Benois Nikolai Leontievich. "Academician Alexander Benois is a most subtle esthete, a wonderful artist, a charming person"

The famous Russian artist Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870-1960) was born into a famous family, where besides him there were eight more children. Mother Camilla Albertovna Benois (Kavos) was a musician by training. Father is a famous architect.

Alexander Benois, biography (brief): childhood and youth

The future artist spent his childhood in St. Petersburg. There he entered the private Karl May gymnasium, from which 25 representatives of the Benois family graduated at different times. After completing his classical education, Alexander continued his studies at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University and at the same time attended classes at the Academy of Arts. In addition, during his student years, the young Benoit distinguished himself as a writer and art critic, supplementing Mutter’s book “The History of European Art” with a chapter on Russian art. Between 1896 and 1898, Alexandre Benois lived and worked in France. It was there that he wrote the Versailles Series.

"World of Art"

In 1898, together with Alexandre Benois, he organized the World of Art association, which published a publication of the same name. It included such famous artists as Lanceray, Diaghilev and Bakst. Members of the association organized exhibitions in which Roerich, Vrubel, Serov, Bilibin, Vasnetsov, Korovin and Dobuzhinsky took part. However, not all famous artists reacted favorably to the “World of Art”. In particular, Repin did not really like this company, and called Benoit himself a dropout, a bibliographer and curator of the Hermitage, although he took part in exhibitions.

"Russian Seasons"

In 1905, Alexandre Benois left for France. There, also on his initiative, the ballet troupe “Russian Seasons” was formed, headed by Diaghilev. Benois was its artistic director and in 1911 he created the world-famous scenery for the opera Petrushka by Stravinsky. Moreover, few people know that the artist not only designed the performance, but also helped write the libretto for the opera.

Return to Russia

In 1910, the artist published “Guide to the Hermitage”. This publication became the pinnacle of his work as an art critic. A few years later, Alexander Benois used his own money to buy a plot of land in the Crimea, in the city of Sudak, on which he built a dacha, where he rested and worked. Paintings and sketches made there are kept in many museums in Russia. During the Soviet period, after his departure to France, when it became clear that Benoit would not return, the archive kept in the artist’s Crimean house was transferred to the Russian Museum, and personal belongings and furniture were sold at auction.

After the Revolution, on the recommendation of Gorky, Alexander Benois, whose photo is presented below, worked on the committee for the protection of cultural monuments, headed the Hermitage and designed performances in many theaters: the Mariinsky, Alexandrinsky and the Bolshoi Drama Theater.

However, what was happening in the country greatly upset the artist. From the report of A.V. Lunacharsky dated 03/09/1921, in response to secret request No. 2244, it followed that at the beginning of the revolution he supported the changes, but was subsequently upset by life’s hardships and expressed dissatisfaction with the communists who controlled the museum’s work. Further, the People's Commissar wrote that Benoit is not a friend of the new government, but as director of the Hermitage he provides enormous services to the country and art. Lunacharsky's resume sounded like this: in terms of his professional qualities, the artist is valuable, and he must be protected.

Departure

An ambiguous attitude towards the new government predetermined Benoit's future life and work. “The Marriage of Figaro” is the last performance at the Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater, staged by the artist before leaving the country.

In 1926, on the recommendation of Lunacharsky, Alexander Benois, whose biography in recent years was full of tragic events, went on a business trip to work at the Grand Opera in France. Sending him to Paris, the People's Commissar perfectly understood what was going on in his soul. Benoit was planning to return to Russia after work, but at the end of June 1927, Lunacharsky himself arrived in Paris. From the artist’s letter to F.F. Northau follows that it was the People's Commissar who persuaded him not to return to his homeland. In a friendly conversation, he spoke about the lack of funding and conditions for his work and advised him to wait in France until the situation changes.

So Benoit never returned to Russia.

last years of life

The biography of Alexander Benois continued to be written far from his homeland, but by this time most of his friends and like-minded people were in Paris. The artist continued to work, designed sets in many theaters, wrote books and paintings. Later they worked together with their son Nikolai and daughter Elena. Alexandre Benois died in Paris in 1960, just short of his 90th birthday. He left a huge number of works, publications and memoirs. Throughout his life, Alexander Benois, whose biography and work were inextricably linked with Russia, remained its ardent patriot and tried to make its culture popular throughout the world.

Personal life

Alexander Benois was married. The marriage produced children: daughter Elena and son Nikolai. Both are artists. N. Benoit went to France in 1924 by invitation. He then moved to Italy, where for many years (from 1937 to 1970) he was director of production at Milan's La Scala. He was involved in the design of productions, many of which he did with his father, worked in many famous theaters around the world, and for three seasons he designed productions at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Daughter Elena left Soviet Russia with her father for Paris in 1926. She was a famous painter, and two of her paintings were acquired by the French government. Among her works is a portrait of B.F. Shalyapin and Z.E. Serebryakova.

In memory of the famous artist, who made a great contribution to theatrical art, an international ballet prize was established, bearing his name. In Peterhof there is an exhibition dedicated to him personally.

"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.

Himself Benois Alexander Nikolaevich 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 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. It can be said with no less success 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 - Alexander Nikolaevich Benois felt especially acute. There was Russian blood in him too. The Catholic religion did not interfere with the family's amazing respect for the Orthodox Church. One of the strongest childhood impressions of A. Benois is the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral (St. Nicholas of the Sea), 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 years.

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 the decline of a once majestic culture was extremely consonant 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. “” is the embodiment of 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. What remains is an eerie impression of life, forever poisoned by a mortal longing for extinct beauty, for a 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 the ideal of the people’s soul, was embodied. 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.”

Benois Alexander Nikolaevich(1870-1960) graphic artist, painter, theater artist, publisher, writer, one of the authors of the modern image of the book. Representative of Russian Art Nouveau.
A. N. 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 studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University (1890-94), but at the same time independently studied the history of art and was engaged in drawing and painting (mainly watercolors). He did this so thoroughly that he was able to write a chapter on Russian art for the third volume of “The History of Painting in the 19th Century” by R. Muter, published in 1894.
They immediately started talking about him as a talented art critic who upended established ideas about the development of Russian art. In 1897, based on impressions from his trips to France, he created his first serious work - a series of watercolors “The Last Walks of Louis XIV” - showing himself in it to be an original artist.
Repeated trips to Italy and France and copying artistic treasures there, studying the works of Saint-Simon, Western literature of the 17th-19th centuries, interest in ancient engravings were the foundation of his artistic education. In 1893, Benois acted as a landscape painter, creating watercolors of the environs of St. Petersburg. 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.
Towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Benoit again returned to the landscapes of Peterhof, Oranienbaum, and Pavlovsk. It glorifies the beauty and grandeur of 18th century architecture. The artist is interested in nature mainly in its connection with history. Possessing a pedagogical gift and erudition, at the end of the 19th century. organized the World of Art association, becoming its theoretician and inspirer. He worked a lot in book graphics. He 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), 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 a completely new plan for the general exhibition of the museum, which contributed to the most expressive demonstration of each work.
At the beginning of the 20th century. Benois illustrates the works of Pushkin A.S. Acts as a critic and art historian. In the 1910s, people became the center of the artist’s interests. Such is his painting “Peter I on a Walk in the Summer Garden,” where in a multi-figure scene the appearance of a past life, seen through the eyes of a contemporary, is recreated.
History decisively predominated in the work of Benoit the artist. Two topics invariably attracted his attention: “Petersburg XVIII - early XIX centuries.” and "France of Louis XIV". He addressed them primarily in his historical compositions - in two “Versailles series” (1897, 1905-06), in the well-known paintings “Parade under Paul I” (1907), “The Entry of Catherine II in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace” (1907 ) etc., reproducing a long-gone life with deep knowledge and a subtle sense of style. 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. The artist entered the history of Russian book graphics with his book “The ABC in the Paintings of Alexandre Benois” (1905) and illustrations for “The Queen of Spades” by A. S. Pushkin, executed in two versions (1899, 1910), as well as wonderful illustrations for “The Bronze Horseman” ", to three versions of which he devoted almost twenty years of work (1903-22).
During these same years, he took part in the design of the “Russian Seasons”, organized by S.P. Diaghilev. in Paris, which included in their program not only opera and ballet performances, but also symphony concerts.
Benois designed R. Wagner's opera "Twilight of the Gods" on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and then performed scenery sketches for N. N. 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 Benoit’s initiative and with his direct participation, a private ballet troupe was organized, which began triumphant performances in Paris in 1909 - “Russian Seasons”. Benois, who took over the post of artistic director in the troupe, performed the designs for several performances.
One of his highest achievements was the scenery for I. F. Stravinsky's ballet "Petrushka" (1911). Soon Benois began collaborating with the Moscow Art Theater, 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.
From 1926 he lived in Paris, where he died. The artist's main works: "The King's Walk" (1906), "Fantasy on the Versailles Theme" (1906), "Italian Comedy" (1906), illustrations for the Bronze Horseman by A.S. Pushkin. (1903) and others.

Benois Alexander Nikolaevich (1870-1960) graphic artist, painter, theater artist, publisher, writer, one of the authors of the modern image of the book. Representative of Russian Art Nouveau.

Versailles.

A post about the work of Alexander Benois has already been published in our community:

We bring to your attention a few more watercolors by this wonderful artist.

Versailles.

Paris. Karruzel.

Versailles. Versailles.

Versailles. Versailles.

Fountain "Neptune" in Versailles. Versailles.

Fontainebleau.

Villa Maurel, Cassis.

Pont Marie, Paris.

Capitol, Rome. Le Capitole, Rome.

Ufficio Scavi, Rome.

Pavlovsk.

Venice. Venice.

Palace by moonlight. (Gouache, paper)

Cassis. Cassis.

Cassis. (Grove in Cassis).

The King's Walk.

Chinese pavilion in Tsarskoye Selo. (watercolor on paper. 23 x 25.5 cm).

Image source:

From the comments to the post:

".....Benoit has long held me captive with his sophistication. I cannot ignore not only the post about him, but also some of his minor watercolors, exhibited to maintain the prestige and status of the exhibition. Attracts the eye, attracts the mind, attracts the essence. What a misfortune this is: clinging to Benoit for life! It’s already the 21st century, and it’s a gift that the founder of a community, as we would say now, is so horribly formalized in content, and stormy (with beatings, affairs, scandals and quarrels) in essence. What captivates me so much? Calligraphic precision of detail? Color scheme, muted and aristocratic? Absence of fuss and flickering in the skill, in the hand? Visible education, hanging outside the boundaries of work? Longing for an unprecedented and untried era? Samples of French parks, lined and trimmed, living as phantoms in his watercolors? An axiom learned from childhood: he could see something partially preserved, but you wouldn’t even think of it, because you’d never see it? Envy of his scenery and costumes made for Diaghilev, no matter how much you leaf through the elite edition of Diaghilev’s seasons - you won’t touch it, you won’t understand the delicate but deafening effect? What makes me, all my life, thoughtfully stop near these coldish sheets of high-quality paper, hidden under glass, noting that it was displayed there, but there is nothing there and there was nothing there? Can there be a landscape without a person? How good is a landscape without a person, from whom there is only trouble and destruction of the harmony verified by classical standards? I do not know. But I look, I look...."

A. N. 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 studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University (1890-94), but at the same time independently studied the history of art and was engaged in drawing and painting (mainly watercolors). He did this so thoroughly that he was able to write a chapter on Russian art for the third volume of “The History of Painting in the 19th Century” by R. Muter, published in 1894.

They immediately started talking about him as a talented art critic who upended established ideas about the development of Russian art. In 1897, based on impressions from his trips to France, he created his first serious work - a series of watercolors “The Last Walks of Louis XIV” - showing himself in it to be an original artist.

Repeated trips to Italy and France and copying artistic treasures there, studying the works of Saint-Simon, Western literature of the 17th-19th centuries, interest in ancient engravings were the foundation of his artistic education. In 1893, Benois acted as a landscape painter, creating watercolors of the environs of St. Petersburg. 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.

Towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Benoit again returned to the landscapes of Peterhof, Oranienbaum, and Pavlovsk. It glorifies the beauty and grandeur of 18th century architecture. The artist is interested in nature mainly in its connection with history. Possessing a pedagogical gift and erudition, at the end of the 19th century. organized the World of Art association, becoming its theoretician and inspirer. He worked a lot in book graphics. He 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), 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 a completely new plan for the general exhibition of the museum, which contributed to the most expressive demonstration of each work.

At the beginning of the 20th century. Benois illustrates the works of Pushkin A.S. Acts as a critic and art historian. In the 1910s, people became the center of the artist’s interests. Such is his painting “Peter I on a Walk in the Summer Garden,” where in a multi-figure scene the appearance of a past life, seen through the eyes of a contemporary, is recreated.

History decisively predominated in the work of Benoit the artist. Two topics invariably attracted his attention: “Petersburg XVIII - early XIX centuries.” and "France of Louis XIV". He addressed them primarily in his historical compositions - in two “Versailles series” (1897, 1905-06), in the well-known paintings “Parade under Paul I” (1907), “The Entry of Catherine II in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace” (1907 ) etc., reproducing a long-gone life with deep knowledge and a subtle sense of style. 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. The artist entered the history of Russian book graphics with his book “The ABC in the Paintings of Alexandre Benois” (1905) and illustrations for “The Queen of Spades” by A. S. Pushkin, executed in two versions (1899, 1910), as well as wonderful illustrations for “The Bronze Horseman” ", to three versions of which he devoted almost twenty years of work (1903-22).

During these same years, he took part in the design of the “Russian Seasons”, organized by S.P. Diaghilev. in Paris, which included in their program not only opera and ballet performances, but also symphony concerts.

Benois designed R. Wagner's opera "Twilight of the Gods" on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and then performed scenery sketches for N. N. 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 Benoit’s initiative and with his direct participation, a private ballet troupe was organized, which began triumphant performances in Paris in 1909 - “Russian Seasons”. Benois, who took over the post of artistic director in the troupe, performed the designs for several performances.

One of his highest achievements was the scenery for I. F. Stravinsky's ballet "Petrushka" (1911). Soon Benois began collaborating with the Moscow Art Theater, 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.

From 1926 he lived in Paris, where he died. The artist's main works: "The King's Walk" (1906), "Fantasy on the Versailles Theme" (1906), "Italian Comedy" (1906), illustrations for the Bronze Horseman by A.S. Pushkin. (1903) and others.

Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (French Alexandre Benois; April 21, 1870, St. Petersburg - February 9, 1960, Paris) - Russian artist, art historian, art critic, founder and chief ideologist of the World of Art association.

Born on April 21 (May 3), 1870 in St. Petersburg, in the family of architect Nikolai Leontyevich Benois and his wife Camilla, daughter of architect A. K. Kavos. He received his primary education at the gymnasium of the Humane Society. From 1885 to 1890 he studied at the private gymnasium of K. I. May, where he met his future colleagues in the “World of Art” Dmitry Filosofov, Walter Nouvel and Konstantin Somov.

He studied at the Academy of Arts for some time, but did not graduate, believing that one can become an artist only by continuously working. He also studied fine arts independently and under the guidance of his older brother Albert. In 1894 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University.

He first presented his works at an exhibition and attracted the attention of specialists in 1893. In 1894, he began his career as a theorist and art historian, writing a chapter on Russian artists for the German collection “History of 19th Century Painting.” At the end of 1896, together with friends, he came to France for the first time, where he painted the “Versailles Series” - paintings depicting the parks and walks of the “Sun King” Louis XIV. In 1897, he gained fame with a series of watercolors “The Last Walks of Louis XIV”, painted under the impression of his stay in Paris and Versailles. Three paintings from this exhibition were acquired by P. M. Tretyakov. In 1896-1898 and 1905-1907 he worked in France.

He became one of the organizers and ideologists of the art association “World of Art” and founded the magazine of the same name. Together with S.P. Diaghilev, K.A. Somov and other “World of Art” artists, he did not accept the tendentiousness of the Wanderers and promoted new Russian and Western European art. The association attracted attention to applied arts, architecture, folk crafts, and raised the authority of book illustrations, graphics, and design art. Promoting old Russian art and Western European masters of painting, in 1901 he began publishing the magazines “Old Years” and “Artistic Treasures of Russia”. Benoit, one of the most significant art critics of the early 20th century, introduced the expressions avant-garde and Russian Cézanne into circulation.

In 1903, Benoit created a series of illustrations for A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Bronze Horseman” - one of the masterpieces of Russian book graphics. Subsequently, the artist repeatedly returned to this plot; in total, his work with illustrations for Pushkin’s last poem lasted 19 years - from 1903 to 1922. During this period, Benoit worked a lot for the theater, creating scenery and directing. In 1908-1911 - artistic director of Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Seasons, which glorified Russian ballet art abroad.

In 1919, Benois headed the Hermitage Art Gallery and published its new catalogue. He continued to work as a book and theater artist and director, in particular, he worked on staging and designing performances at the Petrograd Bolshoi Drama Theater. Benoit’s last work in the USSR was the design of the play “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Bolshoi Drama Theater. In 1925 he took part in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.

In 1926, A. N. Benois left the USSR. He lived in Paris, where he worked on sketches of theatrical scenery and costumes. Participated in S. Diaghilev’s ballet enterprise “Ballets Russes” as an artist and director of performances. While in exile, he worked a lot in Milan at the La Scala Opera House.

In recent years, he has been working on detailed memoirs. Died on February 9, 1960 in Paris. He was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris.

He came from the Benois artistic dynasty: son of N. L. Benois, brother of L. N. Benois and A. N. Benois and cousin of Yu. Yu. Benois.

He married in 1894 the daughter of musician and bandmaster Karl Ivanovich Kind, Anna Karlovna (1869-1952), whom he had known since 1876 (since the marriage of Alexander’s older brother, Albert Benoit, with Anna’s older sister, Maria Kind). They had children:

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