"The ABC in Pictures" by Alexandre Benois (1904)
Alexandre Benois, painter, graphic artist, theater artist, historian and art theorist, began with landscapes and worked mainly in watercolors. Since 1898, he has been mastering the genre of book illustration, opening up a new area for himself visual arts. The main body of his graphic works is associated with illustrations to the works of Pushkin. In 1904, “The ABC in Pictures” was released, during the creation of which Benoit acted simultaneously as the author of the concept, and as an illustrator and designer. The artist was faced with the task of not just illustrating, but inventing the artistic design of the “ABC”.
Benoit does not depict a specific object alone, but a situation where this object plays a key role. The artist gives preference not to a portrait, but to a detailed narrative scene, with characters, with many small parts. A cross-cutting character also appears in “The ABC,” who, according to the author’s plan, 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. silver Age brought readers an alphabet in the style of the World of Art. Benoit's exquisite graphics are still an unsurpassed example of book illustration. Each page of "The ABC" is amazingly mesmerizing fairy world.
Looking at a book evokes many associations, and when performing the traditional task for children “telling a story from a picture,” the imagination of little 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 collaboration with the printing house of I. Kadushin. The book had a high retail price of 3 rubles. The circulation was 2500 copies.
Each page of "ABC" is an amazing, bewitching, fairy-tale world - a cheerful scene, full of action and characters. These scenes are imbued with the spirit of home theaters, which were not uncommon in Russia in former cozy times, with the poetry of “St. Petersburg children’s rooms,” which was noted with admiration by the writer Mikhail Kuzmin, according to whom Benoit “himself, completely, entirely in these rooms, these delights and phantasmagoria. It's very homely, local, personal..."
Once, reflecting on children's books, Benoit said that he would like to express in them “immediate passion, fun, real, unimagined feelings, sun, forest, flowers, dreams of distant and dangerous things, courageous, heroic spirit, desire for achievement, 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 spelling in 1918, the letter “i” existed in the Russian language. It was used before vowels and before the letter “y” in words such as iod, history, Russian, Jerusalem.
Now, when we read pre-revolutionary texts, we sometimes need to be very careful, since the letter “i” could seriously change the meaning of the word. For example, Vladimir Dal in his famous “ Explanatory dictionary living Great Russian language" distinguished between the words "mir" and "peace".
"mir" - "universe"<…>, our land, Earth, all people, the whole world, community, society of peasants,”
“peace” - “the absence of quarrel, hostility, disagreement, war.”
The letter “i” also appeared in the famous “ABC in Pictures” created by Alexandre Benois in 1904.
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A.S. Pushkin “The Bronze Horseman”
The history of the creation of the poem The poem is based on real story flood that occurred in November 1824 in St. Petersburg. During the flood, Pushkin was in exile in Mikhailovskoye, so in the poem he described the events according to eyewitnesses. The story about the “revived monument” could have been taken by Pushkin from the story about how in 1812 Emperor Alexander I wanted to remove the monument to Peter from St. Petersburg. But the emperor was stopped by reporting the dream of a major. 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 while I’m in place, my city has nothing to fear.” According to another version, Pushkin could have borrowed the idea of a revived monument from Don Juan.
Illustrations by A. N. Benois for the poem “ Bronze Horseman» Evgeny at the place where his beloved lived Eugene talking to the Bronze Horseman
Alexander Nikolaevich Benoit 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. He studied for some time at the Academy of Arts, and also studied fine arts independently and under the guidance of his older brother Albert. In 1894 he graduated from the Faculty of Law 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 paintings of the 19th century century." In 1896-1898 and 1905-1907 he worked in France. Became one of the organizers and ideologists 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 year Benoit headed the Hermitage Picture Gallery 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 at the Petrograd Bolshoi Drama Theater. In 1925 he took part in International exhibition modern decorative and industrial arts in Paris. In 1926, A. N. Benois left the USSR. Lived in Paris, where he worked on sketches theatrical scenery and suits. Participated in S. Diaghilev’s ballet enterprise “Ballets Russes” as an artist and director of performances. Died on February 9, 1960 in Paris. In recent years, he has been working 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 Semenovich Rodionov (1885, Uryupinsky district 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 the sculpture department (1915-1918). In the 1920s was part 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 best of these works Great encyclopedia“Terra” calls the lithographs for the story “The Canvasser” (1934, for the publishing house “Academia”). Among 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 Sofia Giatsintova.
FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION
State educational institution higher
vocational education
"RUSSIAN STATE HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY"
Faculty of Art History
Department general history arts
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF ILLUSTRATIONS BY A. N. BENOIT FOR “THE BRONZE HORMARD” BY A. S. PUSHKININ PUBLICATIONS1903-23 GODOV
Coursework for a first-year evening student
Petrova Maria Igorevna
Scientific adviser:
Ph.D. in History of Arts,
Associate Professor Yakimovich E. A.
Moscow 2011
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………..…. 3
CHAPTERI. Book graphics. Alexander Benois.
I.1 . Book illustration in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century ………… 4
I.2. Alexandra Benois in art …………………............................ 7
CHAPTERII
II. 1 . Creation and publication of illustrations……….…………... 11
II. 2 . Description and analysis of illustrations………….……………... 14
CONCLUSION …………………………………………...…………….. 20
LIST OF SOURCES AND REFERENCES …………………...….. 21
INTRODUCTION
In this work we will talk about a series of graphic works performed by the famous Russian artist and art historian - Alexander Benois, as illustrations for the poem by A.S. Pushkin - “The Bronze Horseman”, as well as the chronology of its creation and publications. We will get acquainted with the concept of “book art”, with its development and principles.
The main objective of the work is to analyze and compare illustrations in the 1903 edition, published in the magazine “World of Art” with later ones, published with the assistance of the St. Petersburg Committee for the Popularization of Art Publications in 1923. And also to follow the stylistic and content changes in illustrations over two decades and the artist’s view of Pushkin’s work, its symbolism and topicality.
CHAPTERI. Alexandre Benois and the “art of the book”
"The Art of the Book"
According to B. R. Vipper, book graphics are one of the main areas of application of graphic art. Development is connected with the book graphic drawing, as well as engravings, type and other graphic forms.
On turn of the 19th century– The 20th century saw the rise of Russian graphic art. In Russia there were a large number various directions and controversial artistic movements. At the same time, the art of book graphics also underwent changes, which, in the opinion of artists of new formations, had previously been taken insufficiently seriously and carelessly. There was a concept of “art in the book” rather than “book art” as the harmonious coexistence of all elements within the space of each publication.
Fundamentally new approach Alexander Benois announced to book illustration, he introduced the very concept of “book art,” although attention was paid to this term only in 1922, after the publication of the book by A. A. Sidorov, the future famous Russian art scientist and bibliographer, which was called “ The art of the book." In it he wrote: A “decorated” book is not at all any better; the purpose of illustrations is not to decorate the book at all, to explain the story or to lead one’s own story in parallel... Illustrations, if they are good, will be good outside the text (Dürer, Beardsley, Holbein); the highest danger is where it is unknown what is what: an illustration to a text or a text to an illustration; but an ideal book does not need any decorations or tricks of typographic art” 1. But he sees a direct connection between the content of the text and the illustration, calls on artists to be even to a greater extent"readers" rather than draftsmen.
Benoit also advocated harmony between text and illustration: “Even when an artist is called only to decorate a book, he is obliged to remember its integrity, that his role is subordinate and that it can become beautiful and exemplary only if he manages to create beauty in this subordination, in this harmony. ..” 2, but, adhering to the same position as Sidorov’s regarding the “architecture” of the book, he saw the true “art of the book” not in the complete subordination of the drawing to the text, as in Sidorov, but rather in the expression of the spirit and mood of the work, as it is said by Vipper: “The task of the illustrator is not only to accurately repeat the text, not only to transform verbal images into optical ones, but also to strive to create anew those positions, moods and emotions that the poet cannot give, in the ability to read between the lines , interpret the spirit of the work with completely new stylistic means and at the same time determine your attitude to the main idea of the book, give a judgment about it” 3. Subsequently, Sidorov will write: “from a book, as from any product of human hands, we have the right to first demand mastery. It must be “appetizingly” made” 4, thus refuting his categorical statement about the self-sufficiency of the “naked” book in favor of an aesthetics close to Benoit.
Drawing techniques, methods and techniques are also closely related to the technical capabilities of reproduction. Those. Every drawing that comes from the artist’s pen, brush or chisel must become a print and be processed into a printed form, due to which the quality of the image sometimes suffers to the detriment of the original. This feature must also be taken into account book illustrator. All this gives book graphics a special, dual position in the 20th century. On the one hand, it was closely connected with literature and, in general, a wide range of artistic and spiritual interests, i.e. - belonged to high art, on the other hand, each publication was subject to strict technical requirements, and thus became an object of industrial and applied art. It was precisely due to this duality that the development of book graphics of that time was determined.
We can summarize and conclude this section with the words of B. R. Vipper about the art of book illustration: “Here it is especially difficult to establish fundamental foundations and objectives; here the change of tastes and the evolution of artistic needs are especially pronounced. In any case, the basic proposition that an illustration best suits its purpose if it is as close as possible to the text, if it accurately and completely embodies the images toptically created by the poet, is subject to peculiar changes in the course of evolution” 5 .
2. Alexander Benois in art
Alexander Nikolaevich Benois was born in St. Petersburg in 1870. He belonged to a Russified French family. His grandfather moved from France to St. Petersburg almost a hundred years before the artist was born. Benoit himself speaks about his origin: “I have no homeland” 6. And in 1934, in his “Memoirs”, he admits that he lacks any patriotism and writes: “.. in my blood there are several (so feuding with each other) homelands - France, Nemetchina, and Italy. Only the processing of this mixture was carried out in Russia, and I must also add that I don’t have a drop of Russian blood in me” 7 . But, despite the denial of all patriotism: “Only the homeland, St. Petersburg, etc. After all, this is vile literature” 8. Throughout his life, Benoit continually returned to St. Petersburg subjects, and, working abroad, he actively promoted Russian art.
Art can rightly be called Benoit’s homeland. The artist himself was ironic, suggesting that, according to his activity, he would need to write on the card: “ Alexander Benois, Servant Apollo» 9 .
Each representative of the Benois family was related to art, and Alexander could not help but connect his life with art: “My interest in works of art, which naturally led me to “nobility”, began to manifest itself with very early years. They will say that born and raised in an artistic family, I simply could not avoid such a “family infection” that I could not help but be interested in art - since there were so many people around me, starting with my father, who knew a lot about it and had artistic talents . However, environment is environment (it is not for me to deny its significance), but still, undoubtedly, there was something inherent in me that was not in others who were brought up in the same environment, and this forced me to absorb all sorts of things differently and with greater intensity. impressions" 10. His grandfather and father were architects, his great-grandfather was a composer and conductor. The elder brother taught watercolor painting to Alexandre Benois when, having become disillusioned with the Academy of Arts and entered the Faculty of Law, he decided to study fine arts in his own program.
With equal persistence and hard work, he mastered both the practice and theory of fine art, not inferior to those of his peers who studied at the Academy.
At the end of the 1890s, together with Sergei Diaghilev, they created the “World of Art” association, which included friends and associates of Alexandre Benois: L. Bakst, K. Somov, M. Dobuzhinsky, E. Lanceray and others. Their main idea was a protest against everything inert and unreal, which, in their opinion, the Academy of Arts and the Wanderers represented at that time. World of Art students talked about the aesthetic principle in art; and the main thing, in their opinion, in art is beauty, expressed through the personality of each individual artist. Diaghilev wrote about this in one of the issues of the World of Art: “A work of art is important not in itself, but only as an expression of the personality of the creator.” Modern culture World of Art students saw it as unattractive and unaesthetic and turned to the ideals of the past. Alexandre Benois has “Versailles Landscapes” on the theme of the era of Louis XIV, but he is not interested in historical picture, although, as a costume designer and art historian, he pays great attention to historical details. He is much more interested in aesthetics, mood and atmosphere, the poetry of the era.
A separate page of Benoit's creativity is occupied by book illustrations. Before him, illustrators little connected their drawings with the printed text and the space of the book, or completely subordinated the image to the text, one way or another, they did not think at all about the “architecture” of the book, about harmonious combination it contains text and illustrations. And so Benois writes: “Russian books and Russian illustration from the 1860s to the 1890s. represent some kind of systematic demonstration of bad taste and, what is even more significant, simply negligence and indifference” 11. Introducing the concept of “book art,” he is convinced: “Even when an artist is called only to decorate a book, he is obliged to remember its integrity, that his role is subordinate and that it can become beautiful and exemplary only if he succeeds.” create beauty in this subordination, in this harmony..." 12
Benoit worked a lot with the book. Among his works are the famous “The ABC in Pictures” and an unrealized edition of “The Last of the Mohicans” by Fenimore Cooper. But the main place in this list is occupied by the illustrations of A. S. Pushkin. A. Benoit illustrates it a lot and willingly. In general, a kind of “cult of Pushkin” was characteristic of many World of Arts students. Benois made several illustrations for “The Queen of Spades” for the three-volume collected works of A. S. Pushkin, published on the occasion of the poet’s centenary in 1899, a number of illustrations for “ The captain's daughter"in 1904. And, of course, his grandiose cycle, his most significant work, according to many contemporaries, is the illustrations for The Bronze Horseman, which will be discussed in the next chapter.
In addition, Alexandre Benois was an outstanding set and costume designer, director, and librettist. The theater occupied a separate, almost home page in his life. He himself said that, no matter what type of art he does, one way or another it leads him to the theater. He worked at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, at the Paris Grand Opera, Milan's La Scala, and collaborated with other opera and drama theaters Russia and Europe. Some Benoit time directed the Moscow Art Theater together with K. S. Stanislavsky, organized tours of the Russian ballet in Paris with Diaghilev.
Alexandre Benois died in Paris on February 9, 1960. A universal artist, he made an invaluable contribution to Russian art.
CHAPTERII. Illustrations for “The Bronze Horseman”
I. 1. Creation and publication of illustrations
In 1903, the Circle of Lovers of Fine Editions approached Alexandre Benois with a proposal to illustrate one of the Russian authors. At that time, Benoit was working on materials for the “World of Art” dedicated to Peter I, and decided to illustrate “The Bronze Horseman” by A. S. Pushkin. Almost immediately he left for Rome, where he began, constantly interrupted by other activities, to work on illustrations. In the summer he returned to St. Petersburg and, with enthusiasm caused by the lack of other things to do, completed a series of 33 ink and watercolor drawings. In addition, I developed the layout of the publication, after which I sent the drawings to the printing house. He gave the resulting prints a light tone, and then the drawings had to be printed using the lithographic method. Benoit expected the book to be published by the end of the year, but the “Circle of Amateurs”, represented by former “lyceum students” who knew Pushkin personally, despite the generally favorable assessment of his work, demanded a reworking of the image of the poet, whom the artist depicted with a lyre in his hand against the background Peter and Paul Fortress. Benoit refused on principle to redo anything, and he had to return the fee he received in advance.
When Sergei Diaghilev saw the drawings, he insisted on their publication in the first issue of the World of Art magazine for 1904 full text"The Bronze Horseman" But in the magazine the illustrations lost significantly. Benoit intended them for a small-format publication, and the large sheets of the magazine distorted the proportions intended by the artist. Later, Diaghilev wanted to publish them as a separate book, but this intention was not realized, and soon the right to publish was bought by the publishing house “M. O. Wolf."
And in the fall of 1903, a flood occurred in St. Petersburg, which, however, did not reach the scale of destruction that occurred during the flood of 1824, but vividly reminded many of this event, colorfully described by A. S. Pushkin in the same “Horseman.” Benois received a new order, this time from the Commission of People's Publications under the Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers. Over this series of six large sheets, the artist worked in the spring of 1905 (in Versailles) and in November of the same year. At that time, he was in dire need of money, sending numerous requests to the publishing houses with which he worked. In addition, the artist is trying to find new forms to continue the cycle to “The Horseman”. On November 23, 1905, he writes in his diary: “Composing The Bronze Horseman.” Too similar to the previous one” 13. And a week later, another unpleasant news: “the head of the Expedition, instead of the “Bronze Horseman” ordered for me, accepted another one” 14. This series was never published. The drawings were made in ink with watercolors and white, some of them were reproduced in books: “A. S. Pushkin. The Bronze Horseman" (St. Petersburg: Literacy Society, 1912); "A. S. Pushkin. Works" (vol. 3, St. Petersburg: Brockhaus-Efron, 1909) 15. And one of them, depicting the pursuit of Eugene by the “Horseman,” was included in the famous publication of 1923.
However, the artist does not give up work and in the winter continues to work on “The Horseman”: “I drew Evgeniy again. I like all my new illustrations of “The Bronze Horseman” better than the previous ones. 3relay" 16.
Benoit resumed work on “The Horseman” only a decade later, by order of the Commission of Art Publications at the community of St. Eugene of the Red Cross. He worked on this third series of illustrations, consisting of 36 sheets, in Crimea in the summer of 1916. The artist, in addition to the illustrations, designed the cover, splash screens, and endings for the future edition. Here Benoit combined everything he created for “The Horseman” earlier. He redrew his first works, from 1903, with some changes. They turned out to be similar in plot, but their style and character are different. And he repeated the work of 1905 almost without changes.
However, this time the publication, which had already been typed and prepared for printing in 1917, never took place.
In 1921-1922, the book was already being published, and at the same time Benoit made the latest changes to the cycle. A full-fledged edition was finally published in 1923 in the form intended by the artist.
II. 2. Description and analysis of illustrations
This chapter will focus primarily on the illustrations in the 1923 edition. But, since they have many similarities and even repeat, with some changes, earlier ones, the comparison artistic techniques, used by the artist in different time, the emotional and semantic content of the illustrations, as well as their place in the space of the book, is inevitable and necessary when analyzing the cycle.
In 1903, Alexandre Benois wrote: “I conceived these illustrations in the form of compositions accompanying each page of text. I set the format to a tiny, pocket-sized one, similar to the almanacs of Pushkin’s era” 17 . They were supposed to become such after the production of typographical prints, and Benoit’s drawings themselves were quite large in format for graphics. It is known that the format of the magazine “World of Art” was significantly different from what the artist intended for placing his illustrations. Therefore, the images were somewhat “lost” on the spacious magazine pages. In addition, Benoit planned to place one drawing on each page, to the corresponding section of Pushkin’s text, and in “World of Art” the illustrations either burst between fragments of the text or were located above it. Thus, the integrity of the “text-picture” perception was violated. It should be noted that Benoit’s goal was not strict adherence to the text, but he wanted to create a holistic poetic image, where the illustration is a guide to understanding what the poet has written, something that is, as it were, read between the lines.
A later series of illustrations works well on this principle. Here, each picture occupies a separate page, located above the poetic piece related to it. She is closer to the viewer. This is characterized by O a larger format of illustrations on the pages, and greater openness: the artist seems to invite us into the picture, reducing the distance between the viewer and the foreground. However, critics' opinions on this issue are very mixed. Pushkinists considered that Benois was “crushing” Pushkin and, thus, did not fulfill the purpose of illustrating the Poet. Others have hailed Benoit's new illustrations as "the highest among attempts to illustrate Pushkin" 18 . Efros wrote: “They didn’t talk about Pushkin in the language of drawing, in the language of graphics. Benois created the only, almost congenial page of Pushkin” 19. Still others reproach the artist for the lack of balance in the book between font, text and drawings, speaking out in favor of publication in the World of Art, or even in favor of an edition illustrated by another artist.
Since the opinions of respected experts book art diverge to the opposite, we can conclude that different artistic and spatial interpretations of these publications are allowed, which will always be subjective. Therefore, we will adhere to the position that Alexandre Benois achieved in the new edition exactly the principle that he asserted.
This work is not like the verbose, luxurious, colorful publications loved by early World of Art artists, such as Somov’s “The Book of the Marquise” and “Daphnis and Chloe,” or Benoit’s “ABC.” Monochrome and laconicism are its main features. This technique does not in any way affect the quality of work. St. Petersburg, which is static in its architectonics, suits this rigor and brevity. Illustration and text harmoniously complement each other, being at the same time the ideal ensemble that we, following Alexandre Benois, call “the art of the book.”
At the beginning of the publication, on the title page, the Bronze Horseman on his pedestal, rearing up and looking at us, seems to greet the reader (viewer), but his greeting is rather alarming, threatening. However, there is no impression that it is about to fall off the pedestal; the monument seems to be hanging in the air. Dark paper tinted with lilac, smoothing out the contrast, enhances the impression, that is, it expresses not a momentary emotion, but anxiety, as the beginning of a process. Even clouds, only outlined as a line, seem heavy (see Appendix I, Fig. 1). The plasticity of the monument itself by Etienne Falconet also works for this.
The next, largest illustration in this edition is placed on a separate page and is a preface to the “story”, indicating its main motive - the pursuit of the “Horseman” after the main character (see Appendix I, Fig. 2) This full-page illustration, based on a cycle performed in 1906, depicts the climax of the “story”, and, preceding the beginning of the poem, seems to illustrate it “as a whole.” Therefore, being easel in nature, it does not violate the harmony of the book space.
Although the “story” is more metaphorical than narrative in nature, more ideological than personal, the reader empathizes with the hero and experiences fear of the elements, hears the clatter of the Horseman’s copper hooves. Alexandre Benois brilliantly manages to convey this impression. He guides us throughout the “story,” complementing and saturating the vague pictures of the imagination with an emotional figurative picture. The illustration depicting Eugene in the foreground, hiding around the corner of the building, and in the background, the black threatening silhouette of a horse galloping behind him, is one of the most intense in this sense (see Appendix I, Fig. 3)
Behind him is the Bronze Horseman everywhere
galloped with a heavy stomp.
Here, more than anywhere else, one can feel the fear of the hero, who has already lost his mind, in front of the “Horseman”: leaning against the wall and spreading his legs wide apart to maintain balance, he presses it to his chest right hand, trying to calm his heartbeat, listening to the inevitably approaching copper beats of hooves on the uneven pavement after the flood. Empty streets emphasize Eugene's loneliness and despair. If we recall the analogue of this illustration, made in 1903 (see Appendix I, Fig. 4), then it seems emotionally paler. The figure of the horseman is very far from the viewer and from the hero, so it does not seem so huge, although it is clear that it towers over the surrounding houses. Heavy dark clouds add to the impression, but they, in comparison with the new version, are not convincing enough. The line is lively, uneven, the drawing is more like a sketch of the situation, and the new one - more static and solid - speaks of frozen deep fear. Critics rightly note the spontaneity in the early illustrations. New ones are accused of excessive “stagedness”, which appeared in the artist, according to their opinion, after a stormy theatrical activity.
Among the illustrations for “The Horseman” there are also sharply satirical ones. This illustration refers to Pushkin’s lines about the old-fashioned “singer of the Neva” Count Khvostov, whom the poet mentions more than once with extreme irony in various of his works, including in “The Bronze Horseman”:
Count Khvostov,
Poet beloved by heaven
Already sang in immortal verses
The misfortune of the Neva banks.
Benoit extremely wittily depicted the bust of Khvostov, resting on a cloud with a deliberately majestic appearance, surrounded by a shining halo, with a notebook and pen in hand. However, under the clouds, watered by the sounds of his poems, all living things are dying. Benoit made two illustrations for these lines (see Appendix I, Fig. 5 and 6): one in 1903, and the next, much more poignant one, which was just mentioned above - in 1916. This allows us to think that the artist could not help but speak out together with the poet on the topic of everything that is inert, outdated and unreal. In general, Pushkin was for the World of Art students “the embodiment of the Europeanism of the new Russian culture” 20, despite the fact that they were separated by a whole century.
I.E. Grabar, after the publication of the illustrations in the World of Art, wrote Benoit about his impressions: “They are so good that I still can’t come to my senses from the novelty of the impressions. The era and Pushkin are conveyed damn well, and there is no smell of engraving material at all, no patina. They are terribly modern - and this is important...” 21
And L. Bakst, at about the same time, wrote with inspiration to the artist that these illustrations are the most significant thing in his work: “a mad love for “Peter’s creation”, here, indeed, “the rivers flow like a sovereign” and “boredom, cold and granite.” And “The Bronze Horseman” will remain in Russian art as an example of love, artistic image Motherland". Critics spoke about the intrusiveness of St. Petersburg in the latest edition. However, it is possible that this feeling can be attributed not to shortcomings, but to advantages that correspond to the main ideas of the poem. St. Petersburg can easily be considered one of the heroes of the work. It is Petersburg, being at the same time the embodiment of power or its product, that oppresses " little man» Evgenia. Therefore, the details with which the illustrator is reproached also play a role in his artistic design. Naturally, it is in some way different from what it was twenty years earlier.
Alexander Benois was a person quite far from politics, believing that art does not depend on social reality and is barely connected with other cultural phenomena. However, in his drawings for the “St. Petersburg Tale” one can also notice political shades. Being a highly spiritual and educated person, he could not help but worry about the events taking place in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. All this was reflected in his St. Petersburg images, and his solidarity with Pushkin, who condemned tyranny and lawlessness.
And he said: “With God's element
Kings cannot control.”
Here Benoit depicts the backs of high military officials, hopelessly peering into the foam of raging waters. Their backs, better than any facial expressions, tell the story that absolutely nothing can be done, but at the same time they assert their significance. The same motif is repeated several times. In general, the whole cycle expresses some kind of hopelessness. Stormy political situation: repression, Red Terror, undoubtedly, many factors influenced Alexander Benois’ conscious or unconscious rethinking of his works. Here, Benoit’s characteristic metaphorical nature was especially noticeable when embodying his own experiences and painful thoughts generated by reality. This contributed to the undoubted success of the cycle, placing it at the top not only of the work of Alexandre Benois himself, but of the “art of the book” in general.
Conclusion
To summarize, it is necessary to say how important Benoit’s activity was in the “art of the book.” But not only there. Alexander Benois made a great contribution to Russian art history, theatrical scenography, painting, graphics, museum work.
One of his most significant works, according to the artist’s contemporaries, are illustrations for “The Bronze Horseman”. In total they were made in different periods over seventy, some of them overlapped or repeated each other with minor changes, more often of a stylistic than substantive nature.
These illustrations went through a long, multi-stage journey before they were published in a full-fledged edition. They had two main publications: in the magazine “World of Art” in 1903 and in a separate book only in 1923. The illustrations were highly appreciated by critics and book experts, who could not agree on which of the publications should take the palm. Their criticism can be generally reduced to the fact that the illustrations of the first cycle are more spontaneous and lively, which is characteristic of youth in general, while the later ones are more mature, more accurate and strict. Their place in the space of the book was also hotly debated. But it must be said that both publications certainly have high artistic value and great value for the Russian “art of the book”, and are also one of the most comprehensive and voluminous illustrated editions of the works of A. S. Pushkin.
"Academician Alexandre Benois is a subtle esthete, a wonderful artist, a charming person." A.V. Lunacharsky
World famous Alexander Nikolaevich Benois acquired as a decorator and director of Russian ballets in Paris, but this is only part of the activity of an eternally searching, captivating nature, possessed of irresistible charm and the ability to light up those around him with his necks. Art historian, art critic, editor of two major 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 one of all the works 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 an entire culture.”
In his memoirs, Benoit calls himself "the product of an artistic family." Indeed, his father - Nikolai Benois was a famous architect, maternal grandfather of A.K. Kavos was an equally significant architect, the creator of St. Petersburg theaters. Elder brother A.N. Benoit - Albert is a popular watercolorist. With no less success we can say that he was a “product” of an international family. On his father's side he is French, on his mother's side he is Italian, or more precisely Venetian. Its family connection with Venice - the city of the beautiful decay of once powerful muses - Alexander Nikolaevich Benois felt especially acute. There was Russian blood in him too. The Catholic religion did not interfere with the family's amazing respect for the Orthodox Church. One of the strongest childhood impressions of A. Benois is the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral (St. Nicholas of the Sea), a work of the Baroque era, the view of which opened from the windows of the Benois family house. With all his completely understandable cosmopolitanism, Benoit was the only place in the world, which he loved with all his soul and considered his homeland - St. Petersburg. In this creation of Peter, who crossed Russia and Europe, he felt “some kind of great, strict force, great predestination.”
That amazing charge of harmony and beauty that A. Benoit received in childhood, helped make his life something like a work of art, amazing in its integrity. This was especially evident in his novel of life. On the threshold of his ninth decade, Benoit admits that he feels very young, and explains this “curiosity” by the fact that the attitude of his adored wife towards him has not changed over time. AND " Memories"He dedicated his to her, " Dear Ate" - Anna Karlovna Benoit (née Kind). Their lives have been connected since they were 16 years old. Atya was the first to share his artistic delights and first creative attempts. She was his muse, sensitive, very cheerful, artistically gifted. Although not a beauty, she seemed irresistible to Benoit with her charming appearance, grace, and lively mind. But the serene happiness of the children in love was to be tested. Tired of their relatives' disapproval, they separated, but the feeling of emptiness did not leave them during the years of separation. And finally, with what joy they met again and got married in 1893.
The couple Benoit there were three children - two daughters: Anna and Elena, and a son, Nikolai, who became a worthy successor to his father’s work, a theater artist who worked a lot in Rome and at the Milan Theater...
A. Benoit 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 retrospectiveism and the sophistication of his stylization. The first Versailles series appears in 1896 - 1898. She received the name " Last walks Louis XIV" It includes such famous works as “ The king walked in any weather», « Feeding the fish" 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 visited for the first time during honeymoon, was stunning. The artist was overcome by the feeling that he had “already experienced this once.” Everywhere in the Versailles works there is a slightly dejected, but still outstanding personality Louis XIV, King - the Sun. The feeling of sunset majestic culture was extremely in tune 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 artist’s most famous works: “”, “”, “ Chinese pavilion», « Jealous», « Fantasia 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 thing that the artist created in the theater. This is primarily a production of the ballet "" to the music of N. Tcherepnin in 1909 and the ballet " Parsley"to the music of I. Stravinsky from 1911.
In these productions, Benois showed himself not only as a brilliant theater artist, but also as a talented libretto author. These ballets seem to personify two ideals that lived in his soul. "" - embodiment European culture, the Baroque style, its pomp and grandeur, combined with overripeness and withering. The libretto, which is a free adaptation of the famous work of Torquato Tasso " Liberated Jerusalem", tells about a certain young man, Viscount René de Beaugency, who, while hunting, finds himself in a lost pavilion of an old park, where he is miraculously transported into the world of a living tapestry - the beautiful gardens of Armida. But the spell dissipates, and he, having seen the highest beauty, returns to reality. Remains creepy impression a 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 " Parsley“The Russian theme, the search for an ideal, was embodied people's soul. This production sounded all the more poignant and nostalgic because the booths and their hero Petrushka, so beloved by Benoit, were already becoming a thing of the past. In the play, puppets are animated by the evil will of an old man - a magician: Petrushka is an inanimate character, endowed with all the living qualities that exist in a suffering and spiritualized person; his lady Columbine is a symbol of eternal femininity and the “blackamoor” is rude and undeservedly triumphant. But the end of this puppet drama Benoit sees differently than in an ordinary farce theater.
In 1918, Benoit became head art gallery The Hermitage and does a lot to make the museum the largest in the world. At the end of the 20s, 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 his 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.”
