Queer Places:
Batignolles Cemetery
Paris, City of Paris, Île-de-France, France
Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois (3 May [O.S..21
April] 1870,21
April] 1870,[1][2] Saint
Petersburgg– 9 February 1960,– 9 February 1960, Paris)
was a Russian artist, art critic, historian,)
was a Russian artist, art critic, historian, preservationist,
and founding member of,
and founding member of Mir
iskusstvaa(World of Art), an art movement and magazine.(World of Art), an art movement and magazine.[1][3] As
a designer for the Ballets
Russessunderunder Sergei
Diaghilev, Benois exerted what is considered a seminal influence on the
modern ballettandand stage
design..[3]
Alexandre was born into the artistic and intellectual Benois
family, prominent members of the 19th- and early 20th-century Russian, prominent members of the 19th- and early 20th-century Russian intelligentsia.
His mother Camilla (ru: Камилла Альбертовна Кавос, and then Бенуа) was the
granddaughter ofwas the
granddaughter of Catterino
Cavos. His father was. His father was Nicholas
Benois, a noted Russian architect. His brothers included, a noted Russian architect. His brothers included Albert,
a painter, and,
a painter, and Leon,
also a notable architect. His sister, Maria, married the composer and
conductor,
also a notable architect. His sister, Maria, married the composer and
conductor Nikolai
Tcherepninn(with whom Alexandre would work). Not planning a career in the
arts, Alexandre graduated from the Faculty of Law,(with whom Alexandre would work). Not planning a career in the
arts, Alexandre graduated from the Faculty of Law, Saint
Petersburg Imperial University, in 1894., in 1894.
Portrait of Alexandre Benois by Léon Bakst, 1898
Three years later while in Versailles,
Benois painted a series of,
Benois painted a series of watercolorssdepicting Last
Promenades ofdepicting Last
Promenades of Louis
XIV. When exhibited by. When exhibited by Pavel
Tretyakovvin 1897, they brought him to attention ofin 1897, they brought him to attention of Sergei
Diaghilevvand the artistand the artist Léon
Bakst. Together the three men founded the art magazine and movement Mir
iskusstvaa(World of Art), which promoted the(World of Art), which promoted the Aesthetic
Movement and Art
Nouveau in Russia.[3]
During the first decade of the new century, Benois continued to edit Mir
iskusstva, but also pursued his scholarly and artistic interests. He wrote and
published several monographs on
19th-century Russian art and Tsarskoye
Selo. In 1903, Benois printed his illustrations to Pushkin's
poem The
Bronze Horseman, a work since recognized as one of the landmarks in the
genre. In 1904, he published his "Alphabet in Pictures", at once a children's
primer and elaborate art book, copies of which fetch as much as $10,000US at
auction.[4] Illustrations
from this volume were featured at a video presentation during the opening
ceremony of the Winter
Olympics in Sochi in 2014. In 1901, Benois was appointed scenic director
of the Mariinsky
Theatre in Saint Petersburg, the performance space for the Imperial
Russian Ballet. He moved to Paris in 1905 and thereafter devoted most of
his time to stage design and decor.[3]
During these years, his work with Diaghilev's Ballets
Russes was groundbreaking. His sets and costumes for the productions of Les
Sylphides (1909), Giselle (1910),
and Petrushka (1911),
are counted among his greatest triumphs. Although Benois worked primarily with
the Ballets Russes, he also collaborated with the Moscow
Art Theatre and other notable theatres of Europe.
Surviving the upheaval of the Russian
Revolution of 1917, Benois achieved recognition for his scholarship; he
was selected as curator of the gallery of Old
Masters in the Hermitage
Museum at Leningrad,
where he served from 1918 to 1926. During this time he secured his brother's
heirloom Leonardo da
Vinci painting of the Madonna for the museum. It became known as the Madonna
Benois. Benois published his Memoirs in two volumes in 1955. In 1927 he
left Russia and settled in Paris.[1] He
worked primarily as a set designer after settling in France.[1]
In 1894, Alexandre married Anna
Karlovna Kind from a renowned Russian music family. They first met in 1876
when Alexandre was learning music from the family patriarch, Karl Ivanovich
Kind (who came to Russia in 1850s by the invitation of Nicholas
I of Russia to be the royal court's first string violinist).[5] Anna
and Alexandre were married for 60 years and are buried together at Batignolles
Cemetery in Paris.[6][7] Alexandre
played a central role in the Russian artistic community both before and after
the Revolution. Anna was always by his side. Her presence was positively
remembered in the artistic circles with several mentions by artist like Mstislav
Dobuzhinsky. She was a model painted by Léon
Bakst,[8]
Valentin
Serov,[9]
Zinaida
Serebriakova,[10] and
others.
My published books:
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