Laskina N.O. Versailles of Alexandre Benois in the context of French literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries: on the history of locus recoding // Dialogue of cultures: poetics of local text. Gornoaltaisk: RIO GAGU, 2011. pp. 107–117.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the dialogue between Russian and Western European cultures had reached, perhaps, maximum synchronicity. The cultural story we will touch on can serve as an example of how close the interaction and mutual influence was.
The semiotization of a place, the construction of a cultural myth around a specific locus, requires the participation of various actors in the cultural process. Regarding the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it is quite reasonable to talk not so much about the spread of individual author’s ideas, but about the “atmosphere” of the era, about the general ideological and aesthetic field that gives rise to common signs, including at the level of “local texts”.
Aesthetic loci associated with historically significant places, most often large cities, religious centers or natural sites, usually mythologized long before the formation of a literary tradition, have been especially well studied. In these cases, “high” culture connects to an already running process, and it is fair to look for the roots of literary “images of places” in mythological thinking. It seems interesting to pay attention to rarer cases when a locus initially represents the implementation of a narrowly focused cultural project, but then outgrows or completely changes its primary functions. Versailles can be attributed to such loci with a complex history.
The specificity of Versailles as a cultural phenomenon is determined, on the one hand, by the peculiarities of its appearance, on the other, by its development, which is atypical for a local text. Despite the gradual transformation into a normal provincial city, Versailles is still perceived as a place inseparable from its history. For the cultural context, it is fundamental that the palace and park complex was conceived politically as an alternative capital, and aesthetically as an ideal symbolic object, which should not have any aspects not related to the will of its creators. (The political motives for transferring the center of power from Paris to Versailles are perfectly combined with mythological ones: it meant clearing the space of power from the chaos of the natural city). Aesthetically, this, however, as we know, is a deliberately dual phenomenon, since it combines the Cartesian thinking of French classicism (straight lines, emphasizing perspective, grids and lattices and other methods of extreme ordering of space) with typical elements of baroque thinking (complex allegorical language, stylistics of sculptures and most fountains). During the 18th century, Versailles increasingly acquired the properties of a palimpsest, while maintaining its extreme artificiality (which became especially noticeable when fashion demanded playing natural life and led to the emergence of the “queen village”). We should not forget that the original idea of the design of the palace symbolically turns it into a book in which a living chronicle of current events should have instantly crystallized into a myth (this quasi-literary status of the Versailles palace is confirmed by the participation of Racine as the author of the inscriptions - which can be considered as an attempt namely literary legitimization of the entire project with the help of the name of a strong author).
A locus with such properties poses the question of how art can master a place that is already a finished work. What remains for the authors of subsequent generations other than reproducing the proposed model?
This problem is especially clearly highlighted when compared with St. Petersburg. The methods of implementing the capital’s myth are partly consonant: in both cases the motive of the construction sacrifice is actualized, both places are perceived as the embodiment of personal will and the triumph of the state idea, but St. Petersburg, being still much closer to the “natural”, “living” city, attracted interpretations from the very beginning artists and poets. Versailles, during the active period of its history, almost never became the subject of serious aesthetic reflection. In French literature, as all scholars of the Versailles theme note, for a long time the functions of including Versailles in the text were limited to a reminder of social space as opposed to physical: Versailles was not described either as a place itself, or as a work of art (the value of which has always been questioned - which, however, reflects the skepticism characteristic of French literature, well known from the representation of Paris in the French novel of the 19th century.)
Since the beginning of the 19th century, the history of literature has recorded more and more attempts to form literary image Versailles. French romantics (primarily Chateaubriand) are trying to appropriate this symbol of classicism, using its symbolic death as a capital after the revolution - which ensures the birth of Versailles as a romantic locus, where the palace turns out to be one of many romantic ruins (researchers even note the “Gothicification” of the Versailles space It is important that in this case the general romantic discourse completely supplants any possibility of understanding the specific properties of the place; there were no ruins in Versailles even in its worst times, just as the Romantics found a solution to the problem: to introduce a locus into the text that was immediately available. was a text, and to avoid tautology, it is necessary to recode the locus. In the romantic version, this implied, however, the complete destruction of all its distinctive features, so the “romantic Versailles” was never firmly entrenched in the history of culture.
In the 1890s it begins new round the existence of the Versailles text, interesting primarily because this time many representatives of different spheres of culture and different national cultures participated in the process; “decadent Versailles” does not have one specific author. Among the many voices that created a new version of Versailles, one of the most notable will be the voice of Alexandre Benois, first as an artist, later as a memoirist.
Sporadic attempts to romanticize the Versailles space by imposing on it properties borrowed from other loci were replaced at the end of the century by a sharp return of interest in both the place itself and its mythogenic potential. A number of very similar texts appear, the authors of which, despite all their differences, belonged to the general communicative sphere - therefore, there is every reason to assume that, in addition to published texts, salon discussions played a significant role, especially since the city of Versailles is becoming a fairly noticeable center of cultural life, and the Palace of Versailles, which is being restored at this time, is attracting more and more attention.
Unlike most poetically appropriated loci, Versailles never becomes a popular setting. The main sphere of implementation of the Versailles text is lyrics, lyrical prose, essays. The exception that proves the rule is Henri de Regnier’s novel “Amphisbaena,” which begins with an episode of a walk in Versailles: here a walk in the park sets the direction of the narrator’s reflection (designed in the spirit of lyrical prose of the turn of the century); as soon as the text goes out of frame inner monologue, the space is changing.
We can highlight several key, from our point of view, texts that played the most important role at this stage of the interpretation of Versailles.
First of all, let's name the cycle “Red Pearls” by Robert de Montesquiou (the book was published in 1899, but individual texts were quite widely known already from the beginning of the 90s from salon readings), which was, most likely, the main driving force behind the fashion on the Versailles theme. The collection of sonnets is preceded by a long preface in which Montesquieu develops his interpretation of Versailles as a text.
It is impossible to ignore the many texts of Henri de Regnier, but especially the lyrical cycle “City of Waters” (1902) should be highlighted.
No less representative is the essay by Maurice Barrès “On Decay” from the collection “On Blood, On Pleasure and Death” (1894): this unique lyrical obituary (the text was written on the death of Charles Gounod) will become the starting point in the further development of the Versailles theme as in Barrès himself , and among his then numerous readers in the French literary environment.
Let us also especially note the text entitled “Versailles” in Marcel Proust’s first book, “Leasures and Days” (1896) - a short essay included in a series of “walking” sketches (preceded by a text entitled “Tuileries”, followed by “Walk”) . This essay is remarkable in that Proust is the first (and, as we see, very early) to note the actual existence of the new Versailles text, directly naming Montesquieu, Rainier and Barrès as its creators, in whose footsteps Proust’s narrator takes a walk through Versailles.
One can also add the names of Albert Samin and Ernest Reynaud, poets of the second Symbolist generation; attempts to interpret Versailles nostalgia also appear in the Goncourts. Let us also note the undoubted significance of Verlaine’s collection “Gallant Celebrations” as a general pretext. In Verlaine, despite the references to gallant painting XVIII century, the artistic space is not designated as Versailles and is generally devoid of clear topographical references - but it is precisely this conventional place, to which Verlaine’s nostalgia is directed in the collection, that will become obvious material for constructing the image of Versailles in the lyrics of the next generation.
Photo by Eugene Atget. 1903.
Analysis of these texts makes it quite easy to identify common dominants (the commonality is often literal, right down to lexical coincidences). Without dwelling on the details, we will list only the main features of this system of dominants.
- A park, but not a palace.
There are practically no descriptions of the palace, only the park and the surrounding forests appear (despite the fact that all the authors visited the palace), especially since there is no mention of Versailles the city. Barrès, at the very beginning of the essay, immediately rejects the “castle without a heart” (with a parenthetical remark that still recognizes its aesthetic value). Proust's text is also dedicated to a walk in the park, there is no palace at all, there are not even any architectural metaphors (which he tends to resort to almost everywhere). In the case of Montesquiou, this strategy of displacing the palace is especially unusual, since it contradicts the content of many of the sonnets: Montesquieu constantly refers to plots (from memoirs and historical anecdotes, etc.) that require the palace as a setting - but he ignores this. (In addition, he dedicates the collection to the artist Maurice Lobre, who painted the Versailles interiors- but does not find a place for them in poetry). The Palace of Versailles functions only as a society, but not as a locus. Spatial characteristics appear when it comes to the park (which is especially noteworthy if we remember that the real palace is semiotically overloaded; the original symbolism of the park, however, is also almost always ignored - except for a few poems by Rainier, playing on the mythological subjects used in the design of the fountains).
- Death and sleep.
Versailles is constantly called a necropolis or depicted as a city of ghosts.
The idea of “memory of place,” normal for a historically significant locus, is most often embodied in ghost characters and corresponding motifs. (Barrès’s only reminder of the story is the “sounds of Marie Antoinette’s harpsichord” heard by the narrator).
Montesquieu not only adds a lot of detail to this theme: the entire cycle of “Red Pearls” is organized as a spiritualistic seance, evoking from one sonnet to another figures from the past of Versailles and the image of “old France” in general. A typically symbolist interpretation of the “death of place” also appears here. Death is understood as a return to its idea: the sun king turns into the sun king, the Versailles ensemble, subordinate to the solar myth, is now controlled not by the symbol of the sun, but by the sun itself (see the title sonnet of the cycle and the preface). For Barrès, Versailles functions as an elegiac locus - a place for thinking about death, in which death is also interpreted specifically: “the proximity of death adorns” (said about Heine and Maupassant, who, according to Barrès, acquired poetic power only in the face of death).
In the same series are Rainier’s “dead park” (opposed to a living forest, and the water in fountains to pure underground water) and Proust’s “leaf cemetery.”
In addition, Versailles as an oneiric space is included in the necrocontext, since the dream experience that it provokes certainly leads again to the resurrection of the shadows of the past.
- Autumn and winter.
Without exception, all authors writing about Versailles at this time choose autumn as the most suitable time for the place and actively exploit traditional autumn symbolism. Fallen leaves (feuilles mortes, by that time already traditional for the French lyrics of autumn-death) appear on literally everyone.
In this case, plant motifs rhetorically replace architecture and sculpture (“a huge cathedral of leaves” by Barrès, “every tree carries a statue of some deity” by Rainier).
Sunset is closely associated with this same line - in the typical meanings of the era of death, withering, that is, as a synonym for autumn (the irony is that the most famous visual effect of the Palace of Versailles requires precisely the setting sun illuminating the mirror gallery). This symbolic synonymy is exposed by Proust, whose red leaves create the illusion of sunset in the morning and afternoon.
The same series includes the accentuated black color (not at all dominant in the real Versailles space, even in winter), and the direct fixation of the emotional background (melancholy, loneliness, sadness), which is always simultaneously attributed to the characters and the space itself and its elements (trees, sculptures and etc.) and is motivated by the same eternal autumn. Less often, winter appears as a variation on the same seasonal theme - with very similar meanings (melancholy, nearness of death, loneliness), perhaps provoked by Mallarmé's winter poetics; the most striking example is the episode of “Amphisbaena” that we mentioned.
- Water.
Without a doubt, the water dominant is determined by character real place; however, in most late-century texts the “watery” nature of Versailles is exaggerated.
The title of Rainier's cycle "City of Waters" accurately reflects the tendency to superimpose the Versailles text with the Venetian one. The fact that Versailles is in this respect completely opposite to Venice, since all the water effects here are purely mechanical, makes it even more attractive to the thinking of this generation. The image of a city connected with water not because of natural necessity, but in spite of nature, thanks to an aesthetic design, fits perfectly with the chimerical spaces of decadent poetics.
- Blood.
Naturally, French authors associate the history of Versailles with its tragic ending. The literature here, in a sense, develops a motif that is also popular among historians: in the imprint of the “great century” the roots of a future catastrophe are visible. Poetically, this is most often expressed in the constant intrusion into the gallant scenery of scenes of violence, where blood acquires the properties of a common denominator to which any enumeration of the signs of the old regime of Versailles life is reduced. Thus, in Montesquieu’s cycle, sunset paintings are reminiscent of the guillotine, the title “red pearl” itself is drops of blood; Rainier in the poem “Trianon” literally “powder and rouge become blood and ashes.” In Proust, a reminder of the construction sacrifice also appears, and this is clearly in the context of the emerging modernist cultural myth: the beauty not of Versailles itself, but of the texts about it, removes remorse, memories of those killed and ruined during its construction.
- Theater.
Theatricalization is the most predictable element of the Versailles text, the only one, perhaps, associated with tradition: Versailles life as a performance (sometimes as a puppet and mechanical) is already depicted in Saint-Simon. The novelty here is in translating the analogies between court life and theater to the level of artistic space: the park becomes a stage, historical figures become actors, etc. Note that this line of rethinking the Versailles mythology will further manifest itself more and more in interpretations of the French “golden age” by the culture of the twentieth century, including in connection with several outbreaks of interest in baroque theater in general.
Let us now turn to the “Russian side” of this topic, to the legacy of Alexandre Benois. Benoit's "Versailles Text" includes, as is well known, graphic series of the late 1890s and late 1900s, the ballet "Armide's Pavilion" and several fragments of the book "My Memories". The latter – the verbalization of the experience behind the drawings and a fairly detailed self-interpretation – is of particular interest, since it allows us to judge the degree of Benoit’s involvement in the French discourse about Versailles.
The surprise expressed by the French researcher at the fact that Benoit ignores the entire literary tradition of depicting Versailles is completely natural. The artist reports in his memoirs about his acquaintance with most of the authors of the “Versailles” texts, devotes time to the story of his acquaintance with Montesquieu, including recalling the copy of “Red Pearls” donated by the poet to the artist, mentions Rainier (besides this, it is known for sure that he was either otherwise he is familiar with all the other figures of this circle, including Proust, whom Benoit, however, hardly noticed) - but does not in any way compare his vision of Versailles with literary versions. One can suspect here a desire to preserve his undivided authorship, given that copyright is one of the most “sick” topics in Benois’ memoirs (see almost all the episodes associated with Diaghilev’s ballets, on the posters of which Benois’ work was often attributed to Bakst). In any case, whether we are talking about an unconscious quotation or a random coincidence, Versailles Benoit fits perfectly into the literary context we have shown. In addition, he had a direct influence on French literature, as recorded by Montesquieu's sonnet dedicated to the drawings of Benoit.
Alexander Benois. At the Ceres Basin. 1897.
So, Benoit reproduces most of the listed motives, perhaps rearranging the accents a little. “My Memoirs” is especially interesting in this regard, since one can often talk about literal coincidences.
The displacement of the palace in favor of the park takes on a special meaning in the context of Benoit’s memoirs. Only in the fragments about Versailles does he say anything about the interior decor of the palace (in general, the only mention is the same spectacle of the sunset in the mirror gallery), although he describes the interiors of other palaces (in Peterhof, Oranienbaum, Hampton Court) in sufficient detail.
Benoit's Versailles is always autumnal, with a dominant black - which is also supported in the memoir text by reference to personal impressions. In his drawings, he selects fragments of the park in such a way as to avoid Cartesian effects; he prefers curves and oblique lines, essentially destroying the classical image of the palace.
The image of Versailles-necropolis is also relevant for Benoit. The resurrection of the past, accompanied by the appearance of ghosts, is a motif that accompanies all the Versailles episodes in the memoirs and is quite obvious in the drawings. One of these passages in “My Memoirs” concentrates the characteristic elements of neo-Gothic poetics of the end of the century:
Sometimes at dusk, when the west shines with cold silver, when gray clouds slowly creep in from the horizon, and in the east the heaps of pink apotheoses are extinguished, when everything strangely and solemnly calms down, and calms down so much that you can hear leaf after leaf falling onto the piles of fallen clothing, when the ponds seem covered with gray cobwebs, when the squirrels rush like madmen along the bare tops of their kingdom and the pre-night croaking of jackdaws is heard - at such hours, between the trees of the bosquets, some people who no longer live our lives, but still human beings, fearfully appear and curiously watching the lonely passerby. And with the onset of darkness, this world of ghosts begins to more and more persistently survive living life.
It should be noted that at the level of style, the distance between these fragments of Benoit’s memoirs and the French texts we mentioned is minimal: even if the author of “My Memoirs” did not read them, he perfectly captured not only the general style of the era, but also the characteristic intonations of the version we described above Versailles discourse.
Benoit has even stronger oneiric motives, depicting Versailles as an enchanted place. This idea found its fullest expression in the ballet Armida's Pavilion, where the dream-like plot is embodied in scenery reminiscent of Versailles.
Alexander Benois. Scenery for the ballet "Pavilion of Armida". 1909.
Let us also note the clear contrast with the version of the Versailles text that will be enshrined in most of the performances of the “Russian seasons”. “The Feast of Versailles” by Stravinsky-Diaghilev, like “The Sleeping Beauty” before it, exploit a different perception of the same locus (it is the one that has become entrenched in popular culture and tourism discourse) - with an emphasis on festivity, luxury and youth. In his memoirs, Benoit more than once emphasizes that Diaghilev’s late works are alien to him, and he has a cool attitude towards Stravinsky’s neoclassicism.
The emphasis on the water element is emphasized, in addition to the obligatory presence of fountains or a canal, by rain (“The King walks in any weather”).
The theatricality, provoked as it were by the place itself, is expressed even more clearly in Benoit than in French authors - of course, thanks to the specifics of his professional interests. (This side of his work has been studied as much as possible, and here Versailles for him fits into a long chain of theatrical and festive loci).
The main difference between Benoit's version appears, when compared with the French texts, as a significant "blind spot". The only typically Versailles range of themes that he ignores is violence, blood, revolution. His tragic shades are motivated by the obsessive image of the old king - but these are motives of natural death; Benoit not only does not draw any guillotines, but in his memoirs (written after the revolutions) he does not link the Versailles experiences either with his personal experience of encountering history or with French tradition. In Benoit's memoirs one can see, on the whole, a completely different attitude than that of his French contemporaries towards the topic of power and loci of power. Versailles remains a repository of someone else's memory, alienated and frozen. This is also noticeable in contrast with the descriptions of Peterhof: the latter always appears as a “living” place - both because it is associated with childhood memories, and because it is remembered from the time of the living courtyard. Benoit does not see it as an analogue to Versailles, not only because of stylistic differences, but also because Peterhof, as he preserved it in his memoirs, continues to perform its normal function.
Without pretending to cover the topic completely, let us draw some preliminary conclusions from the above observations.
An artificially created locus-symbol is assimilated by culture slowly and contrary to the original intention. Versailles had to lose its political meaning in order to find recognition in the culture of the end of the century, which had learned to extract aesthetic experience from destruction, old age and death. The fate of the Versailles text can thus be interpreted in the context of the relationship between culture and political power: the “place of power,” conceived literally as the spatial embodiment of the idea of power as an ideal authority, simultaneously attracts and repels artists. (Note that interest in Versailles is not accompanied by any of the authors considered by nostalgia for the old regime, and all the attributes of the monarchy function for them solely as signs of a long-dead world). The solution found, as we see, by European literature at the turn of the century is final aestheticization, the transformation of the place of power into a stage, drawing, chronotope component, etc., necessarily with complete recoding, translation into the language of another artistic paradigm.
This idea is directly expressed in Montesquieu’s book of sonnets, where several times Saint-Simon is called the true master of Versailles: power belongs to the one who says the last word- ultimately, to the writer (of all the memoirists, therefore, the most valuable for the history of literature was chosen). In parallel, the images of the bearers of power in the traditional sense, real kings and queens, are weakened by depicting them as ghosts or as participants in the performance. A political figure is replaced by an artistic one, the course of history is replaced creative process, which, as Proust said, removes the irresistible bloody tragedy of history.
The participation of the Russian artist in this process of achieving the triumph of culture over history is a significant fact not so much even for the history of the Russian-French dialogue, but for the self-awareness of Russian culture. It is also interesting that even a superficial comparison reveals the kinship of Benoit’s texts with literature, which was known to him rather indirectly and fragmentarily and which he was not inclined to take seriously, since he demonstratively distanced himself from decadent culture.
Literature:
- Benois A.N. My memories. M., 1980. T.2.
- Barrès M. Sur la decomposition // Barrès M. Du sang, de la volupté et de la mort. Paris, 1959. P. 261-267.
- Montesquiou R. de. Perles rouges. Les paroles diaprées. Paris, 1910.
- Prince N. Versailles, icône fantastique // Versailles dans la littérature: mémoire et imaginaire aux XIXe et XXe siècles. P. 209-221.
- Proust M. Les plaisirs et le jours. Paris, 1993.
- Regnier H. de. L'Amphisbène: roman moderne. Paris, 1912.
- Regnier H. de. La Cité des eaux. Paris, 1926.
- Savally D. Les écrits d’Alexandre Benois sur Versailles: un regard pétersbourgeois sur la cité royale? // Versailles dans la littérature: mémoire et imaginaire aux XIXe et XXe siècles. P.279-293.
The series of drawings by Alexandre Benois, dedicated to the walks of King Louis the Sun, his old age, as well as autumn and winter in the Park of Versailles, is perhaps one of the most memorable - both sad and beautiful - in the artist’s work.
A. Benoit. "The King's Last Walks" 1896-1898
(there are also later drawings)
"Versailles. Louis XIV feeding the fish"
Description of Louis XIV's old age from here:
"...The king became sad and gloomy. According to Madame de Maintenon, he became “the most inconsolable man in all of France.” Louis began to violate the laws of etiquette established by himself.
IN last years in life he acquired all the habits befitting an old man: he got up late, ate in bed, reclined receiving ministers and secretaries of state (Louis XIV was involved in the affairs of the kingdom until last days his life), and then sat for hours in a large armchair, placing a velvet pillow under his back. In vain the doctors repeated to their sovereign that the lack of bodily movements made him bored and drowsy and was a harbinger of his imminent death.
The king could no longer resist the onset of decrepitude, and his age was approaching eighty.
All he agreed to was limited to trips around the gardens of Versailles in a small, steerable carriage."
"Versailles. At the Pool of Ceres"
I also put here other drawings by Benoit, in which the king does not appear, but there is simply Versailles.
"Flora's Pool at Versailles"
From the article "Versailles in the works of Benois"
Alexandre Benois first visited Versailles as a young man, back in the 1890s.
Since then, he has remained obsessed with the poetry of the ancient royal palace, the “divine Versailles,” as he calls it. “I returned from there stupefied, almost sick from strong impressions.”
From the confession to his nephew Evgeniy Lancera: “I am intoxicated by this place, it is some kind of impossible disease, a criminal passion, a strange love.”
"King Louis XIV in a chair"
Over the course of his life, the artist would create more than six hundred oil paintings, engravings, pastels, gouaches and watercolors dedicated to Versailles.
When Benoit was 86 years old, he complained about poor health only from the point of view that it did not allow him to “walk through the paradise in which he once lived.”
And this is a real lifetime portrait of old Louis the Sun, drawn by A. Benois. Not by our artist, but Antoine Benoist
(1632-1717), who worked at court. He was not a relative of our Benoit, and not even a namesake (different spelling), but I am sure that such a clever person as Alexander knew about him and perhaps felt some kind of spiritual kinship thanks to the magic of the name.
"The King's Walk"
“The source of inspiration for the artist is not the royal splendor of the castle and parks, but rather the “shaky, sad memories of the kings who still wander here.” It looks like some kind of almost mystical illusion (“I sometimes reach a state close to hallucinations”) .
For Benoit, those shadows that silently glide across the Versailles park are more akin to memories than fantasy. According to his own statement, images of events that once took place here flash before his eyes. He “sees” the very creator of this splendor, King Louis XIV, surrounded by his retinue. Moreover, he sees him already terribly old and sick, which surprisingly accurately reflects the former reality.”
"Versailles. Orangery"
"Versailles. Trianon Garden"
From an article by a French researcher (there’s an interesting perspective there):
“The images of “The Last Walks of Louis XIV” are certainly inspired, and sometimes borrowed, from texts and engravings of the time of the “Sun King”.
However, such a view - the approach of an erudite and connoisseur - is by no means fraught with dryness or pedantry and does not force the artist to engage in lifeless historical reconstructions. Indifferent to the “complaints of the stones, dreaming of decaying into oblivion,” so dear to Montesquieu’s heart, Benoit did not capture either the dilapidation of the palace or the desolation of the park, which he certainly still saw. He prefers flights of fancy to historical accuracy - and at the same time, his fantasies are historically accurate. The artist's themes are the passage of time, the “romantic” invasion of nature into the classic Le Nôtre park; he is fascinated - and amused - by the contrast between the sophistication of the park scenery, in which “every line, every statue, the smallest vase” recalls “the divinity of monarchical power, the greatness of the sun king, the inviolability of the foundations” - and the grotesque figure of the king himself: a hunched old man in a gurney pushed by a livery footman."
"At Curtius's"
"Allegory of the River"
“A few years later, Benoit would paint an equally irreverent verbal portrait of Louis XIV: “a crooked old man with sagging cheeks, bad teeth and a face eaten away by smallpox.”
The king in Benoit's "Walks" is a lonely old man, abandoned by his courtiers and clinging to his confessor in a premonition near death. But he doesn’t act in the role tragic hero, and in the role of a staff character, an extra, whose almost ephemeral, ghostly presence emphasizes the inviolability of the scenery and the stage from which the once great actor leaves, “uncomplainingly bearing the burden of this monstrous comedy.”
"The king walked in any weather... (Saint-Simon)"
“At the same time, Benoit seems to forget that Louis XIV was the main customer of the Versailles performance and was not at all mistaken about the role that he assigned himself to play. Since the story seemed to Benoit as a kind of theatrical play, the replacement of bright mise-en-scenes with less successful ones was inevitable: “Louis XIV was an excellent actor, and he deserved the applause of history. Louis XVI was only one of the “grandsons of the great actor” who appeared on the stage - and therefore it is very natural that he was driven out by the audience, and the play, which had recently had enormous success, also failed. ".
"Allegory of the River"
"King"(not in the chair yet) 
"A Walk in the Garden of Versailles"
"Pond at Versailles"
"Fantasy on the Versailles Theme"
Anatoly Lunacharsky, the future Soviet “Minister of Culture,” cursed at the cycle when he saw the drawings at an exhibition in 1907:
...The worst thing is that Mr. Benoit, following the example of many, chose a special specialty for himself. Nowadays it is very common among painters and young poets to find and protect their original individuality by choosing some, sometimes ridiculously narrow and deliberate, type of subject. Mr. Benoit fell in love with Versailles Park. A thousand and one studies of the Park of Versailles, all more or less well done. And yet I still want to say: “Strike once, strike twice, but you can’t do it to the point of insensibility.” For Mr. Benois caused a kind of special mental stupor in the public: Versailles ceased to act. "How good!" - says the audience and yawns widely, widely.
Petersburg: Aquilon, 1922. 22 p., l. ill.; 600 num. copies, of which 100 copies. registered, 500 copies. (1-500). In an illustrated color publisher's cover. Oblong. 24.4x33.8 cm. The printing of this album was sharply criticized by contemporaries!
"Everything flows, everything changes, everything must change, everything cannot help but change. However, through all the changes in the human artistic creativity one life-giving stream passes through, the same one that gives it the character of authenticity, this is sincerity. True joy comes from the consciousness that creations, be they plastic images (including a performance), be they musical sounds, be it thoughts and words, correspond to some kind of internal prompt or what is commonly called “inspiration”. But only as long as this correspondence exists is true art born and beauty born; when it is replaced by the vain desire to amaze and surprise with novelty or, even worse, the desire to “be in fashion,” then art and beauty disappear, and in their place is a dull fake, or even simply ugliness.”
Alexander Nikolaevich Benois
(from the last book of memories)
At the end of 1896, Benois, Bakst and Somov went to Paris. Lansere and Yakunchnkova are already there. Soon they are joined by Ober and Ostroumova, who entered Whistler's workshop. Diaghilev, Nurok, Nouvel appear in Paris intermittently. But Benoit is not attracted to French academies either. From the landscape studies, drawings, sketches made in Paris and Brittany, one can see how quickly the artist’s independent formation is taking place. Here we meet for the first time an observant draftsman and watercolorist with his own style. A pencil stroke is boldly used on top of the widely laid watercolor, freely sculpting the form and sharpening the character of the image; this gives the sheet transparency, full of air, and some special ease. In parallel with studying nature, the study of the culture and art of France begins. In the Louvre, he first appreciates Delacroix and Corot, Daumier and Courbet. At exhibitions contemporary art In the Durand-Ruel gallery his attention is attracted by the Impressionists: he discovers Monet and Degas. Benoit is especially close to Lucien Simon, Rene Menard and Gaston La Touche; these Parisians associated with traditional forms paintings, much stronger than the impressionists, incomprehensible to most, enjoyed wide popularity at that time. But he doesn’t like much in contemporary French art. He is disappointed by the “morbid fantasies” of Gustave Moreau, the “foggy painting” of Eugene Carriere, and the nightmares of Odilon Redon. He is no longer on the same path with the Symbolists: “The Symbolists and decadents suffered bankruptcy, they promised a lot, they gave some scraps.” Benoit and his friends visit the ancient quarters of Paris, the National Library, explore museums, palaces, cathedrals, and travel to Sèvres, Saint-Cloud, Chantilly, Chartres. “Sometimes one word of his, spoken in passing, opened up a whole world unfamiliar to me,” Ostroumova-Lebedeva writes about these walks. At the same time, it is significant, for example, that it was the era of Louis XIV, which for Wilde served as a symbol of the suppression of creative individuality in art, that turns out to be the center of Benoit’s interests. Versailles captivates him with particular force. First of all, the palace itself is a majestic monument of 17th-century classicism, the embodiment of the “colossal style” of Ardouin Mansart. Spurred by reading books telling about the life and rights of the residence of Louis XIV, the artist’s “philosophical” imagination populates the old park with images of the past. In 1905 A.N. Benoit lives with his family in Versailles:
A.N. Benoit
Diary 1905
October 13. Despite two bad hotels, today we moved to Versailles rue de la Paroisse. Damn heavy books. - The children were delighted. Just before leaving, I received “The Lay” with my article about Telyakovsky and “Our Life” - with the two Dimins. This was encouraging. Had breakfast at Juveu's with Stepan. He had them before. - We already had dinner at home, in Versailles. The apartment is cozy, and the stench is from meat<лавок>No. It feels like I would like to live here for a century. I managed to put the books away in a giant poster. He sent a request for money to Baron Wolf, letters to Wrangel, Argutinsky, Zhenya and Katya.
October 14. This morning we almost quarreled over money bills. Atya is funny. As soon as you start talking about this topic, she begins to tremble, understand words at random, and so on. Cleaned up. During the day with the children at the foire and in the park. Sun and cold. Beautiful. - Upon returning home, the wonderful impression was spoiled by letters from home. - Dobuzhinsky writes about misunderstandings with the Red Cross (Roerich’s intrigues and Kurbatov’s stupidity are obvious), Frank - that an unsympathetic review of “ABC” appeared in “Rus”, and a particularly angry one in “The Spectator” (Artsybusheva). Dobuzhinsky is also indignant about the latter. What does this mean? Is it really a consequence of my leaving “Rus”? Or is Roerich here too? In any case - Russian absurdity. It's obvious that it's time for me to go home. There is no point in relying on friends. In addition, there is some confusion with “Enlightenment”. - Explanation with Atya. Tears: “It’s all my fault.” - Having refreshed myself with grog, I became happier. It's all lottery and fate! Maybe he'll take it out. Well, he won’t take it out, because somehow it will all end. Professor Trubetskoy died.
October 15. I was in church. Our concierge is a doorman there. - Having drunk coffee, I went to work in the park and, despite the cold, made a good sketch at the Bassin de Bacchus [Bacchus Pool]. - Stepan arrived for breakfast. Bakst “fell ill.” - We all took a huge walk together to Petit Trianon [Little Trianon]. We met Shcherbatov and his wife, but he (pretended? What) did not recognize. - We were sorting out the collection at home. I feel more energetic today. I don’t give a damn about St. Petersburg and will take a break from intrigue and squabbles at work and in painting. And then whatever God gives.
October 16. In the morning I made (unsuccessfully) a sketch of the alley with the Baths. Not too cold. Children are in the way. During the day I dozed off and did not go to M. de Nolhac, to whom I have a letter from Benoit. It was posted that the reception was on Wednesday. - Having changed into dirty clothes, I made another sketch of the same alley with the Baths, and again unsuccessfully. I starched the paper in vain. I don't like it now.
the 25th of October. In the morning I finished the scene in the countess's bedroom. In the afternoon I visited de Nolhac, the Director of Versailles, and brought him iconographic material on Elizabeth. He was kind and promised to show me a lot of interesting things. - There was a telegram from the Ratkovs that they were in Paris. We’ll have to go. Annoyance for the lost time. - I was drawing in the park until sunset . Finished Wells "L"Homme invisible" ["The Invisible Man"].
December 4. Very bad weather, spent the whole day at the auction. There were coins and engravings. Quite cheap, but I'm penniless. - For half an hour, despite the cold, I painted the “Pyramid” for the painting “Winter Dream” (argument with Harlequin). Regnier is very good in places, but often falters. I don’t understand at all what the attached diary means. Obviously this is a hoax. But what does de Nolhac and the link to his publications have to do with it. In any case, this brings disharmony. - Plot: the poisoned life of one very handsome courtesan in love with the king, who, due to an absurd incident, does not enjoy the favor of Louis XIV. Lots of subtleties. Skeptical cult of the kingdom. Common with France, but without his plebeian lining.
5th of December. I painted “Pyramid” again and spent two hours at the auction. I missed a good miniature: “A Lady of the Times of Louis XIV”, on copper, for 8fr. 50. - I finished Régnier, I continue with Michelet. - He has “Collier de la Reine” [“The Queen’s Necklace”] in a completely different light. The “pretty” Valois [Valois] is whitewashed, and the representative of the church Rohan is put in escrom. - It hits the queen hard too. A hint of lesbianism, of lovers. - She still has the necklace! So trust historians and history. In the evenings I compose my “Ministry”.
December 6. In the morning I made a rain effect near the palace (with Apollo).
9th December. I started (for the first time in the morning) painting with oil paint. - Unpleasant tying and inability to follow the contours. Still, the underpainting gave the effect I wanted. - During the day I painted figures for the second painting. In the evening at Versailles, in the 17th century. Very nervous. Successfully improvised on the piano. - I finished my articles about the Ministry of Arts. - I realize that they are now untimely. But, in general, I lost all connection between my own mood and the mood of Russian society.
In 1897-1898, he painted a series of landscape paintings of the Versailles parks in watercolors and gouache, recreating in them the spirit and atmosphere of antiquity. A series of watercolors “The Last Walks of Louis XIV” appears. Later, more than 40 paintings and graphic works were written, created by the master in different years, dedicated to Versailles - an outstanding monument of French architecture and landscape art of the 17th century. Benoit, in his own words, was “intoxicated by Versailles” and “completely moved into the past.” In the series of watercolors and gouaches “The Last Walks of Louis XIV” (1897-1898), as well as in the “second Versailles series"(1905-1907) and in the works completed in 1922, after the artist left Russia forever, he adheres to a clear, somewhat dry plastic language that distinguishes French landscape and architectural graphics of the 17th century. This series for a long time secured for Alexandre Benois, who since childhood showed an increased interest in the art of Russian and Western European classicism and baroque, the fame of “the singer of Versailles and Louis.” In the works of the “Versailles series,” nature and history appear in inextricable unity. Architectural structures, sculptures and alleys of the famous residence of the French kings look like silent witnesses to an irrevocably gone great era, preserving the memory of the creators and owners of the Versailles ensemble. Along with sketches painted from life, the artist performed genre paintings that not only recreate characteristic scenes distant historical era, but its very unique atmosphere. High craftsmanship allowed Benoit to present the image of Versailles Park as an image of an entire era that developed its own etiquette, fashion and majestic style, which retained its attractiveness for the artist who lived and worked in the troubled twentieth century, filled with disasters and upheavals.
In September 1921, a new private publishing house, Akvilon, arose in Petrograd, which soon became the best among publishing houses specializing in the publication of bibliophile literature, although it only existed for a little over two years. The owner of Aquilon was a chemical engineer and passionate bibliophile Valier Morisovich Kantor, and the ideological inspirer, technical director and soul of the publishing house was Fedor Fedorovich Notgaft (1896-1942), a lawyer by training, an art connoisseur and collector. Aquilon in Roman mythology is the north wind, flying with the speed of an eagle (lat. aquilo). This mythology was used by M.V. Dobuzhinsky as a publishing brand. Treating the book as a work of art, Aquilon employees strived to ensure that each of their publications was an example of an organic combination decoration and text. In total, Aquilon published 22 books. Their circulation ranged from 500 to 1500 copies; The mouth of the edition was personalized and numbered and was subsequently painted by hand by the artist. Most of the publications had a small format. To reproduce illustrations, the techniques of phototype, lithography, zincography, and wood engraving were used, and they were often placed on inserts printed in a way other than the book itself. The paper was selected in noble grades (laid paper, coated paper, etc.), and the illustrations were different high quality printing execution. F.F. Notgaft managed to attract many “World of Art” students to cooperation, including M.V. Dobuzhinsky, B.M. Kustodieva, K.S. Petrova-Vodkina, A.N. Benoit. The artists themselves chose books to illustrate - in accordance with their own taste and preferences. Characterizing the activities of Aquilon, E.F. Hollerbach wrote: “It was not in vain that the “Aquilon” (Krylov) rushed over the northern capital “with hail and rain” - it was truly a golden rain. “Gold, gold fell from the sky” onto the shelves of bibliophiles (but, alas, not into the publisher’s box office!).” In 1922, 5 books from the publishing house were presented at the International Book Exhibition in Florence: “Poor Lisa” by N.M. Karamzin, “The Miserly Knight” by A.S. Pushkin and “The Stupid Artist” by N.S. Leskov with illustrations by M.V. Dobuzhinsky, “Six Poems by Nekrasov” with illustrations by B.M. Kustodieva, "V. Zamirailo" S.R. Ernst. Created specifically for lovers of fine literature, books from the Akvilon publishing house still remain a common collector's item. Here is their list:
1. Karamzin N.M. "Poor Lisa." Drawings by M. Dobuzhinsky. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1921. 48 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies. Including 50 personalized, 50 hand-painted (No. I-L). The rest are numbered (No. 1-900).
2. Ernst S. “V. It froze." "Aquilon" St. Petersburg, 1921. 48 pages with illustrations. Circulation: 1000 copies, including 60 registered ones. The cover is printed in two types - green and orange.
3. Pushkin A.S. "The Stingy Knight" Drawings by M. Dobuzhinsky. "Aquilon", St. Petersburg, 1922.
36 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies. (60 nominal and 940 numbered). Two copies were hand-painted by the artist for family members. Three cover options - white, blue and orange.
4. “Six poems by Nekrasov.” Drawings by B.M. Kustodieva. "Aquilon". St. Petersburg, 1921 (the year 1922 is stamped on the cover). 96 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1200 copies. Of these, 60 are named, 1140 are numbered. There is one copy painted by Kustodiev by hand.
5. Leskov N.S. “Stupid artist. A story at the grave." Drawings by M. Dobuzhinsky. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922. 44 pages with illustrations on separate sheets (4 sheets in total). Circulation 1500 copies.
6. Fet A.A. "Poems". Drawings by V. Konashevich. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922. 48 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies.
7. Leskov N.S. "Darner." Drawings by B.M. Kustodieva. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922.
44 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies.
8. Henri de Regnier. "Three Stories" Translation by E.P. Ukhtomskaya. Drawings by D. Bouchen. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922. 64 pages with illustrations. Edition of 500 copies, including 75 registered and 10 hand-painted (25 are indicated in the book).
9. Ernst S. “Z.I. Serebryakov." "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922. 32 pages (8 sheets of illustrations). Circulation 1000 copies.
10. Edgar Poe. "Golden Bug" Drawings by D. Mitrokhin. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922. 56 pages with illustrations. Circulation 800 copies. (including registered copies; one of them, hand-painted by Mitrokhin, is the property of Notgaft F.F.).
11. Chulkov G. “Maria Hamilton. Poem". Drawings by V. Belkin. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922.
36 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies.
12. Benoit A. “Versailles” (album). "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922. 32 pages (8 sheets of illustrations). Circulation: 600 copies, including 100 registered and 500 numbered.
13. Dobuzhinsky M. “Memories of Italy.” Drawings by the author. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923.
68 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies.
14. "Rus". Russian types B.M. Kustodieva. Word - Evgenia Zamyatin. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923. 24 pages (23 sheets of illustrations). Circulation 1000 numbered copies. From the remains of reproductions, 50 copies without text were made not for sale.
15. “Toy Festival.” Fairy tale and drawings by Yuri Cherkesov. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1922. 6 pages with illustrations. Circulation 2000 copies.
16. Dostoevsky F.M. "White Nights". Drawings by M. Dobuzhinsky. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923. 80 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies.
17. Weiner P.P. "About bronze". Conversations about applied art. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923. 80 pages (11 sheets of illustrations). Circulation 1000 copies.
18. Vsevolod Voinov. "Wood Engravings" 1922-1923. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923. 24 pages of engravings. Circulation: 600 numbered copies.
19. Radlov N.E. "About Futurism." "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923. 72 pages. Circulation 1000 copies.
20. Ostroumova-Lebedeva A.P. "Landscapes of Pavlovsk in wooden engravings." "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923. 8 pages of text and 20 sheets of illustrations (woodcuts). Circulation 800 copies.
21. Petrov-Vodkin K.S. "Samarkandia". From travel sketches of 1921. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923. 52 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies.
22. Kube A.N. "Venetian glass". Conversations on applied arts. "Aquilon". Petersburg, 1923. 104 pages with illustrations and 12 illustrated sheets (phototypes). Circulation 1000 copies.
The album “Versailles”, where the artist’s watercolors are accompanied by his own text, is “the largest graphic work Benoit for the years of the revolution. Initially, it was planned to print 1000 copies: 600 in Russian and 400 in French, but only the Russian version was printed. The album sold out rather slowly. The reason for this was, firstly, high price, largely due to the complexity of typographic reproduction of illustrations (the album was printed for more than six months), secondly, reviews from critics who considered the publication unsuccessful and reproached the printers for the low quality of printing, the “unpleasant” format and typing of text in two columns. The album was published on thick paper. The illustrations were printed using the photolithography technique in four colors. The edition includes 26 watercolors by the artist; In addition, the introductory article and list of drawings are accompanied by headers and endings - they are printed using zincography. Benoit also designed title page with an allegorical headband and the motto of the King of France and the owner of Versailles, Louis XIV, “Nec pluribus impar” (“Not inferior to multitude”) and an illustrated cover. Versailles was one of the artist’s favorite themes. This work is based on numerous field observations: back in October 1896, Benoit made his first trip to Paris, where he sketched views of Versailles, which laid the foundation for his famous Versailles series. In Benoit's watercolors, the Versailles landscape is presented in its aesthetics as a Russian landscape. Art critics were able to discern in it associations with Levitan’s “Above Eternal Peace”, and with Pushkin’s thoughts “about indifferent nature”, and with the ironically interpreted idea of a fairy tale about a sleeping princess that no one will wake up. We find confirmation of this in the artist’s letters, where he more than once speaks of his inextricable connection with the park ensemble, calling it “my dear, my dear Verst.” Versailles for Benoit is the personification of the harmonious unity of man, nature and art. In the article preceding the album, he formulates this important idea for him: “...Versailles is not an ode to royal power, but a poem of life, a poem of humanity in love with nature, ruling over this very nature... a monumental hymn to courageous strength, inspiring feminine charm, united human efforts for common goals.
1906 State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.
Paper on cardboard, gouache, watercolor, bronze paint, silver paint, graphite pencil, pen, brush 48 x 62
IN The King's Walk Alexandre Benois takes the viewer to the brilliant Versailles park from the time of Louis XIV.
Against the background of an autumn landscape, the artist depicts a solemn procession of the monarch with his courtiers. The flat modeling of the walking figures seems to transform them into ghosts of a bygone era. Among the court retinue, it is difficult to find Louis XIV himself. The artist does not care about the Sun King. Benoit is much more concerned with the atmosphere of the era, the breath of the Versailles park from the time of its crowned owner.
Author of the painting King's Walk Alexander Nikolaevich Benois is one of the organizers and ideological inspirer artistic association World of Art. He was a theorist and critic of art. Peru Benois has carried out research on the history of both domestic and Western European art. His multifaceted talent manifested itself in book graphics and scenography.
Benoit's pictorial works are mainly devoted to two themes: France during the time of Louis XIV "The Sun King" and St. Petersburg in the 18th - early 19th centuries (see "
And indeed, it is not easy to determine who this brilliant man was: the range of interests of Alexandre Benois is very wide. He is also an artist who works easel painting, graphic artist and decorator.
Childhood
Alexander Nikolaevich Benois was born on May 3, 1870 in St. Petersburg, a city for which he had a “tender and deep feeling” throughout his life. Moreover, its surroundings were included in the cult of the native city - Oranienbaum, Pavlovsk and, most importantly, Peterhof. Later in his memoirs, Benoit will write: “My romance of life began in Peterhof” - for the first time he came to this “fairy-tale place” when he was not even a month old, and it was there that he first began to “become aware” of his surroundings.
A very special atmosphere reigned in the house where little Shura grew up. Since childhood, Benoit was surrounded by talented, extraordinary people. His father Nikolai Leontyevich and brother Leonty were “brilliant masters of architecture,” both graduated from the Academy of Arts with a gold medal, which, according to Benois himself, was “a rare case in the life of the Academy.” Both were "virtuosos of drawing and brushwork." They populated their drawings with hundreds of human figures, and they could be admired like paintings.
Father Benoit participated in the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and Mariinsky Theater In Petersburg. His most ambitious project is considered to be the court stables in Peterhof. Brother Leonty later took the position of rector of the Academy of Arts. Another brother, Albert, painted wonderful watercolors that sold like hot cakes in the 1880s and 1890s. Even the imperial couple attended exhibitions of his paintings, he was made chairman of the Watercolor Society, and at the Academy he was given the opportunity to teach a watercolor class.
Benoit began drawing almost from the cradle. Family legend preserved
that, having received a pencil in his hands at the age of eighteen months, the future artist grabbed it with his fingers exactly as was considered correct. Parents, brothers and sisters admired everything that their little Shura did, and always praised him. In the end, at the age of five, Benoit tried to make a copy of the Bolsen Mass and felt shame and even a kind of resentment towards Raphael for not being able to do it.
In addition to Raphael - in front of copies of huge canvases in the Academy hall the boy was literally numb - little Benoit had two more serious hobbies: his father’s travel albums, in which landscapes alternated with sketches of dashing military men, sailors, gondoliers, monks of various orders, and, without doubts - theater. As for the first, looking at “daddy's albums” was a great holiday for both the boy and the father. Nikolai Leontievich accompanied each page with comments, and his son knew his stories in every detail. As for the second, then, according to Benois himself, it was “passion for the theater” that played perhaps the most important role in his further development.
Education
In 1877, Camilla Albertovna, Benoit’s mother, seriously thought about her son’s education. But it must be said that by the age of seven, this family pet still could not read or write. Later, Benoit recalled the attempts of his loved ones to teach him the alphabet: about “folding cubes” with pictures and letters. He put pictures together eagerly, but the letters only irritated him, and the boy could not understand why M and A, placed side by side, formed the syllable “MA.”
Finally, the boy was sent to kindergarten. As in any exemplary school, there, in addition to other subjects, they also taught drawing, taught by the Itinerant artist Lemokh.
However, as Benoit himself recalls, he did not gain any benefit from these lessons. Already as a teenager, Benoit met Lemokh more than once at the house of his brother Albert and even received flattering reviews from his former teacher. “You should seriously take up drawing, you have noticeable talent,” Lemokh said.
Of all the educational institutions that Benoit attended, it is worth noting the private gymnasium of K. I. May (1885-1890s), where he met the people who later formed the backbone of the “World of Art”. If we talk about artistic professional training, then Benoit did not receive a so-called academic education. In 1887, while still a seventh-grader in high school, he attended evening classes at the Academy of Arts for four months. Disillusioned with teaching methods - teaching seems institutional and boring to him - Benoit begins to paint on his own. He takes watercolor lessons from his older brother Albert, studies literature on art history, and later copies paintings by old Dutchmen in the Hermitage. After graduating from high school, Benoit entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. In the 1890s he began to paint.
Oranienbaum
The painting “Oranienbaum” became one of the first works of the “Russian series” - everything here breathes calmness and simplicity, but at the same time the canvas attracts the eye.
For the first time, Benoit's works were presented to the public in 1893 at the exhibition of the Russian Society of Watercolor Painters, the chairman of which was his older brother Albert.
In 1890, Benoit's parents, wanting to reward their son for successfully completing high school, gave him the opportunity to travel around Europe.
From his travels, Benoit brought back more than a hundred photographs of paintings acquired in Berlin, Nuremberg, and Heidelberg museums. He pasted his treasures into large-format albums, and subsequently Somov, Nouvel and Bakst, Lanceray, Filosofov and Diaghilev studied from these photographs.
After graduating from university in 1894 year Benoit
park" - then leave the hands of the collector and are kept in private collections for a long time.
Versailles series
Inspired by a trip to France, Benoit created a series of watercolors in 1896-1898: “At the Pool of Ceres”, “Versailles”, “The King Walks in Any Weather”, “Masquerade under Louis XIV” and others.
makes several more trips abroad. He travels again in Germany and also visits Italy and France. In 1895-1896, the artist’s paintings regularly appeared at exhibitions of the Watercolor Society.
M. Tretyakov acquires three paintings for his gallery: “Vegetable Garden”, “Cemetery” and “Castle”. However best works Benois - paintings from the series “Walks of King Louis XIV at Versailles”, “Walk in the Garden of Versailles”.
From the autumn of 1905 to the spring of 1906, Benoit lived in Versailles and could observe the park in any weather and at different times of the day. This period includes full-scale oil studies - small cardboards or tablets on which Benoit painted this or that corner of the park. Made on the basis of sketches from life in watercolor and gouache, this painting by Benoit is stylistically fundamentally different from the fantasies of the early Versailles cycle. Their colors are richer, landscape motifs are more varied, compositions are bolder.
"Versailles. Greenhouse"
Paintings from the “Versailles series” were exhibited in Paris at the famous exhibition of Russian art, as well as in St. Petersburg and Moscow at exhibitions of the Union of Russian Artists. Critical reviews were not flattering; in particular, they noted the overuse of French Rococo motifs, the lack of novelty of themes and polemical sharpness.
Love for St. Petersburg
The artist turns to the image of his beloved city throughout most of his creative career. In the early 1900s, Benoit created a series of watercolor paintings dedicated to the suburbs of the capital, as well as old St. Petersburg. These sketches were made for the Community of St. Eugenia of the Red Cross and published as postcards. Benoit himself was a member of the community's editorial commission and advocated that postcards, in addition to charitable purposes, serve cultural and educational purposes.
Contemporaries called the community's postcards the artistic encyclopedia of the era. Since 1907, postcards have been issued in quantities of up to 10 thousand copies, and the most successful ones have gone through several reprints.
Benoit returned to the image of St. Petersburg again in the second half of the 1900s. And again the artist paints pictures of historical themes close to his heart, including “Parade under Paul I”, “Peter I on a walk in the Summer Garden” and others.
The composition is a kind of historical dramatization, conveying a direct feeling of a bygone era. Like a performance in a puppet theater, the action unfolds - a march of soldiers in Prussian-style uniforms in front of St. Michael's Castle and Constable Square. The appearance of the emperor echoes the figure bronze horseman, which is visible against the background of the wall of the unfinished castle.
And the background of their creation is as follows. In the early 1900s, Russian book publisher Joseph Nikolaevich Knebel came up with an idea to publish the brochures “Pictures of Russian History” as a school textbook. Knebel relies on high printing quality of reproductions
(by the way, their size practically corresponded to the originals) and attracts the best contemporary artists, including Benois, to work.
Benoit will turn more than once in his work to the image of St. Petersburg and its suburbs. We also see him in the painting “Peter on a Walk in the Summer Garden,” where Peter, surrounded by his retinue, walks through this wonderful corner of the city he built. St. Petersburg streets and houses will appear in illustrations to the works of A. Pushkin, and “St. Petersburg Versailles” will appear on canvases painted during the emigration period, including “Peterhof. Main fountain" and "Peterhof. The lower fountain at the cascade."
On this canvas, the artist masterfully depicted the grandeur of the Peterhof fountains and the beauty of the park sculptures. The streams of water gushing in different directions are mesmerizing and the wonderful summer day is captivating - everything around seems to be penetrated by the rays of the invisible sun.
The artist painted his landscape from this point, correctly defining its composition and focusing on the image of the Lower Park in inextricable connection with the bay, which is perceived as a continuation of the entire ensemble.
“Peterhof is a Russian Versailles”, “Peter wanted to arrange a semblance of Versailles” - these phrases were constantly heard at that time.
HARLEQUIN
One cannot ignore another character to whom Benoit repeatedly turns in the 1900s. This is Harlequin.
I would like to note that commedia dell'arte masks are typical images works of art beginning of the twentieth century. If speak about
Benoit, then between 1901 and 1906 he created several paintings with similar characters. In the paintings, a performance is played out in front of the viewer: the main masks are frozen on the stage in plastic poses, and secondary characters peek out from behind the scenes.
Perhaps the appeal to masks is not only a tribute to the times, since the performances with the participation of Harlequin, which Benois had a chance to see in the mid-1870s, can be considered one of his most vivid childhood impressions.
BENOIT IN THE THEATER
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Benoit managed to make his childhood dream come true: he became a theater artist. However, he himself jokingly attributes the beginning of his theatrical activities by 1878.
Returning to the 1900s, it is worth noting that the artist’s first work in the theatrical field was a sketch for A. S. Taneyev’s opera “Cupid’s Revenge.” Although the truly first opera for the production of which Benois created scenery sketches, his true theatrical debut, should be considered Wagner’s “Twilight of the Gods.” Its premiere, which took place in 1903 on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, received a standing ovation from the audience.
Benois's first ballet is considered to be Armida's Pavilion, although several years earlier he had worked on scenery sketches for one-act ballet Delibes' Sylvia, which was never staged. And here it is worth returning to another childhood hobby of the artist - his balletomania.
According to Benoit, it all started with improvisations by his brother Albert. As soon as the twelve-year-old boy heard the cheerful and sonorous chords coming from Albert’s room, he was unable to resist their call.
BALLETOMANIA AND DIAGILEV'S SEASONS
Fair". Set design for I. Stravinsky's ballet “Petrushka”. 1911
Paper, watercolor, gouache. 83.4×60 cm. Museum of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater, Moscow
The artist suggests writing music for the ballet to his niece’s husband N. Cherepnin, a student of Rimsky-Korsakov. Also in 1903, the score for the three-act ballet was completed, and soon the Armida Pavilion was offered to the Mariinsky Theater. However, its production never took place. In 1906, the novice choreographer M. Fokine heard a suite from the ballet and at the beginning of 1907, based on it, he staged a one-act educational performance called “The Living Tapestry,” in which Nijinsky plays the role of the slave Armida. Benoit is invited to a ballet rehearsal, and he is literally stunned by the spectacle.
Soon it was decided to stage Armida's Pavilion on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, but in a new version - one act with three scenes - and with Anna Pavlova in the title role. The premiere, held on November 25, 1907, is a huge success, and the ballet soloists, including Pavlova and Nijinsky, as well as Benois and Tcherepnin, are called to the stage for an encore.
Benois not only writes the libretto, but also creates sketches of the scenery and costumes for the production of The Armida Pavilion. The artist and choreographer never tire of admiring each other.
We can say that the history of Diaghilev’s “Russian Ballet Seasons” begins with the Armida Pavilion.
After the triumphant success of M. Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov, shown in Paris in 1908, Benois invited Diaghilev to include ballet productions in the next season. The premiere of The Armida Pavilion, which took place on May 19, 1909 at the Chatelet Theater, was a stunning success. The Parisians were amazed both by the luxury of the costumes and decorations, and by the art of the dancers. Thus, in the capital's newspapers on May 20, Vaslav Nijinsky was called a “floating angel” and “god of dance.”
Subsequently, for the Russian Seasons, Benois designed the ballets La Sylphide, Giselle, Petrushka, and The Nightingale. From 1913 until his emigration, the artist worked in various theaters, including the Moscow Art Theater (he designed two performances based on Moliere’s plays), in Academic Theater opera and ballet (“ Queen of Spades"P.I. Tchaikovsky). After emigrating to France, the artist collaborated with European theaters, including the Grand Opera, Covent Garden, and La Scala.
"Fair" and "Arap's Room".
Sketches of the scenery for Igor Stravinsky's opera "Petrushka"
Sketches for the ballet “Petrushka” by Igor Stravinsky are considered one of Benois’s highest achievements as a theater artist. They feel close to the expressive means of popular prints and folk toys. In addition to the scenery, the artist creates sketches of costumes for the ballet - while carefully studying historical material - and also takes part in writing the libretto.
BOOK GRAPHICS
Sketch of an illustration for “The Bronze Horseman” by A. S. Pushkin. 1916 Paper, ink, brush, whitewash, charcoal.
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
An important place in Benois's work, as well as other masters of the World of Art, is occupied by book graphics. His debut in the field of books is an illustration for “The Queen of Spades”, prepared for the three-volume anniversary edition of A. Pushkin. It was followed by illustrations for “The Golden Pot” by E. T. A. Hoffmann, “The ABC in Pictures”.
I must say that Pushkin theme is dominant in Benoit's work as book graphics. The artist has been turning to Pushkin’s works for more than 20 years. In 1904, and then in 1919, Benoit completed drawings for “ The captain's daughter" In 1905 and 1911, the artist’s attention was again focused on the “Queen of Spades”. But of course, the most significant of Pushkin’s works for Benoit is “The Bronze Horseman”.
The artist completed several cycles of illustrations for Pushkin’s poem. In 1899-1904, Benoit created the first cycle, consisting of 32 drawings (including headpieces and endings). In 1905, while in Versailles, he re-drew six illustrations and completed the frontispiece. In 1916, he began work on the third cycle, essentially reworking the drawings of 1905, leaving only the frontispiece intact. In 1921-1922 he created a number of illustrations that complemented the 1916 cycle.
It should be noted that from the drawings made in ink, prints were made in the printing house, which Benoit painted with watercolors. Then the prints were again sent to the printing house, and cliches were made from them for color printing.
The illustrations of the first cycle were published by Sergei Diaghilev in the 1904 issue of World of Art, although they were originally intended for the Society of Lovers of Fine Editions. The second cycle was never printed in its entirety; individual illustrations were featured in various publications in 1909 and 1912. Illustrations from the latest cycle included in the publication “ Bronze Horseman"1923, have become classics of book graphics.
in the German Settlement" Mons, the daughter of a German winemaker. The painter created his work based on descriptions found in the archives of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. It is known for certain that the famous courtesan was very disliked in Moscow, considering her the reason for the exile of Queen Evdokia and Peter’s quarrel with Tsarevich Alexei, who was subsequently executed. Based on the name of the German settlement (Kukuyu), she received the odious nickname - the Kukui Queen.
EMIGRATION
The post-revolutionary years were a difficult period for Benoit. Hunger, cold, devastation - all this does not correspond to his ideas about life. After the arrest of his older brothers Leonty and Mikhail in 1921, fear settled firmly in the artist’s soul. At night, Benoit cannot sleep, he constantly listens to the creaking of the latch on the gate, to the sound of footsteps in the yard, and it seems to him that the Arkharovites are about to appear: now they are heading to the floor. The only outlet at this time was work at the Hermitage - in 1918, Benois was elected head of the Art Gallery.
In the early 1920s, he repeatedly thought about emigration. Finally, in 1926, the choice was made, and Benoit, having gone on a business trip from the Hermitage to Paris, never returned to Russia.
Marquise's bath. 1906 Paper on cardboard, gouache. 51 x 47 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
