Art of the 20th Century

 

Art Styles in 20th century - Art Map



 

Alexandre Benois



 

Aleksandr Nikolayevich Benois

born May 4 [April 21, old style], 1870, St. Petersburg, Russia
died Feb. 9, 1960, Paris


Russian in full Aleksandr Nikolayevich Benois Russian theatre art director, painter, and ballet librettist who with Léon Bakst and Sergey Diaghilev cofounded the influential magazine Mir iskusstva (“World of Art”), from which sprang theDiaghilev Ballets Russes.

Benois aspired to achieve a synthesis of new western European trends and certain elements of traditional Russian folk art; Mir iskusstva, established in 1899 in St. Petersburg, attacked the low artistic standards of the realist Peredvezhniki Society and the deadening influence of the Russian Academy and stressed individualism and artistic personality. The magazine, which he coedited until 1904, soon exerted great influence on stage design.

Benois began his career (c. 1901) at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, as scenic designer for the ballets Sylvia and Cupid's Revenge. When the Diaghilev Ballets Russes openedin 1909, Benois designed decor and costumes for, among others, Les Sylphides (1909), Giselle (1910), and Petrushka (1911), on which he collaborated with Igor Stravinsky. His later works include grand designs for La Valse (1929, Ida Rubinstein Company), The Nutcracker (1940, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo), and Graduation Ball, for which he also wrote the libretto (1957, London Festival Ballet). Among his writings are Reminiscences of the Ballet Russe (1941) and Memoirs (1960). Benois's collaboration with Stravinsky and Michel Fokine presented some of the greatest dance drama in history and helped found modern ballet.

Masquerade under Louis XIV
1898