers and magazines had corresponding permanent headings. Various kinds of artistic associations arose, setting themselves various tasks, but mainly of an educational nature, which was influenced by the traditions of the Wanderers. One of these associations was the "World of Art" (1898–1904), which at different times included almost all leading Russian artists: L. Bakst, A. Benois, M. Vrubel, A. Golovin, M. Dobuzhinsky , K. Korovin, E. Lansere, I. Levitan, M. Nesterov, V. Serov, K. Somov and others. All of them, very different, were united by a protest against the official art promoted by the Academy and the naturalism of the Wanderers.
The emergence of the association "World of Art" was preceded by a small home "circle of self-education" in the apartment of A. Benois, where his friends from the private gymnasium of K. May gathered: D. Filosofov, V. Nouvel, and then L. Bakst, S. Diaghilev, E. Lansere, A. Nurok, K. Somov. The slogan of the circle was "art for art's sake" in the sense that artistic creativity in itself carries the highest value and does not need ideological prescriptions from outside. At the same time, this association did not represent any artistic movement, direction, or school. It was made up of bright individuals, each went his own way.
The art of the "World of Art" arose "on the edge of thin feathers of graphic artists and poets." The atmosphere of new romanticism, which penetrated into Russia from Europe, resulted in the vagaries of the vignettes of the then fashionable magazines of the Moscow symbolists "Scales", "Golden Fleece". The design of the patterned fences of St. Petersburg was connected with the aspirations of the artists of the Abramtsevo circle I. Bilibin, M. Vrubel, V. Vasnetsov, S. Malyutin to create a “Russian national style”.
From the point of view of the artistic method, if we talk about the most important thing in the work of "typical" World of Art artists, they are more synthetics than analysts, graphic artists than painters. In the graphics of the World of Art, the drawing often follows a pre-composed pattern, and the color spot is outlined in order to emphasize its “synthetic”, decorative character to the maximum. Hence rationality, irony, play, decorativism. Drawing, painting and even sculpture obeyed the decorative-graphic principle. This also explains the attraction to the synthesis of various types and genres of art: the combination in one composition of a landscape, still life, portrait or "historical study"; the inclusion of painting, sculpture, relief in architecture, the desire to use new materials, the "exit" to book graphics and musical theater. However, the desire for "artistic synthesis", generally characteristic of the modern period, which, it would seem, should have led to the creation of a "grand style", in the most paradoxical way became the reason for the limited creativity of the World of Art. These artists “reduced the concept of the pictorial by interpreting it as a decorative sensation of reality ... here was a contradiction that led to a deep crisis, the rapid disintegration of such a bright and energetic direction ... From the intense activity of a brilliant era, a lot of beautiful works remained ... But completely there were no works of entirely significant ... "
We will dwell on the biography of Benois, as one of the organizers and inspirers of the association, and later the magazine "World of Art" in more detail.
A painter and easel graphic artist, illustrator and book designer, master of theatrical scenery, director, author of ballet librettos, Benois was at the same time an outstanding historian of Russian and Western European art, a theorist and sharp publicist, an insightful critic, a major museum figure, an incomparable connoisseur of theater, music and choreography. . The main feature of his character should be called an all-consuming love for art; versatility of knowledge served only as an expression of this love. In all his activities, in science, art criticism, in every movement of his thought, Benois always remained an artist. Contemporaries saw in him the living embodiment of the spirit of artistry.
Alexander Nikolaevich Benois - the son of Nikolai Leontyevich Benois, academician and architect, and musician Kamilla Albertovna (nee Kavos) - was born on May 3, 1870. By birth and upbringing, Benois belonged to the St. Petersburg artistic intelligentsia. For generations, art was a hereditary profession in his family. Benois' maternal great-grandfather K. A. Cavos was a composer and conductor, his grandfather was an architect who built a lot in St. Petersburg and Moscow; the artist's father was also a major architect, the elder brother was famous as a watercolor painter. The consciousness of the young Benois developed in an atmosphere of artistic impressions and artistic interests.
The artistic tastes and views of the young Benois were formed in opposition to his family, which adhered to conservative "academic" views. The decision to become an artist matured very early in him; but after a short stay at the Academy of Arts, which brought only disappointment, Benois preferred to get a law degree at St. Petersburg University, and go through professional art training on his own, according to his own program.
Daily hard work, constant training in drawing from nature, the exercise of fantasy in working on compositions, combined with an in-depth study of art history, gave the artist a confident skill that is not inferior to the skill of his peers who studied at the Academy. With the same perseverance, Benois prepared for the work of an art historian, studying the Hermitage, studying special literature, traveling to historical cities and museums in Germany, Italy and France.
Self-study in painting (mainly watercolor) was not in vain, and in 1893 Benois first appeared as a landscape painter at the exhibition of the Russian "Society of Watercolors".
A year later, he made his debut as an art historian, publishing in German an essay on Russian art in Muther's book The History of Painting in the 19th Century, published in Munich. (Russian translations of Benois' essay were published in the same year in the magazines Artist and Russian Art Archive.) He was immediately talked about as a talented art critic who turned the established ideas about the development of Russian art upside down.
Immediately declaring himself both a practitioner and a theorist of art at the same time, Benois maintained this dual unity in subsequent years, his talent and energy were enough for everything.
In 1895–1899 Alexander Benois was the curator of the collection of modern European and Russian paintings and drawings of Princess M. K. Tenisheva; in 1896 he organized a small Russian department for the Secession exhibition in Munich; in the same year he made his first trip to Paris; painted views of Versailles, initiating his series on Versailles themes, so beloved to him throughout his life.
The series of watercolors “The Last Walks of Louis XIV” (1897–1898, Russian Museum and other collections), created on the basis of impressions from trips to France, was his first serious work in painting, in which he showed himself to be an original artist. This series for a long time approved for him the glory of "the singer of Versailles and Louis".
Motivating the emergence of The World of Art, Benois wrote: “We were guided not so much by considerations of an “ideological” order, but by considerations of practical necessity. A number of young artists had nowhere to go. They were either not accepted at all for large exhibitions - academic, traveling and watercolor, or they were accepted only with the rejection of everything in which the artists themselves saw the most clear expression of their quests ... And that's why Vrubel ended up next to Bakst, and Somov next with Malyavin. The "unrecognized" were joined by those of the "recognized" who felt uncomfortable in the approved groups. Mainly Levitan, Korovin and, to our greatest joy, Serov came up to us. Again, ideologically and in their entire culture, they belonged to a different circle, they were the last offspring of realism, not without a “wandering coloring”. But they were connected with us by their hatred for everything stale, established, dead.”
Throughout his long journey as an artist, critic and art historian, Benois remained true to the high understanding of the classical tradition and aesthetic criteria in art, defended the inherent value of artistic creativity and fine culture based on strong traditions. It is also important that all of Benois' multifaceted activities were, in fact, devoted to one goal: the glorification of Russian art.
