Alexander Nikolayevich Benois

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Alexander Benois. Painting by Léon Bakst , 1898

Alexandre Benois or Alexandre Benois ( Russian Александр Николаевич Бенуа . Scientific transliteration : Aleksandr Nikolaevich Benua * April 21 . Jul / 3. May  1870 greg. In St. Petersburg ; † 9 February 1960 in Paris ) was a Russian painter , Writer , art historian, art critic and - alongside Sergei Djagilew , Lew Bakst a . a. - Founder of the movement and art magazine of the same name Mir Iskusstwa .

Life

Born into a family of artists as the son of the architect Nikolai Benois , he studied for some time at the St. Petersburg Academy of Art and also continued his artistic education independently and under the guidance of his older brother Albert Benois . Originally, he did not want to follow family tradition and pursue an artist career. Instead, he began studying law at Saint Petersburg University .

He began his career as an art theorist and historian in 1894 when he wrote a chapter on Russian artists for the German anthology The History of Painting in the 19th Century . From 1896 to 1898 and from 1905 to 1907 he lived and worked in France . Here he began to draw a series of watercolors , which were exhibited by Pavel Tretyakov in 1897 . Against this background, Benois made the acquaintance of Sergei Djagilew and Léon Bakst . Together with them he became one of the founders and ideological heads of the artists' association Mir Iskusstwa and founded the magazine of the same name.

In 1918 he published the catalog for the Hermitage picture gallery. He later continued his work as a book author and theater artist. In 1926 he left the USSR for a trip abroad in order not to return. From then on he lived in Paris, where he mainly worked on theater decorations and costumes. He died in Paris in 1960.

With his work, Alexander Benois had a great influence on modern ballet as well as on the design of the decorations and costumes in the theater life of his time. He bequeathed his brother's legacy to the Hermitage Picture Gallery in Saint Petersburg - a collection of old masters .

Trivia

Benois attended the same high school as Filosofov , Nuvel ' , Roerich and Somov .

Works (selection)

Books

  • The Russian School of Painting ( Русская школа живописи ) (1904)
  • Tsarskoye Sjelo under Tsarina Jelisaveta Petrovna ( Царское село в царствование императрицы Елизаветы Петровны ) (1910)
  • The history of painting of all times and nations ( История живописи всех времен и народов ) (1912–1917; unfinished)
  • The life of the artist. Memoirs (1955)
  • Alexander Benois ponders ... (Articles and letters from 1917–1960) ( Александр Бенуа размышляет …… (статьи и письма 1917-1960 г) ) (1968)
  • Illustrations for Alexander Pushkin's The Brazen Rider
  • Illustrations for Alexander Pushkin's The Queen of Spades (1911, Golike and Wilborg)

painting

  • Royal Promenade in Versailles
  • Peter I. - Reflecting on the design of St. Petersburg on the Baltic coast
  • In the German quarter

libretto

Stage equipment for ballet performances

Web links

Commons : Alexandre Benois  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alston Purvis, Peter Rand, Anna Winestein (Eds.): The Ballets Russes and the Art of Design. The Monacelli Press, New York 2009, ISBN 978-1-58093-254-7 , p. 23.
personal data
SURNAME Benois, Alexander Nikolajewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benoîs, Alexandre; Бенуа, Александр Николаевич (Russian); Benua, Alexander Nikolajewitsch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian painter, writer, art historian, art critic
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1960
Place of death Paris