Benoit Alexandre – biography and paintings of the artist in the Art Nouveau genre – Art Challenge. Alexander Benois: brief biography and work of Benois, years of his life

Benoit Alexander Nikolaevich, Russian artist, theatrical figure, art historian, art critic; founder of the World of Art association.

Painter and graphic artist, illustrator and book designer, master 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 keen publicist, an insightful critic, a major museum figure, and an incomparable connoisseur of theater, music and choreography. The main feature his character should be called an all-consuming love of art; the versatility of knowledge served only as an expression of this love. In all his activities, in science, artistic criticism, in every movement of his thought, Benoit always remained an artist. Contemporaries saw in him the living embodiment of the spirit of artistry.

Alexandre Benois is the most famous representative Russified French family. In 1794, pastry chef Louis-Jules Benois (1770-1822) arrived in Russia from France. The son of a pastry chef, Nicolas, or Nikolai Leontievich, the father of Alexander Benois, became a famous architect.

By birth and upbringing, Benois belonged to the St. Petersburg artistic intelligentsia. For a number of generations, art was a hereditary profession in his family. Benoit's maternal great-grandfather K. A. Kavos 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, his elder brother was famous as a watercolor painter. The consciousness of young Benoit developed in an atmosphere of impressions of art and artistic interests.

The artistic tastes and views of the young Benoit were formed in opposition to his family, which adhered to conservative “academic” views. The decision to become an artist matured in him very early; but after a short stay at the Academy of Arts, which brought only disappointment, Benois chose to receive a law education at St. Petersburg University (1890-94), and undergo professional artistic training independently, according to his own program.

His studies in painting (mainly watercolors) were not in vain, and in 1893 Benois made his first appearance as a landscape painter at the exhibition of the Russian Society of Watercolor Painters.” Technique watercolor painting he was taught by his older brother Albert Benoit.

A year later he made his debut as an art critic, publishing on German essay on Russian art in Muter's book "History of Painting in the 19th Century", published in Munich. (Russian translations of Benoit’s essay were published the same year in the magazines “Artist” and “Russian art archive".) They immediately started talking about him as a talented art critic who upended established ideas about the development of Russian art.

Immediately declaring himself as a practitioner and theoretician of art at the same time, Benoit maintained this duality in subsequent years, his talent and energy were enough for everything.

Daily hard work, constant training in drawing from life, the exercise of imagination in working on compositions, combined with an in-depth study of art history, gave the artist confident skill, not inferior to the skill of his peers who studied at the Academy. With the same persistence Benoit prepared for his activities art historian, studying the Hermitage, studying specialized literature, traveling to historical cities and museums in Germany, Italy and France.

In 1895-99. Alexander Benois was the custodian of the collection of modern European and Russian paintings and graphics 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, laying the foundation for his series on Versailles themes, so beloved by him throughout his life.

The series of watercolors “The Last Walks of Louis XIV” (1897-98, Russian Museum and other collections), created based on 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 established his fame as the “singer of Versailles and Louis.”

During his gymnasium and university years, Alexander Benois met and became close to Dmitry Filosofov, Walter Nouvel and Konstantin Somov, and later with Sergei Diaghilev, Leon Bakst, Alfred Nurok. The circle of like-minded people transformed in the late 1890s into the World of Art society and the editorial office of the magazine of the same name. It was in the “World of Art” that artists Leon Bakst, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, and Evgeniy Lanceray began their varied activities.

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 whole number of young artists had nowhere to go. They were either not accepted at all into large exhibitions - academic, traveling and watercolor, or they 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 to Malyavin. The “unrecognized” were joined by those of the “recognized” who were. not at ease in the established groups. Mainly, Levitan, Korovin and, to our greatest joy, Serov approached us. Again, ideologically and with their entire culture, they belonged to a different circle, these were the last offspring of realism, not devoid of “peredvizhniki” coloring. "But they were connected with us by hatred of everything musty, established, dead."

The history of the "World of Art" began with an exhibition of Russian and Finnish artists organized by Sergei Diaghilev in January 1898 at the Baron Stieglitz School in St. Petersburg. It was there that the works of a number of strong representatives of the new movement in Russia were exhibited for the first time. The 1898 exposition became the prototype for future exhibitions of the World of Art magazine; their structure and composition of participants were outlined here.

After the successful Russian-Finnish exhibition at the end of 1898, the magazine “World of Art” was created, which became the herald of neo-romanticism. In the future, annual exhibitions of the association are held.

Alexander Benois actively participated in artistic life - primarily in the activities of the World of Art association, being its ideologist and theoretician, as well as in the publication of the World of Art magazine, which became the basis of this association; often appeared in print and published his “Artistic Letters” (1908-16) every week in the newspaper “Rech”. He worked no less fruitfully as an art historian: he published the widely known book “Russian Painting in the 19th Century” in two editions (1901, 1902), having significantly revised his early sketch; began publishing serial publications "Russian School of Painting" and "History of Painting of All Times and Peoples" (1910-17; publication was interrupted with the beginning of the revolution) and the magazine " Artistic treasures Russia"; created the wonderful "Guide to the Hermitage Art Gallery" (1911).

Benoit began his creative activity as a landscape painter and throughout his life he painted landscapes, mainly watercolors. They make up almost half of his legacy. Benoit's very turn to landscape was dictated by his interest in history. Two topics invariably attracted his attention: “Petersburg XVIII - early XIX century." and "France of Louis XIV".

Later, in his memoirs written in old age, Benoit admitted: “In me, “passeism” began to affect itself as something completely natural back in early childhood and it has remained throughout my life “the language in which it is easier and more convenient for me to express myself”... Much in the past seems to me to be well and long ago familiar, perhaps even more familiar than the present. It is easier for me, easier for me, to draw, without resorting to documents, some contemporary of Louis XV than to draw, without resorting to nature, my own contemporary. My attitude towards the past is more tender, more loving than towards the present. I better understand the thoughts of that time, the ideals of that time, dreams, passions and even the grimaces and quirks than I understand all this in the “plan of modernity”..." (A. Benois. The Life of an Artist, vol. I.)

The earliest of Benoit's retrospective works are associated with his work at Versailles. From 1897-1898 there is a series of small paintings made in watercolor and gouache and combined common theme- "The Last Walks of Louis XIV." This is a typical example of Benoit's work. historical reconstruction past artist, inspired by living impressions of the Versailles parks with their sculpture and architecture; but at the same time, the results of a scrupulous study of old French art, especially engravings of the 17th-18th centuries, are summed up here. The famous “Notes” of Duke Louis de Saint-Simon gave the artist the plot outline of “The Last Walks of Louis XIV” and, together with other memoirs and literary sources, introduced Benoit into the atmosphere of the era. The landscape graphics of French classicism suggested him artistic solutions. It is from the examples of architectural and landscape engravings that the main features of Benoit’s Versailles watercolors come: their clear, almost drawing layout, clear spatiality, the predominance of simple, always balanced horizontals and verticals, the grandeur and coldish severity of compositional rhythms, and finally, the emphasized opposition of grandiose statues and sculptural groups of Versailles - small, almost staffed figures of the king and courtiers, acting out simple genre-historical scenes. There is no dramatic plot in Benoit's watercolors, no active action And psychological characteristics characters. The artist is not interested in people, but only in the atmosphere of antiquity and the spirit of theatrical court etiquette ("At the Pool of Ceres", 1897, State Tretyakov Gallery).

Benoit devoted a lot of mental strength and time to work in easel painting and graphics, but by the very nature of his talent and by the type of creative thinking, he was not an easel painter, much less a master of a painting that could embody all aspects of his plan in a single, as if synthesizing image. No wonder he best creatures belong to the art of books and theater painting. Benoit thought and approached his themes precisely as an illustrator or as a theater artist and director, consistently revealing in a cycle of sketches and compositions various aspects of the image he had conceived, creating a series of successive architectural and landscape settings and carefully designed mise-en-scenes. The artist’s thoughts about Louis XIV’s Versailles become fully understandable to the viewer only when he perceives the entire set of Versailles paintings and sketches written by Benoit.

Having shown himself in many genres - in literature, painting, art history, criticism, directing - Alexander Benois is remembered primarily as a theater artist and theorist of theatrical and decorative art. His numerous sets and costumes demonstrate an exceptional ability to recreate a variety of eras, national characteristics and moods - an ability that can be traced from his first steps. From his mother, Benoit inherited a true cult of the theater, and his childhood dream was to become a theater artist. A true child of St. Petersburg in the 1870-80s, Benoit was deeply captured by the then passion for drama, opera and ballet , and even before his trip to Germany in 1890 he had seen The Sleeping Beauty, " Queen of Spades"and many other performances. There is no doubt that it was these early impressions that prepared Benois to work on Delibes’ one-act ballet “Sylvia” in 1901, when Prince S. M. Volkonsky, director of the Imperial Theaters, succumbed to the persuasion of S. P. Diaghilev, decided to prepare a special production under his direction. Benois was invited as the main artist and worked on the play together with K. A. Korovin, L. S. Bakst, E. E. Lanseray and V. A. Serov, however, due to Diaghilev’s quarrel with Volkonsky never staged the ballet

In 1900, Benois made his debut as a theater artist, designing the one-act opera "Cupid's Revenge" at the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg.

But Benois’s real debut as a theater artist took place in 1902, when he was commissioned to design the production of R. Wagner’s opera “Twilight of the Gods” on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater. Following this, he completed sketches of the scenery for N. V. Tcherepnin’s ballet “Armida’s Pavilion” (1903), the libretto of which he composed himself.

The passion for ballet turned out to be so strong that, on Benois’ initiative and with his direct participation, a private ballet troupe, which began triumphant performances in Paris in 1909 - “Russian Seasons”. Benois, who took the post of artistic director in the troupe, performed designs for several more ballet performances - “La Sylphides”, “Pavilion of Armida” (both 1909), “Giselle” (1910), “The Nightingale” (1914).

One of his highest achievements was the scenery for I. F. Stravinsky’s ballet “Petrushka” (1911); This ballet was created based on the idea of ​​Benois himself and the libretto he wrote. Soon after, the artist’s collaboration with the Moscow Art Theater began, where he successfully designed two performances based on the plays of J.-B. Moliere (1913) and for some time even participated in the management of the theater along with K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Sketch of an illustration for Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" 1905-1916.

Together with other masters of the "World of Art", Benois was one of the most active figures artistic movement, who revived art in Russia book graphics.

Benoit's early works for the book include an illustration for "The Queen of Spades" (1898), published in the three-volume collected works of Pushkin (1899), illustrated by many Russian artists, including masters of the "World of Art". This first experience was followed by four watercolors - illustrations for “The Golden Pot” by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1899, State Russian Museum), which remained unpublished, and two page illustrations for P. I. Kutepov’s book “The Tsar’s and Imperial Hunt for Rus", vol. III (1902), created in collaboration with E. E. Lanseray (in the same publication Benoit completed a number of headpieces and endings). Already in these early works, the specific features of Benoit’s illustrative talent clearly appear: the power of his imagination, plot ingenuity, the ability to convey the spirit and style of the depicted era. But the illustrations are still “easel” in nature; These are historical compositions embedded in the book, but do not organically merge with it.

A more mature phase in the development of Benoit’s book graphics is reflected in his “ABC in Pictures” (1904) - the first book in which the artist acted as the sole author, creator of the concept, illustrator and designer. For the first time here he had to solve issues of artistic design of a book. Each of the drawings for "The ABC" is a detailed narrative scene, imbued with gentle humor, sometimes genre, more often - fairy-tale or theatrical, always inexhaustibly inventive in plot motives. The story of the children's book "World of Art" begins with Benoit's "ABC".

In the hands of Benoit, book graphics became not so much a decorative art as a narrative one; purely design tasks, which so occupied Somov, Dobuzhinsky and the young Lanceray, clearly play a role in Benois’s work minor role. True, he tries to observe the principles of consistent rhythm in the design of the book and the stylistic unity of all elements of its design; but the plane of the book page is by no means an independent erotic value for Benoit, which must be preserved and emphasized at all costs, as Somov did. Benoit's compositions are always spatial precisely because they are, first of all, narrative. He does not overload the book with ornamental and decorative embellishments, sacrificing them for the sake of the story.

The main place among graphic works Benoit is occupied by illustrations to Pushkin. The artist worked on them throughout his life. As already mentioned, he began with drawings for “The Queen of Spades” (1898) and then twice returned to illustrating this story (1905; 1910). He also performed two series of illustrations for " The captain's daughter"and for a number of years he prepared his main work - drawings for The Bronze Horseman (1903, 1905, 1916, 1922).

This predilection, of course, was not accidental. The peculiar cult of Pushkin in general was extremely characteristic of the figures of the “World of Art”, primarily for Benoit. They all saw in Pushkin a living “embodiment of the Europeanism of the new Russian culture.”

In pre-revolutionary times, Benoit's book works had little success with publishers. The drawings for The Captain's Daughter (1904) remained unpublished. The first version of the illustrations for “The Bronze Horseman” (1903) was not published as a separate book, but only in the magazine “World of Art” (1904), in violation of the design layout planned by the artist. The second version was also unsuccessfully published, first published in volume III of the works of A. S. Pushkin, and then, however, published as a separate book, but with completely unsatisfactory reproductions. Only after the October Revolution, “The Bronze Horseman” with Benoit’s drawings was finally published in an excellent edition.

Much more significant is another, undoubtedly the best of the artist’s book works, his masterpiece - the drawings for The Bronze Horseman. The cycle of the first version consists of 32 drawings in ink and watercolor, imitating color woodcuts. The publication of the illustrations in the World of Art was immediately greeted by the artistic community as a major event in Russian graphics. I. Grabar noted in illustrations by Benoit a subtle understanding of Pushkin and his era and at the same time a heightened sense of modernity, and L. Bakst called the cycle of illustrations for “The Bronze Horseman” “a real pearl in Russian art.”

Benoit's activity as an art critic and art historian is inextricably linked with everything that Benoit did in painting, easel and book graphics, and in the theater. Benoit's critical essays and historical and artistic studies represent a kind of commentary on the ideological and creative quest and everyday practical work of the artist. But his literary works also have a completely independent significance, characterizing a complex, large and fruitful stage in the development of Russian criticism and the science of art

Together with Grabar, Benois led a movement that updated the method, techniques and themes of Russian art history late XIX- beginning of the 20th century.

One of the most important missions of this movement, which arose in line with the "World of Art", was a systematic revision of all material, critical assessments and main problems of the history of Russian painting, architecture, plastic arts and decorative arts. art XVIII And XIX centuries. The point was to shed new light on the processes of development of Russian artistic culture over the last two centuries, using materials that were not only previously unstudied, but also almost untouched.

It is difficult to overestimate the scale of this work, which could only be collective. Almost all the figures from the World of Art took part in it. Artists and critics became historians, collectors, discoverers and interpreters of forgotten or obscure artistic values. The significance of such “discoveries” as Russian portraiture has already been mentioned above. painting XVIII centuries and architecture of old Petersburg. Many similar discoveries were made by the figures of the World of Art in a wide variety of spheres of artistic culture. Benoit was the initiator and inspirer of this work. The most difficult and responsible part of it fell to his share - the analysis and generalization of the history of Russian painting of the 18th-19th centuries.

Art is interpreted by Benoit as a completely autonomous sphere, independent of social reality and barely connected with other cultural phenomena. Thus, the topic of research becomes not the process historical development national painting with its hidden patterns that must be discovered, but only the history of the artists who took part in this process.

Simultaneously with these major works, Benois published in the magazine "World of Art" (1899-1904) and the monthly collection "Artistic Treasures of Russia" (1901-1903), and later in the magazine "Old Years" (1907-1913) and some other publications articles and notes on certain issues in the history of Russian and Western European art. The topics of these publications are very diverse. We are talking about artistic and historical ensembles of palaces, public and private collections, great masters of the past and individual works painting, graphics, sculpture, architecture and decorative arts. The most significant articles concern mainly the architecture of old St. Petersburg and its suburbs; one of these articles, “Picturesque Petersburg” (1902), has already been mentioned above. In 1910, Benoit's extensive study "Tsarskoye Selo during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna" was published - a thoroughly documented work dedicated to the history of everyday life and artistic life in Russia in the first half of the 18th century.

Western European art attracted Benoit's attention no less than Russian art. He owns a monograph on Goya (1908), a guide to the Hermitage art gallery (1911), a large article on Lyotard (1912) and a number of other works popularizing the classical heritage of European painting. The original study is the grandiose “History of Painting of All Times and Peoples,” which remained unfinished: between 1912 and 1917, 22 issues of the first part of the book were published, covering the development of landscape painting from ancient times to the mid-18th century. Here, as in the history of Russian painting, the general historical concept is the most vulnerable side of Benoit's work. Already his contemporaries correctly noted that the most valuable thing in his work lies outside the circle of evolutionary conclusions and cultural-historical generalizations.

The earliest of Benoit's art-critical series - "Conversations of the Artist", published in the magazine "World of Art" for 1899, characterizes the first steps of Benoit as a critic. It contains mainly reviews of Parisian art exhibitions and notes on some minor French painters like Forin and Latouche, who at that time still seemed to critics more significant than the Impressionists and Cezanne.

The second series of his articles, published in the Moscow Weekly for 1907-1908 under the heading “An Artist’s Diary,” is devoted primarily to issues of theater and music.

The heyday of Benoit's artistic and critical activity fell during the creation of the third series of his articles - under the general title "Artistic Letters", which were published weekly in the newspaper Rech from November 1908 to 1917.

This series includes about 250 articles, unusually diverse in content and, in general, reflecting the artistic life of those years with great completeness. Not a single significant event in art remained without a response from Benoit. He wrote about modern painting, sculpture and graphics, about architecture, theater, about artistic antiquities, folk art, about new books and exhibitions, about creative groups and about individual masters, analyzing and evaluating every major phenomenon of art with passionate interest. According to Benoit, only freedom and inspiration create and determine the value of a work of art. But Benoit emphasizes that the freedom of art is not limitless, and inspiration should not escape the control of consciousness. There is no place for arbitrariness in art, and the most important quality of an artist is a sense of professional responsibility.

After the February Revolution, Benoit stopped publishing in the cadet Rech and moved to the newspaper Novaya Zhizn, headed by Gorky.

In the first post-revolutionary years, Alexander Benois took an active part in the reorganization and preservation of the suburban palaces and parks of Petrograd and the Russian Museum. In 1917-1926 he was the head of the Hermitage Art Gallery, and collaborated with the Petrograd theaters: Mariinsky, Alexandrinsky, Bolshoi Drama (1919-1926).

In 1926, Benoit, having made a forced choice between the difficulties of an emigrant existence and the increasingly frightening prospect of life in a Soviet country, left for France. The departure, as before, took place to stage a play at the Grand Opera and participate in exhibitions, but from there he did not return to Russia. There he worked mainly in theaters: first at the Grand Opera in Paris from 1924 with a break until 1934 (the famous "The Fairy's Kiss" by I. Stravinsky), and in the 1930-1950s - at La Scala in Milan, where his son Nikolai was in charge of the production. Working at the same professional level, Benois was no longer able to create anything fundamentally new and interesting, often contenting himself with varying the old (at least eight versions of the now legendary ballet “Petrushka” were performed).

The main work of his last years (since 1934) was his memoirs, on the pages of which he recalled in detail and fascinatingly the years of his childhood and youth. In his memoirs “My Memories,” Benoit soulfully recreated the atmosphere of spiritual and creative quest of the “Silver Age” in Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Throughout his long career as an artist, critic and art historian, Benoit remained faithful to the high understanding of the classical tradition and aesthetic criteria in art, defended the intrinsic value of artistic creativity and visual culture, based on strong traditions. It is also important that all of Benoit’s multifaceted activities were, in fact, devoted to one goal: the glorification of Russian art.

- (1870 1960), artist, art historian and art critic. Son of N. L. Benois, brother of A. N. Benois. One of the organizers and ideological leaders of the World of Art association, creator of the magazine of the same name. In painting, graphics, theatrical works… … encyclopedic Dictionary

Son of Prof. architecture Nikolai Leontyevich B., b. in 1870 After completing a course at the Faculty of Law in St. Petersburg. University devoted himself entirely to art. He lived in Paris for a long time, from where he made artistic trips to Brittany, Normandy,... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Benois, Alexander Nikolaevich- Alexander Nikolaevich Benois. BENOIT Alexander Nikolaevich (1870 1960), Russian artist, art historian and art critic. Since 1926 in France. Ideologist of the World of Art. In painting, graphics, theatrical works (Versailles series, 1905... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1870 1960), Russian artist, art historian, art critic. Son of N. L. Benois. I studied on my own. In 1896-98 and 1905-1907 he worked in France. One of the organizers and ideological leader of the association and the magazine World of Art.... ... Art encyclopedia

Benois Alexander Nikolaevich- (18701960), painter and graphic artist, art historian, art critic. Son of N. L. Benois, brother of L. N. Benois. Born in St. Petersburg. He studied at the Faculty of Law of the University (189094), studied painting and drawing independently under... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

- (1870 1960) Russian artist, art historian and art critic. Son of N. L. Benois. Ideologist of the World of Art. In painting, graphics, theatrical works (Versailles series; illustrations for the Bronze Horseman by A. S. Pushkin, 1903 22) subtly ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Russian artist, art historian, art critic. Son of the architect N. L. Benois. He studied art on his own. Lived in St. Petersburg. In 1896-98 and 1905-07 he worked in France. One of… … Big Soviet encyclopedia

- (1870 1960), painter and graphic artist, art historian, art critic. Son of N. L. Benois, brother of L. N. Benois. Born in St. Petersburg. He studied at the Faculty of Law of the University (1890 94), studied painting and drawing independently under... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

See the article by Benoit (L.N., A.N.) ... Biographical Dictionary

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Books

• History of painting of all times and peoples. In 4 volumes, Benois Alexander Nikolaevich. The personality of Alexander Nikolaevich Benois is striking in its scale. For the first time in the history of Russian aesthetic thought, he substantiated the national identity and international connections of the Russian...
• Diary 1918-1924, Benois Alexander Nikolaevich. The diaries of Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870 - 1960), covering the years 1918-1924, have never been published before. Famous and fashionable painter, authoritative critic and art historian, respected...

Working on a painting in the studio, creating sketches theatrical costumes and decorations, preparing for the publication of another article about art... This was an ordinary day for Alexandre Benois, an artist, critic, art critic and theater figure.

From the Benois dynasty

Alexander Benois was born in St. Petersburg in the family of architect Nikolai Benois and his wife Camilla. Among Alexander Benois's relatives were Albert Kavos, the creator of the Mariinsky Theater project, actor Peter Ustinov, and artist Zinaida Serebryakova. Almost half of the representatives of the Silver Age culture were in one way or another connected with the Benois family.

In his memoirs, the artist emphasized that his artistic and aesthetic views formed two categories of experiences. The first and most powerful is the theater. Alexandre Benois forever linked the concept of “artistry” with the concept of “theatricality”. It is on the stage, in his opinion, that it is possible to achieve the highest goal of art - the synthesis of arts. The second category of experiences is the impressions of getting to know the St. Petersburg royal residences and suburbs.

“From these various Peterhof impressions... probably my entire subsequent cult of Peterhof, Tsarskoe Selo, Versailles originated.”

Alexander Benois

“Cover the subject as widely as possible and study as deeply as possible”

Alexander Benois studied at the private Karl May gymnasium in St. Petersburg. Here he became close to Sergei Diaghilev and other participants in the future World of Art. For some time he attended evening classes at the Academy of Arts. His brother Albert taught him basic painting skills.

Alexander Benois believed that only through self-education can one achieve perfection in one's profession. Throughout his life he studied art, became a brilliant art critic. Among his works is a chapter on Russian artists for the German collection “History paintings of the 19th century century", "History of painting of all times and peoples", one of the best guides to the Hermitage and much more.

“Towards the simplest and truest images of reality”

“In me, “passeism” began to manifest itself as something completely natural in early childhood. ... Much in the past seems to me to be well and long ago familiar, perhaps even more familiar than the present.<...>My attitude towards the past is more tender, more loving than towards the present.”

Alexander Benois

Benoit especially often painted Tsarist Petersburg and its palace and park ensembles, scenes from the lives of historical characters, landscapes of France and the parks of Versailles.

Benois wrote “The ABC in Pictures” and created illustrations for “The Bronze Horseman” and “The Queen of Spades” by Alexander Pushkin, which went down in the history of book graphics.

Theater occupies a special place in his work. Benoit created scenery for productions and developed costume designs. He helped design several performances for the Russian seasons in Paris.

Alexander Benois at the Gorky Commission

Alexandre Benois fought for the preservation of cultural heritage. Immediately after the October Revolution, he worked closely with Maxim Gorky in the Commission for the Protection of Monuments of Art. The artist was one of the first to visit Winter Palace after its assault and described it in his memoirs.

Benois helped restore the activities of the Russian Museum and compile new exhibition art of the 18th–20th centuries. Later the artist became the manager art gallery V State Hermitage, at the same time carried out research work.

He also worked on the preservation of architectural monuments of St. Petersburg and its suburbs, and he covered the results of his work in a series of articles.

“This is the people’s property, this is our property, and we need to do everything in our power so that the people realize this and so that they take possession of what rightfully belongs to them. The very idea of ​​the nationality of all art, of everything in which people from the people invested their ideals of beauty, this idea should now come to light and come to life with special force.”

Alexander Benois

Aesthetic views of the "World of Art"

The World of Art circle (like its magazine) became, in Benoit’s words, “a practical necessity.” There was a crisis in the society of the Itinerants, and the artists needed a new vector of movement. The magazine introduced the audience to Western classics and modernism, Russian painting and architecture.

IN different times The association included Valentin Serov, Isaac Levitan, Mikhail Nesterov, Mikhail Vrubel, Lev Bakst, Konstantin Somov and, of course, Sergei Diaghilev. Ilya Repin also shared the views of the Miriskuniks.

“We were guided not so much by considerations of an “ideological” order, but by considerations of practical necessity. A whole number of young artists had nowhere to go.”

Alexander Benois

The “World of Art” declared beauty to be the main goal of creativity. The subjectivity of this goal gave artists complete freedom - both in choosing a topic and in choosing artistic means.

History of graphics

Benois Alexander Nikolaevich (1870-1960)

A. V. Benois was born into the family of a famous architect and grew up in an atmosphere of reverence for art, but did not receive an art education.

He worked no less fruitfully as an art historian: he published the widely known book “Russian Painting in the 19th Century” in two editions (1901, 1902), significantly revising his early essay for it; began publishing serial publications "Russian School of Painting" and "History of Painting of All Times and Peoples" (1910-17; publication was interrupted with the beginning of the revolution) and the magazine "Artistic Treasures of Russia";

created the wonderful “Guide to the Hermitage Art Gallery” (1911). After the revolution of 1917, Benoit took an active part in the work of various organizations, mainly related to the protection of monuments of art and antiquities, and from 1918 he also took up museum work - he became the head of the Hermitage Picture Gallery. He developed and successfully implemented completely new plan

the general exhibition of the museum, which contributed to the most expressive demonstration of each work.

His numerous natural landscapes, which he usually executed either in St. Petersburg and its suburbs, or in Versailles (Benoit regularly traveled to France and lived there for a long time), were essentially devoted to the same themes. These same themes dominated his book and theater works, to which he, like most “World of Art” artists, paid no less, if not more, attention than easel creativity.

In 1926, Benoit, having made a forced choice between the difficulties of an emigrant existence and the increasingly frightening prospect of life in a Soviet country, left for France. There he worked mainly in theaters: first at the Grand Opera in Paris, and after World War II at La Scala in Milan. He worked at the same professional level, but was no longer able to create anything fundamentally new and interesting, often content with varying the old (at least eight versions of the now legendary ballet “Petrushka” were performed). The main work of his last years (since 1934) was his memoirs, on the pages of which he recalled in detail and fascinatingly the years of his childhood and youth.

A.Benoit. "ABC in pictures"

Facsimile reproduction of the 1904 edition.
One of the famous books for children is “The ABC in Pictures” by the Russian artist, art historian Alexander Nikolaevich Benois. Benoit's exquisite graphics are still an unsurpassed example of book illustration. Each page of the ABC is an amazing, bewitching fairy-tale world.

Books about Alexander Benois, art history and literary works A. Benois:

in general, where all areas of a single and precisely this unity of strong art are connected with indissoluble bonds.

"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. Benois Alexander Nikolaevich Himself 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 World famous 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 - felt especially acute. There was Russian blood in him too. The Catholic religion did not interfere with the family's amazing respect for. One of the strongest childhood impressions of A. Benois - Nikolsky naval cathedral(Nikola Morsky), a work of the Baroque era, the view of which opened from the windows of the Benois family house. With all of Benoit’s completely understandable cosmopolitanism, there was only one place in the world that 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 " The last walks of 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.

Nevertheless, the first impression of Versailles, where he visited for the first time during his honeymoon, was stunning. The artist was overcome by the feeling that he had “already experienced this once.” Everywhere in the Versailles works one can see the slightly dejected, but still outstanding personality of Louis XIV, the Sun King. 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.

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, Benois became the head of the Hermitage art gallery and did a lot to ensure that the museum became 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.”