Benua Versailles series. Benouua and his "Latest walks of the king

Laskina N.O. Versailles Alexander Benoit in the context of French literature of the turn of the XIX and XX centuries: to the history of locus crossing // Dialogue of crops: local text pools. Gornaletsk: Rio Gaga, 2011. P. 107-117.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the dialogue between Russian and Western European cultures reached, perhaps, maximum synchronization. The cultural story, which we will touch, can serve as an example of how closely interaction and mutual influence were.
Semiotization of the place, the design of the cultural myth around a certain locus requires the complicity of various actors of the cultural process. In relation to the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, it is quite reasonable to speak not so much about the distribution of individual author ideas, how much about the "atmosphere" of the era, about the general ideological and aesthetic field, which generates general signs, including at the level of "local texts".
Aesthetic locuses tied to historically super-inclusive places are especially well studied, most often large cities, religious centers or natural objects, usually mythologized long before the formation of a literary tradition. In these cases, the "high" culture is connected to an already running process, and the roots of literary "images" fairly look for in mythological thinking. It seems interesting to pay attention to and more rare cases when locus initially represents the implementation of a narrow-controlled cultural project, but then develops or completely changes its primary functions. It is to such loci cases with a difficult story that Versailles can be attributed.
The specificity of Versailles as a cultural phenomenon is determined, on the one hand, the features of its appearance, on the other, is atypical for local text. Despite the gradual transformation into a normal provincial city, Versailles are still perceived as a place that is inseparable from its history. For a cultural context, it is fundamentally that the palace and park complex was intended politically as an alternative capital, and aesthetically - as an ideal symbolic object, which had no aspects that were not related to the will of its creators. (Political motives for the transfer of the center of power from Paris in Versailles are perfectly combined with mythological: it was implied to purify the space of power from the chaos of a natural city). Aesthetically, this, however, is known, a deliberately dual phenomenon, since it connects the Cartesian thinking of French classicism (straight lines, focusing perspective, grid and lattice, and other methods of limiting space) with typical elements of baroque thinking (complex allegorical language, sculpture stylistics and Most fountains). During the 18th century, Versailles gained more and more the properties of the paletpsiest, while maintaining its ultimate artificiality (which became particularly noticeable when the fashion demanded the games in a natural life and led to the appearance of the "queen village"). Do not forget that the initial idea of \u200b\u200bthe design of the palace symbolically turns it into a book in which a live chronicle of current events should be instantly crystallized into the myth (this quasiliterate status of the Versailles Palace is confirmed by the participation of Racina as the author of the inscriptions - what can be considered as an attempt It is the literary legitimization of the entire project with the help of a strong author name).
Locking with such properties puts the question of how it can master the place, which is already a finished product. What remains the authors of the following generations, except for the reproduction of the proposed model?
This problem is especially clearly highlighted when compared with St. Petersburg. Methods for the implementation of the metropolitan myth partly consonant: In both cases, the motive of the construction victim is actualized, both places are perceived as an incarnation of personal will and the celebration of the state idea, but Petersburg, being still much closer to the "natural", "living" city, has attracted interpretation from the very beginning Artists and poets. Versailles, in the active period of its history, almost never became the subject of serious aesthetic reflection. In French literature, as all researchers of the Versailles Topics are noted, for a long time the function of inclusion in the text of Versaille was limited to a reminder of the social space in counterweight physical: Versailles did not actually be described as a place, nor as a work of art (the value of which was always questioned - which, however, reflects skepticism characteristic of French literature, well known for the representation of Paris in the French novel XIX century)
Since the beginning of the XIX century, the history of literature fixes more and more attempts to form a literary image of Versailles. French romance (first of all, Shatubin) is trying to assign this symbol of classicism using his symbolic death as the capital after the revolution - which provides the birth of Versailles as a romantic locus, where the palace turns out to be one of the many romantic ruins (researchers even celebrate the "Gothicity" of Versailles . It is important that in this case, the general-time discourse completely displaces all the possibility of understanding the specific properties of the place; no ruins in the versal was even into the worst times for him, as well as any signs of Gothic. Romance has found a solution to the problem: to enter the locus that immediately It was the text, and avoid tautology, it is necessary to recharge the locus. In the romantic version, it was assumed, however, the full destruction of all its distinctive features, therefore "romantic versal" was not fixed firmly in the history of culture.
In the 1890s, a new round of the existence of Versailles text begins, interesting primarily by the fact that this time a lot of representatives of different spheres of culture and different national cultures participated in the process; At the Decadent Versaille, there is no one defined author. Among the many votes that created the new version of Versailles, one of the most visible Voice of Alexander Benua will appear, first as an artist, later - as a memoirist.
Sporadic experiments of romanticization of the Versailles, due to the imposition of the properties borrowed from other loci, are replaced at the end of the century by a sharp return of interest in the very place, and to his mythogenic potential. A number of very close texts appear, the authors of which, with all the difference, belonged to the overall communicative sphere - therefore there is any reason to assume that salon discussions were played a considerable role, especially since Versailles-city becomes a rather noticeable hearth cultural life, And the Versailles Palace, which at this time restores, attracts more and more attention.
Unlike most poetically developed loci, Versailles never becomes a popular point of action. The main scope of the implementation of Versailles - Lyrics, lyrical prose, essistics. Exception confirming the rule - Roman Henri de Rainier "Amphisbena", beginning with the episode of a walk in Versaille: Here a walk through the park sets the direction of the teller reflection (decorated in the spirit of lyric prose of the beginning of the century); As soon as the text comes out of the framework of the inner monologue, the space changes.

Several key, from our point of view, texts playing the most important role at this stage of interpretation of Versailles can be distinguished.
First of all, we call the cycle "Red Pearls" Robert de Montopecia (the book was published in 1899, but the individual texts were quite well known since the beginning of the 90s through the salon readings), which was most likely the main driving force of fashion on Versailles theme. Collection of sonnets is preceded by a long preface, in which Montopecia unfolds its interpretation of Versailles as text.
You can not get around the many texts of Henri de Rainier, but especially you need to highlight the lyrical cycle "City of Waters" (1902).
No less representative essay Maurice Barres "On the decomposition" from the collection "On blood, about pleasure and death" (1894): This kind of lyrical necrologist (the text is written on the death of Charles Guno) will be the starting point in the further development of Versailles themes like Barres itself and his numerous readers in the French literary environment.
We also note the text called "Versailles" in the first book of Marseil Proust, "Joy and Days" (1896) - a short essay included in a series of "pleasure" sketches (before him text called "Tuileries", next - "Walk") . Essay is noteworthy in that the prunuer first (and, as we see, very early), notes the very existence of a new Versailles text, directly calling Montcape, Rainier and Barres as his creators, in the footsteps of whom the narrator of the prunuer and makes a walk on Versailles.
You can also add the names of Alber Samen and Ernest Reyno, poets of the second symbolist generation; Attempts to interpret Versailles nostalgia appear in goncars. We also note the undoubted importance of the collection of the Relineal "Galant Festival" as a common pretext. Reline, despite references to the gallant painting of the 18th century, the artistic space is not marked as Versailles and generally devoid of clear topographic bindings - but it is precisely this conditional place to which Verlendian nostalgia is sent to the collection, will become an obvious material for the design of the Versail's image in the next-generation lyrics .

Photo of Ejen Atzh. 1903.

Analysis of these texts makes it easy to identify common dominants (generality is often literal, up to lexical coincidences). Not stopping on the details, we will list only the main features of this dominant system.

1. Park, but not Palace.

There are practically no descriptions of the palace, only the park and the surrounding forests appear (despite the fact that all the authors of the palace visited), especially there are no mentions of the Versaille-city. At Barres at the very beginning of the essay, immediately rejected the "Castle without a heart" (with a remark in brackets, which still recognizes the aesthetic value for him). The prunuer is also dedicated to the park, the palace is generally absent, there are not even any architectural metaphor (to which it is inclined to resort almost everywhere). In the case of a montescision, this strategy of displacing the palace looks particularly unusual, as it contradicts the content of many sonnets: Montescia constantly refers to the plots (from memoirs and historical jokes, etc.), which require the palace as a place of action - however he ignores it. (In addition, he dedicates the collection by the artist Mauris Lobru, who wrote Versailles interiors - But does not find them places in verses). The Versailles-Palace operates only as a society, but not like locus. Spatial characteristics appear when it comes to the park (which is especially noteworthy, if we recall that the real palace is semiotically overloaded; the original symbolism of the park, however, is also almost always ignored - except for several poems of Renia who beat the mythological scenes used in the design of fountains).

1. Death and sleep.

Versailles are constantly called necropolia or depicted as a city of ghosts.
The idea of \u200b\u200b"memory of the place", normal for historically significant locus, is most often in ghost characters and the corresponding motifs. (Barres has a single reminder of the story - hearing the story of the "sounds of Clavsiry Mary-Antoinette").
Montcape does not just complement this topic with a lot of details: the whole cycle "Red pearls" is organized as a spiritual session, causing from one sonnet to another figure from the past Versaille and the image of the "old France" in general. Here appears a typical symbolistic interpretation of the "death of the place". Death is understood as a return to his idea: the king-sun turns into the sun-king, subordinate to the solar myth, the Versailles ensemble is now managed by a non-symbol of the Sun, but the Sun itself (see the capital sonnet of the cycle and the preface). Barres Versailles functions as an elegic locus - a place to think about death, this death is also interpreted specifically: "Heine's proximity is decorated" (it is said about Heine and Maupassan, according to Barres who had gained poetic power only in the face of death).
In the same row "Dead Park" in Rainier (opposed to the living forest, and water in fountains - pure underground waters) and the "leaves cemetery" at Prut.
In addition, Versailles as the onyric space is included in the Netrocontext, since the dream experience that he provokes will certainly lead to the resurrection of the shadows of the past.

1. Autumn and winter.

Without exception, the authors writing at this time about Versailles, choose autumn as the most suitable time time and actively exploit the traditional autumn symbolism. Fairy foliage (Feuilles Mortes, by that time, already traditional for French lyrics of autumn-death) appears literally at all.
Herbal motives are rhetorically replaced by architecture and sculpture ("the huge cathedral of leaves" at Barres, "every tree carries a statue of some deity" in Rainier).
With the same line, the sunset is closely associated with the values \u200b\u200bof death, fading, that is, as the autumn synonym (irony in the fact that the most famous visual effect of the Versailles palace requires exactly the sunlight illuminating the mirror gallery). This symbolic synonymy is exposed to the prunu, which has red leaves create the illusion of sunset in the morning and during the day.
In addition, the row belongs and accentuated black color (not even dominant in real versal space even in winter), and directly fixing the emotional background (melancholy, loneliness, sadness), which is always attributed to the characters and the very space and its elements (trees, sculptures and etc.) and motivated by all the same eternal autumn. Less often, winter appears as a variation on the same seasonal theme - with very similar meanings (melancholy, the proximity of death, loneliness), possibly provoked by the Mallarm Winter Poetics; The most vivid example is the episode "Amphisben" episode.

1. Water.

Without a doubt, the water dominant is defined by the nature of the real place; However, in most texts of the end of the century "Water" nature of Versailles hypertrophy.
The name of the cycle Rainier "City of Water" accurately reflects the tendency to impose on the Versaili text of Venetian. The fact that Versailles in this respect is absolutely opposite to Venice, since all the water effects here are purely mechanical, makes it even more attractive for thinking of this generation. The image of the city associated with water is not due to the natural necessity, but contrary to nature, thanks to the aesthetic intention, it is perfectly consistent with the chimeric spaces of decadent poetics.

1. Blood.

Naturally, the history of Versailles in French authors is associated with its tragic conclusion. Literature here in some sense develops the motive, popular and historians: in the imprint of the Great Century, the roots of the future catastrophe are visible. Poetically, this is most often expressed in the constant invasion of the gallant scene of the scenes of violence, where the blood acquires the properties of a common denominator, to which any transfer of signs of elderly versal life is given. Thus, in the cycle Montacia, the sunset paintings are reminded of guillotine, actually the title "Red pearls" - blood drops; Rainier in the poem "Trianon" literally "powder and blush becomes blood and ashes." The prunuer also appears a reminder of the construction victim, and already in the context of a born modernist cultural myth in the context of a born modernist cultural world: the beauty is not the Versailles himself, and the texts of it removes the remorse of conscience, memories of the dead and ruined during its construction.

1. Theatre.

Theatricalization is the most predictable element of the Versailles Text, the only one, perhaps associated with the tradition: Versailles Life as a representation (sometimes both doll and mechanical) is already depicted at Saint-Simon. Novelty here translated the analogies between the court life and the theater to the level of artistic space: the park becomes the scene, historical figures - actors, etc. It should be noted that this line of rethinking of Versailles mythology will continue to continue to continue to continue in the interpretations of the French "Golden Age" of the XX century culture, including in connection with several outbreaks of interest in the baroque theater in general.

We now turn to the "Russian side" of this topic, to the heritage of Alexander Benua. The "Versailles Text" of Benoit includes how the graphics series of the late 1890s and the late 1900s are known., Ballet "Pavilion Armida" and several fragments of the book "My memories". The latter is the verbalization of the experience standing behind the drawings, and quite detailed auto interpretation is of particular interest, since it allows to judge the degree of the involvement of Beno'a to the French discourse about Versailles.
Absolutely naturally surprised, expressed by the French researcher about the fact that Benoit ignores the entire literary tradition of the image of Versailles. The artist reports in memoirs to get acquainted with most authors of the "Versailles" texts, pays time to the story of meeting Montcape, including the copy of the "red pearls", presented by the poet artist, mentions Rainier (in addition, it is just known that he was so or Otherwise, they are familiar with all the other figures of this circle, including the Prut, whom Benua, however, hardly noticed) - but it does not compare his vision of Versailles with literary versions. You can suspect a desire to preserve your undivided authorship here, given that the copyright is one of the most "patients" by those memoirs of Benoit (see almost all episodes associated with Dyagilev ballets, on whose posses often the work of Benua attributed to Bastcast). In any case, whether there is a speech about unconscious citation or a random coincidence, Versailles of Benois perfectly fits into the literary context, which we have shown. In addition, he had a direct impact on French literature, which was recorded by the sonnet of Montescue dedicated to the Figures of Beno'a.

Alexander Benoit. Pool ceres. 1897.

So, Benois reproduces most of the most listed motifs, except for moving a little accents. "My memories" in this respect is particularly interesting, as you can often talk about literal coincidences.
The displacement of the Palace in favor of the Park acquires a special meaning in the context of Benoit's memoirs. Only in fragments about Versailles, he says nothing about the inner decoration of the palace (in general, the only mention is all the same spectacle of the sunset in the mirror gallery), although the interiors of other palaces (in Peterhof, Oranienbaum, Hampton Corte) describes in sufficient detail.
Versailles of Benois is always autumn, with the dominant black - which is also supported in the memoir text by reference to a personal impression. In the drawings, he chooses Fragments of the Park so as to avoid Cartesian Effects, prefers bends and oblique lines, actually destroying the classic image of the palace.
Relevant for Benoit and the image of Versal-Necropolis. The resurrection of the past, accompanied by the appearance of ghosts - the motive accompanying all the versal episodes in memoirs and is quite obvious in the drawings. In one of these passages in My Memories, the characteristic elements of the neo-neutic poetics of the end of the century are concentrated:

Sometimes at twilight, when the West shines with cold silver, when the SIZY clouds are slowly moving from the horizon, and in the east, they swell the louds of pink apotheosis, when everything is strange and solemnly solemnly, and it subsides so much that he can hear the sheet behind the leaf on the piles of the fallen cavity drops, when the ponds seem to be filled with gray cobwebs when the proteins are worn like insane on bare tops of their kingdom and a preparing dawn cartoon is distributed, - in such hours between the trees of bosets, they also merry some not living by our lives, but still human beings, mutually And curious observing over lonely passersby. And with the onset of darkness, this world of ghosts is beginning to survive live life.

It should not be noted that at the level of the style distance between these fragments of the memoirs of Beno'a and the French texts mentioned by us are minimal: if the author of "my memories" did not read them, he perfectly caught not only the common style of the era, but also the characteristic intonations of the option described by us Versailles discourse.
Even stronger from Benoit oninic motifs, the image of Versailles as the enchanted place. This idea found the most complete expression in the "Pavilion Armid" ballet, where the dream plot is embodied in scenery resembling Versailles.

Alexander Benoit. Decoration to the ballet "Pavilion Armida". 1909.

We also note a clear contrast with the version of the Versailles Text, which will be enshrined in most of the "Russian seasons" performances. The "Versailles festival" of Stravinsky-Dyagilev, as before that, "Sleeping Beauty", exploit the other perception of the same locus (it was he who secured in mass culture and tourist discourse) - with an emphasis on festive, luxury and youth. In Memoara, Benois more than once emphasizes that the late works of Dyagilev to him alien, and he refers to the neoclassicism of Straviansky.
The focusing of the aquatic element is emphasized, except for the mandatory presence of fountains or channel, the rain ("the king is strolled in any weather").
Theatricality, provoked by the place itself, is even brighter from Beno'a than the French authors, of course, due to the specifics of his professional interests. (This side of his work is maximally studied, and here Versailles fit into a long chain of theatrical and festive loci).
The main difference of the version of Benoa looks like compared with French texts as a significant "blind spot". The only typical versal circle of topics he ignores is violence, blood, revolution. Tragic shades have been motivated by an obsessive manner of the old king - but it is the motives of natural death; Benois not only does not draw any guillotine, but also in memoirs (written after revolutions) does not link Versaille experiences with any personal experience of a collision with history or a French tradition. In the memoirs of Benua, it is generally visible in general a completely different attitude than his French contemporaries, to the theme of power and loci power. Versailles remain storage of someone else's memory, alienated and frozen. This is noticeable in contrast with the descriptions of Peterhof: the latter always appears as a "living" place - and because it is associated with childhood memories, and because he remembered from the time of living yard. Benouua does not see an analogue of Versailles not only because of the stylistic differences, but also because Peterhof, which he retained it in memoirs, continues to perform his normal function.

Do not pretend to complete the coverage of the topic, make some preliminary conclusions from the above observations.
Artificially created locus-symbol is mastered by culture slowly and contrary to the initial intent. Versailles needed to lose the political sense to find recognition in the culture of the end of the century, who had learned to extract aesthetic experience from destruction, old age and death. The fate of the Versailles text can, therefore, interpret in the context of relations between culture and political power: "the place of power", conceived literally as a spatial embodiment of the idea of \u200b\u200bpower as an ideal instance, at the same time attracts and repels artists. (We note that interest in Versailles is not accompanied by any of the considered authors of nostalgia in the old regime, and all the monarchy attributes function from them exclusively as the signs of a long time of the deceased world). The exit, found as we see, the European literature of the stroke of the centuries, is the final aesthetization, the transformation of the place of power in the scene, drawing, the component of the chronotope, etc., necessarily with complete transcoding, translation into the language of another artistic paradigm.
This idea was directly expressed in the Book of Sotenets Montcape, where the True owner of Versailles is called Saint-Simon: the authorities belong to the one who will say the last word - in the end, the writer (from all memoirs, therefore the most valuable for the history of literature is chosen). In parallel, the images of the carriers of power in the traditional sense, real kings and queens, weakened by the image of them as ghosts or as participants in the performance. The political figure is replaced by artistic, the course of history is replaced by the creative process, which, as it sounded at Prut, relieves an insurmountable bloody tragedy of history.
The participation of the Russian artist in this process of achieving the celebration of culture over history is a fact that is significant not so much even for the history of the Russian dialogue, as for the self-consciousness of Russian culture. It is also interesting that even superficial comparison reveals the relationship of the texts of Benua with literature, which was familiar with him rather indirectly and fragmentary and which he was not inclined to be taken seriously, since it was demonstratively distancing from decadent culture.

Literature:

1. Benoita A.N. My memories. M., 1980. T.2.
2. Barrès M. Sur La Decomposition // Barrés M. Du Sang, De La Volupté Et De La Mort. Paris, 1959. P. 261-267.
3. Montesquiou R. DE. Perles Rouges. Les Paroles Diaprées. Paris, 1910.
4. Prince N. Versailles, Icône Fantastique // Versailles Dans La Littérature: Mémoire et Imaginaire AUX XIXE ET XXE Siècles. P. 209-221.
5. Proust M. Les Plaisirs Et Le Jours. Paris, 1993.
6. Régnier H. DE. L'Amphisbène: Roman Moderne. Paris, 1912.
7. Régnier H. DE. La Cité des Eaux. Paris, 1926.
8. Savally D. Les Écrits d'Alexandre Benois Sur Versailles: Unprard Pétersbourgeois Sur La Cité Royale? // Versailles Dans La Littérature: Mémoire et Imaginaire AUX XIXE ET XXE Siècles. P.279-293.

And indeed, to determine who this brilliant person was, not just: the circle of interests of Alexander Benua is very wide. He and an artist engaged in machine painting, schedule and decorator.

Childhood
Alexander Nikolaevich Benua appeared on May 3, 1870 in St. Petersburg - the city, to whom, throughout his life, "Gentle and deep feeling". Moreover, its surroundings were included in the cult of his native city - Oranienbaum, Pavlovsk and the main thing - Peterhof. Later in his memoirs, Benoit will write: "My romance has begun in Peterhof," for the first time he got into this "fabulous place," when he was not even month, and it was there for the first time he began to "realize" the surrounding.
In the house where a little shura grew, a completely special atmosphere reigned. Since childhood, Benua was surrounded by talented, extraordinary people. His father Nikolai Leontievich and Brother Leonthi - were "brilliant architectural masters", both graduated from the Academy of Arts with a Gold Medal, which, according to Beno'a himself, was the "rare case in the life of the Academy." Both were "virtualo patterns and brushes." They inhabited their drawings with hundreds of human figures, and they could be admired as paintings.
Father Benois participated in the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. The grand stables in Peterhof are considered the greatest project. Brother Leonthius later took the position of rector of the Academy of Arts. Another brother, Albert, wrote wonderful watercolors, which in the 1880s and 1890s were bought apart. The exhibitions of his paintings attended even the imperial couple, in the society of watercolorists, he was given by the chairman, and the watercolor class was given to him at the Academy.
Beno'a began to draw a little from a diaper. Family legend has been preserved
The fact that, having received a pencil in the hands of a pencil in the eighteen months, the future artist captured him with his fingers as it was considered correct. Parents, brothers and sisters admired all that would make them a little Shura, and forever praised him. In the end, at the age of five, Benua tried to make a copy with the "Bolshenskaya Mass" and experienced shame and even a kind of insult to Raphael for the fact that he was not given.
In addition to Raphael - in front of copies of huge cloths in the Academy Hall, the boy is still chainel, "there were two more serious hobbies in Little Beno'a: Dadnight albums, in which landscapes alternated with sketches of the Military Military, Sailors, Gondolors, Monks of all sorts of orders, and without Doubt - theater. As for the first, looking at the "daddy albums" was a big holiday for both the boy and for the Father. Each page Nikolai Leontievich accompanied comments, and the son knew his stories in all details. As for the second, then, according to Beno'a himself, it was "passion for the theater" played hardly a not more important role in its further development.
Education
In 1877, Camilla Albertovna, the mother of Benua, seriously thought about the formation of his son. And I must say that for the age of the age, this pet's pet has not yet been able to read or write. Later, Benouua recalled his attempts to teach him to the alphabet: about "smoking cubes" with drawings and letters. He folded the pictures with the hunt, and the letters only annoyed it, and the boy could not understand why M and A, set nearby, are formed by the syllable "Ma".
Finally, the boy was sent to kindergarten. As in any kind of model school, there, in addition to other items, the drawing was taught, which led the artist-Mobile Lemoch.
However, as Beno'a himself recalls, he did not want any benefit from these lessons. Already a teenager Benua has repeatedly met with a lemlo in the house of her brother Albert and even received flight reviews from the former teacher to his address. "You should seriously draw painting, you have a noticeable talent," said Lemoch.
Of all the educational institutions who visited Beno'a, it is worth noting the private gymnasium K. I. May (1885-1890s), where his acquaintance with people, who were later the backbone of the "World War". If we talk about artistic training, then the so-called academic education of Benua did not receive. In 1887, still being a gymnasium-a semiclator, he visits the evening classes of the Academy of Arts for four months. Disappointed in the teaching methods - learning seems to him state and boring, - Benua begins to paint on his own. He takes watercolor lessons from his older brother Albert, stones the literature on the history of the arts, later copies the picture of the old Dutch in the Hermitage. After graduating from the Gymnasium, Benua enters the Faculty of Faculty of the University of St. Petersburg. In the 1890s, he begins to draw.

Oranienbaum

The painting "Oranienbaum" became one of the first works of the "Russian Series" - everything breathes and simply breathing and simplicity, but at the same time the cloth attracts his eyes.
For the first time, the public of the work of Benua was presented in 1893 at the exhibition of the Russian Society of Watercolorists, whose senior brother Albert was chairman.
In 1890, Parents of Benoit, wanting to reward the Son for the successful end of the gymnasium, provide him with the opportunity to go on a journey through Europe.
From his journey, Benua brought more than a hundred photographs of paintings purchased in Berlin, Nuremberg, Heidelberg museums. He pasted his treasures into large format albums, and later Somov, Nouvelev and Bakst, Lancer, philosophers and Dyagilev studied for these photographs.
After graduating from university in 1894, Benoit
Park "- then go from the hands of a collector and a long time is stored in private collections.

Versailles series

Under the impression of a trip to France, Beno'a in 1896-1898 creates a cycle of watercolors: "At the ceremonary pool," Versailles, "" King is stroll in any weather, "" Masquerade with Louis XIV "and others.
Makes a few more trips abroad. He travels again in Germany, and also visits Italy and France. In 1895-1896, the artist's paintings regularly appear at the exhibitions of Watercolor Society.
M. Tretyakov acquires three paintings for their gallery: "Garden", "Cemetery" and "Castle". However, the best works of Benoit - paintings from the "Walk of the King of Louis XIV in Versailles", "Walk in the Versaily Garden".
From the fall of 1905 to the spring of 1906, Benua lived in Versaille and could watch the park with any weather and at different times of the day. This period includes natural etudes with oil - small cardboard or skidding, on which Benoit wrote one or another corner of the park. A watercolor and gouache made on the basis of natural sketches, this canvas Benois is stylistically fundamentally different than the fantasies of the early Versailles cycle. Their paints are richer, landscape motifs are more diverse, the composition of bolder.
"Versailles. Greenhouse"
The pictures of the Versailles series were exhibited in Paris at the famous exhibition of Russian art, as well as in St. Petersburg and Moscow at the exhibitions of the Union of Russian Artists. Critics were not flattering, in particular, there was an abuse of the motives of the French Rococo, the lack of novelty themes and polemical pointedness.

Love for St. Petersburg
The artist addresses the image of the beloved city for most of his creative path. In the early 1900s, Benua creates a series of watercolor drawings dedicated to the suburbs of the capital, as well as the old Petersburg. These sketches were performed for the community of Saint Eugene during the Red Cross and published in the form of postcards. Beno'a himself entered the editorial commission of the community and spoke for the postal cards, in addition to charity, served and cultural and educational purposes.
Contemporaries called the community of the artistic encyclopedia of the era. Since 1907, postal cards have been produced in circulation to 10 thousand copies, and the most successful withstood several reprints.
Again to the image of St. Petersburg, Benua returns in the second half of the 1900s. And again the artist writes pictures close to his heart of historical topics, including the "parade of Pavel I", "Peter I on a walk in the summer garden" and others.

The composition is a peculiar historical stage, transmitting the immediate sensation of the last era. Like a spectrum in the puppet theater, the action is unfolded - a march of soldiers in the Mundar of the Prussian sample in front of the Mikhailovsky castle and an area of \u200b\u200bConnyabl. The appearance of the emperor echoes the figure of the bronze rider, which is visible on the background of the wall of the unfinished castle.
And the background of their creation is as follows. At the beginning of the 1900s, the Russian book publisher Joseph Nikolayevich Knebel arises the plan to release the brochures of the "Pictures of Russian History" as a school manual. Knebel bets on high printing quality reproductions
(By the way, their size practically corresponded to the originals) and attracts the best modern artists to work, including Benoit.

Benua more than once in his work will turn to the image of St. Petersburg and its suburbs. We see him and in the picture "Peter on a walk in the summer garden", where Peter surrounded by the Sweet Walks through this wonderful corner of the city built by him. Petersburg streets and houses will appear on illustrations for works by A. Pushkin, and the Petersburg versals - on the canvases written during the emigration period, including Peterhof. Chief Fountain "and" Peterhof. Lower fountain at the cascade. "

On this canvas, the artist masterfully portrayed the greatness of the fountains of Peterhof and the beauty of park sculptures. Fascinating the jet beating in different directions of water and captivable a wonderful summer day - everything around as it would be permeated by the rays of the invisible sun.

From this point, the artist wrote his landscape, rightly determining his composition and focusing on the image of the lower park in an inseparable connection with the bay, which is perceived as a continuation of the entire ensemble.
"Peterhof - Russian Versailles," Peter wished to arrange the semblance of Versailles "- these phrases were heard constantly at that time.
HARLEQUIN

It is impossible to go around the attention of another character to which Benois has been repeatedly drawn in the 1900s. This is harlequin.
I would like to note that the Comedy Masks del Arte are typical images of artworks of the beginning of the twentieth century. If speak about
Beno'a, then between 1901 and 1906 they created several paintings with similar characters. In front of the viewer, the view is played out: the main masks were frozen on the stage in plastic poses, minor characters appear due to the scenes.
Perhaps the appeal to masks is not only a tribute to the time, since the views with the participation of Harlequin, who Benua had a chance to see in the mid-1870s, can be attributed to one of his brightest children's impressions.

Benua in the theater
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Benois manages to realize his children's dream into reality: he becomes a theater artist. However, he himself jokingly refers the beginning of his theatrical activity by 1878.

Returning to the 1900s, it is worth noting that the first work of the artist on theatrical field was a sketch of Opera A. S. Taneyev "Revenge of Amur". Although truly the first opera, to the production of which Benois created sketches of decorations, his genuine theatrical debut, should be considered the "death of the gods" of Wagner. Her premiere, held in 1903 on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, was under the ovations of the auditorium.
The first ballet Benoit is considered to be the "Pavilion Armida", although in a few years earlier he worked on sketches of scenery to the Sylvia One-line ballet, which was not supplied. And here it is worth returning to another children's passion of the artist - his balletomania.
According to Benua, it all started with the improvisations of his brother Albert. It was worth the twelve-year-old boy to hear vigorious and sonorous chords, driving from Albert's room, as he could not withstand their call.
Balletomania and Dyagilev seasons

Fair". Sketch of scenery to the ballet I. Stravinsky "Parsley". 1911.
Paper, watercolor, gouache. 83.4 × 60 cm. Museum of State Academic Bolshoi Theater, Moscow

The artist's music suggested to write her husband with his niece N. Cherepnin, a student of Rimsky-Korsakov. In the same 1903, the score to the trichat ballet was completed, and soon the "Armid Pavilion" was proposed to the Mariinsky Theater. However, it did not take place. In 1906, Suite from Ballet hears a novice balletmaster M. Fokin and at the beginning of 1907, on the basis of it, the one-act training performance entitled "Right tapestry", in which Nizhinsky fulfills the role of the servid. Benois is invited to the rehearsal of the ballet, and his spectacle literally stuns.
Soon it was decided to put the "Pavilion of Armid" on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, but in a new version - one act with three paintings - and with Anna Pavlova in the lead role. The premiere held on November 25, 1907 passes with a huge success, and ballet soloists, including Pavlov with Nizhinsky, as well as Benoit and Cherepnin, cause a scene to bis.
Benua not only writes libretto, but also creates sketches of scenery and costumes to the production of the "Armid Pavilion". The artist and balletmaster do not get tired to admire each other.
We can say that it is from the "Armid Pavilion" the history of "Russian ballet seasons" of Dyagilev begins.
After the triumphal success of the opera M. Musorgsky "Boris Godunov", shown in Paris in 1908, Benoit offers Dyagilev to include the next season and ballet production. The premiere of the Pavilion Armid, held on May 19, 1909, had a stunning success. Parisians were amazed both the luxury of costumes and decorations and the art of dancers. So, in the metropolitan newspapers for May 20, Vaclav Nizhinsky was named "soaring angel" and "god of dance".
In the future, for the "Russian seasons", Benua draws up the ballets "Sylphide", "Giselle", "Parsley", "Solovy". From 1913 to the emigration itself, the artist works in various theaters, including in Mkhate (draws up two performances on the plays of the Moliere), in the Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (Pikovaya Lady, P. I. Tchaikovsky). After emigration to France, the artist cooperates with European theaters, including the Grand Opera, Covent Garden, La Rock.
"Fair" and "Arape Room".
Sketches of scenery to Opera Igor Stravinsky "Parsley"
Sketches of scenery to the ballet Igor Stravinsky "Parsley" are considered one of the highest achievements of Beno'a as a theater artist. They feel the proximity to the expressive means of the Lubka and the folk toy. In addition to the scenery, the artist creates sketches of costumes to the ballet - while thoroughly studying the historical material - and also takes part in writing a libretto.
Book graphics

Sketch illustrations for the "copper rider" A. S. Pushkin. 1916. Paper, mascara, brush, bleel, coal.
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

An important place in the works of Benois, as, however, and other masters of the "World WORD", takes a book schedule. His debut in the field of book becomes an illustration to the "peak lady", prepared for the three-volume anniversary edition A. Pushkin. There were illustrations for the "Golden Pot" of E. T. A. Gofman, "Azbuka in pictures".
I must say that Pushkin theme is a bunch of book graphics in the work of Beno'a. The artist addresses the works of Pushkin for more than 20 years. In 1904, and then in 1919, Benua performs drawings to the "Captain daughter". In 1905 and in 1911, the attention of the artist again riveted to the "peak lady". But of course, the most significant of the works of Pushkin for Benua is the "copper rider".
The artist has several cycles of illustrations for Pushkin Poem. In 18991904, Benoa creates the first cycle consisting of 32 drawings (including screensavers and endings). In 1905, being in Versailles, it rents six illustrations and performs a frontispis. In 1916, it starts working on the third cycle, in fact, processes the drawings of 1905, leaving only the frontispis in immunity. In 1921-1922, creates a number of illustrations of the completed cycle of 1916.
It should be noted that with drawings performed ink, in the printing houses made prints, which Benua painted watercolor. Then the outturi was again entered into the printing house, and they made clichés for color printing.
The illustrations of the first cycle were published by Sergey Dyagilev in the room of the "World of Art" for 1904, although it was originally intended for the "society of lovers of elegant publications." The second cycle was completely and not printed; Separate illustrations were placed in various editions of 1909 and 1912. Illustrations of the last cycle included in the publication of the "copper rider" of 1923, became classic book graphics.
In the German Sloboda »Mons, daughters of German winemaker. The painter created his work on the basis of the descriptions found in the archives of the Preobrazhensky regiment. It is known that it is known that the famous curtisanka was not very much loved in Moscow, considering her reason for the reference of Queen Evdokia and Peter's quarrel with Tsarevich Alexei, subsequently executed. By the name of the German Slobody (s), she received odious nickname - the Cucuic Queen.
EMIGRATION
Post-revolutionary years is a difficult period for Beno'a. Hunger, cold, destruction - all this does not correspond to his ideas about life. After the arrest in 1921, his older brothers Leonthia and Mikhail in the soul of the artist firmly set off fear. At night, Benua can not fall asleep, he constantly listens to the screen of the junk on the gate, to the sound of steps in the yard, and it seems to him that the Arharahovtsians are - here they are heading for the floor. " The only invented at this time is the work in the Hermitage - in 1918, Benua was elected the head of art galleries.
In the early 1920s, he repeatedly thinks about emigration. Finally, in 1926, the choice was made, and Benoit, having traveled on a business trip from the Hermitage to Paris, he was no longer returned to Russia.

Markism bath. 1906 year. Paper on cardboard, gouache. 51 x 47 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The cycle of the drawings of Alexander Benouua, dedicated to the walks of the King of Louis-Sun, his old age, as well as the autumn and winter in the Versailles Park, perhaps one of the most memorable - and sad, and beautiful - in the work of the artist.

A. Benua. "Latest walks of the king."1896-1898 (There are more late drawings)

"Versailles. Louis XIV feeds fish"

Description of old age Louis XIV from here:
"... the king became sad and sullen. According to Madame de Madennon, he became" the most disadvantageous person in all of France. "Louis began to violate the laws of etiquette established by him.
In the last years of life, he gained all the habits like an old man: late got up, ate in bed, half a liter accepted ministers and state secretaries (the deeds of the Kingdom of Louis XIV engaged in the last days of his life), and then sat for hours in a big chair, putting a velvet under his back Pillow. In vain, the doctors repeated their sovereign that the lack of gestures arises boredom and drowsiness and is a harbinger of close dem.
The king could no longer resist the onset of flushness, and his age approached eighty.
Everything, for which he agreed, was limited to visits in the gardens of Versailles in a small controller. "

"Versailles. At the basin of ceres"

I also put here other drawings of Benoit, where the king does not appear, but there is simply Versailles.
"Flora pool in Versaille"


From the article "Versailles in the work of Beno'a"

Alexander Benois first visited Versailles in his youth, in the 1890s.
Since then, he has remained obsessed with the poetic of the old royal palace, "Divine Versaille", as he calls him himself. "I returned from there twisted, almost sick from strong impressions."

From the recognition of the nephew Evgeny Lancere: "I was drunk by this place, it is some kind of impossible illness, a criminal passion, strange in love."

"King Louis XIV in the chair"

For life, the artist will create more than six hundred oily calets, engravings, pastels, guisas and watercolors dedicated to Versailles.
When Benua was 86 years old, he complained about weak health only from the point of view that it does not allow "walking along the paradise in which there was no time".

And this is a real lifetime portrait of an old Louis-Sun, drawn A. Benua. Just not by our artist, andAntoine Benoist. (1632-1717), who worked at the court. In our Benoit, he was not a relative, and not even the same name (Other Writing), but I am sure that such a clever, as Alexander knew about him and could be felt some kind of spiritual relationship due to the name of the name.

"Walk the king"

"The source of inspiration for the artist is not the royal magnitude of the castle and parks, namely," unsubstantial, sad memories of the kings who are still roaming here. "This is similar to a certain almost mystical illusion (" I sometimes get to the state close to hallucinations ") .
For Benoit, those shadows that silently slide on the Versailles flesh, rather, memories than fantasy. According to his own statement, images of events are rushed before his eyes, which happened here. He "sees" the very creator of this magnificence, the King of Louis XIV surrounded by the suite. Moreover, he sees it is scary old and sick, which is surprising accurately reflects the former reality. "

"Versailles. Orangery"

"Versailles. Triarone garden"

From the article of the French Researcher (there is an interesting perspective in general):

"Images of the" Line Louis XIV "images are certainly inspired, and sometimes borrowed from texts and engravings of the" King of Sun ".
However, such a look - the approach of the erudite and the connoisseurs is not fraught with dryness or pedanticism and does not force the artist to engage in lifeless historical reconstructions. Indifferent to such expensive to the heart of the "complaints of stones dreaming of exterior in the slaughter, Benua did not capture neither the templement of the palace, nor the launch of the park, which is still certainly caught. He prefers historical accuracy of fantasy flights - and at the same time his fantasy is historically accurate. Themes of the artist - the flow of time, the "romantic" invasion of nature into the classic park of Lenotra; It takes - and amuses - the contrast between the sophistication of park decorations, in which "every line, any statue, the slightest vase" is reminded "On the divinity of the monarchical power, about the greatness of the Sun King, about the inviolability of the mains" - and the grotesque figure of the King himself: a horn old man In a catal, which pushes Livrayny Lackey. "

"Curration"

"Allegory of the River"

"Several years later, Benua will draw an equally irresistible verbal portrait of Louis XIV:" Crumpled old man with squeezed cheeks, with bad teeth and a face made of smallpox. "
The king in the "walks" of Benua is a lone old man left court and clinging for the confessor in the premonition of close death. But he acts rather not in the role of the tragic hero, but in the role of a stained character, a statist, whose almost ephemeral, the ghostly presence emphasizes the inviolability of the scenery and the scene with which the once-great actor is being out, "the burden of this monstrous comedy." "

"The king walked into any weather ... (Saint-Simon)"

"At the same time, Benua seems to forget that Louis XIV was the main customer of the Versailles performance and was not mistaken at all regarding the role of playing himself to play. Since the story was represented by Benua a certain similarity of the theater play, it was inevitable and the change of bright Misaneszen less successful:" Louis XIV was an excellent actor, and he earned the stories applause. Louis XVI was just one of the "grandchildren of the great actor", who fell on the stage, - and therefore it was very natural that he was awarded the audience, and the play failed, and the play recently had a huge success " ".

"Allegory of the River"

"King"(here is not in the chair)

"Walk in the garden of Versailles"

"Pond in Versaille"

"Fantasy on the Versailles"

Anatoly Lunacharsky, the future Soviet "Minister of Culture", swore into the cycle, seeing drawings at the exhibition in 1907:
... The worst thing is that G. Benua, following the example of many, chose a special specialty. Now it is very accepted among painters and young poets to find and protect their original individuality, in love with some, sometimes to the funny narrow and deliberate genus of plots. Mr. Benua chose Versailles Park. Thousand and one etude of the Versailles Park, and more or less well made. And yet I want to say: "hit once, hit two, but it is impossible until the inaccuracy." For G. Benois called in the public a genus of a special mental stun: Versailles stopped acting. "How good!" - says the audience and widely, widespread.

The work of Alexander Nikolayevich Benoa still remains closed for Russia, because Most of his works are outside of Russia. Basically, those who are interested in the art know his literary works devoted to both Russian and foreign artists. However, Alexander Benua was an extremely versatile personality - he is a painter, and a schedule, and theater decorator, and director director, and a historian of art. And this is not surprising, because he comes from a family who gave the world a lot of artistically gifted people.

Benoita A.N. Chinese pavilion in Versaille. Jealous of 1906.

In 1794, Confectioner Louis-Jules Benoit (1770-1822) arrived in Russia from France (1770-1822). His son Nikolai Leontievich is the father of Alexander Benua, became a famous architect. Alexander was only a few months in 1887 in the evening classes of the Academy of Arts, then he studied at the Faculty of Faculty of the University of St. Petersburg. He was a self-taught artist, but continuously worked on himself, calling himself " product of art family". Watercolor painting technique He was taught by the elder brother Albert Benua, also a famous artist.

Benoita A.N. Versailles

Benoita A.N. Versailles. Kury 1898

In 1894, Alexander Nikolaevich Benua began his career theorist and historian of art by writing chapter about Russian artists for the German collection "History of painting XIX century." In 1896, first came to Paris, and his French impressions were so strong that a whole series of watercolor drawings appeared on the world from the history of France. Fantastic, fabulous world. Trips to Paris will be regular for the artist and its famous series of works under the general conditional name "Versailles" will appear, which includes the work of 1896-1922.

Benoita A.N. Dance. Pavilion Versalya

Benoita A.N. Scene in the garden

Benoita A.N. On a walk

Benoita A.N. Spring day in Trianon 1921

Benoita A.N. Walk in Versailal Park

Benoita A.N. Walk king 1906.

"Versailles for Alexander Benois - the embodiment of the harmonious unity of man, nature and art. In the "harmony of external forms of life", the artist sees no superficial layering, but the expression of "culture of human dignity", that is, the beginning of ethical. The main character of Pictures Benouua is invisible. This is an artist, the creator of the Versailles ensemble. He is a converter of nature, director of life. He installed that solemn way, to whom the life of the era is subject. Rather, it is even more right that two heroes in the Versailles paintings. The second is Beno'a himself, a philosopher and a dreamer, a typical artist "of the world of art", in which the fumes and chaoticness of the Meshchansky life give rise to beauty, harmony, greatness.

The cycles of work dedicated to the Versailles of the XVII century - the residence of the King of Louis XIV are written on the basis of numerous field observations. Under the influence of antique memoirs, diaries, paintings, engravings, drawings, poems and especially the music of the XVII - early XVIII century in the soul of the artist, according to him, "vague, slightly degraded memories", he turns the past. "Versailles series" - the opportunity to remind you how many generations have already seen in his century Versailles Park, and thereby say about the immortality of the art and the frequency of human life. But the art is nothing more than one of the manifestations of the greatness of the human spirit".

A. P. Gusarova "World of Art"

Benoita A.N. Rainy day in Versaille

Benoita A.N. stroll

Benoita A.N. Wedding Walk 1908.

Benoita A.N. Alley Versailles

Benoita A.N. Feeding fish

Benoita A.N. Masks

Benoita A.N. Bathing Marquis

Benoita A.N. Masquerade at the king

Benoita A.N. Italian comedy 1905.

Benoita A.N. Versailles

Benoita A.N. In the park Versalya

Benoita A.N. Comanty. Musical farce

Stylistically watercolor works are very similar to the works of Konstantin Somov and it is not surprising, it is together with him Alexander Nikolaevich Benua created the famous artistic association "The World of Art" "and founded the magazine of the same name. Miriskussniks entered the history of Russian painting as the propagandists of the century XVIII, a century costume, love, a century of beauty. For this departure to the past, Benua repeatedly scolded, as all his artistic association swore. So Ilya Efimovich Repin rather hardly spoke of Beno'a: " defending, amateur, never studied seriously"...

Benoita A.N. Copper rider 1916.

Benoita A.N. Peter Great Thinking About Construction of St. Petersburg

Benoita A.N. Petersburg

Benoita A.N. Parade with Paul I 1907

Benoita A.N. Alley of the Summer Garden

Benoita A.N. Summer garden

Benoita A.N. Hermitage Peter Great

Benoita A.N. On the streets of St. Petersburg

Benoita A.N. Big Cascade Peterhof.

Benoita A.N. Peterhof 1900.

In 1916-1918, Benua creates illustrations for the poem A. S. Pushkin "Copper Horseman" and the cycle of works dedicated to St. Petersburg and suburbs. In 1918, the artist headed the Art Gallery of the Hermitage, became her keeper. In 1926, Alexander Nikolaevich Benua left the USSR without returning from a foreign business trip. He lived in Paris, worked mainly over the sketches of theatrical scenery and costumes. Benua died on February 9, 1960 in Paris.

Landscape series of watercolors A.N. Benua

Benoita A.N. French Alps 1928.

Benoita A.N. Italian landscape

Benoita A.N. Italian courtyard

Benoita A.N.Luxembourg Sad.

Benoita A.N. Embankment Rey in Basel 1902

Benoita A.N. Winter landscape

P.S. All images are clichable and most increases to a large size.