Aleksandr Benois (1870-1960)

Aleksandr Benois, a Russian theatre art director, painter, and ballet librettist, together with Leon Bakst and Sergey Diaghilev set up the influential World of Art (Mir Iskusstva) Journal.
Benois strove 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 Peredvizhniki Society, the deadening influence of the Russian Academy, and emphasised individualism and artistic personality. The magazine, which he co-edited until 1904, soon made a great impact on stage design.

Benois began his career (c. 1901) at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, as stage designer for the ballets Sylvia and Cupid's Revenge. When Diaghilev's Ballets Russes opened in 1909, Benois designed decor and costumes for Les Sylphides (1909), Giselle (1910), and Petrushka (1911). His later works include grand designs for La Valse (1929), The Nutcracker (1940), and Graduation Ball, for which he also wrote the libretto (1957). Among his written works 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.
 

Literature: Book "Russian art" A.P. Minyar-Belorucheva