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Alexandre Benois
Costume designer
Biography
Born in Saint Petersburg in 1870, Alexandre Benois was a painter, illustrator, set designer, librettist, director and art historian who played a decisive role in the creation of the Ballets Russes and in the company's aesthetic direction. He is credited with seeking greater cohesion between the various elements of the show, by advocating close collaboration between the musician, choreographer and set designer. Before working for the Ballets Russes, Benois already had a wealth of experience. From a family of French origin and with a father who was an architect at the Imperial Court, he was involved in international artistic life from an early age.
As a student, he lived in Paris for two years (1904-1906) and discovered Art Nouveau, which he championed on his return to Russia in the magazine Mir Iskousstva (The World of Art), which he founded with Diaghilev and Bakst in 1899. He had already designed sets for the Hermitage Theatre (Le Crépuscule des Dieux) and the Théâtre Marie (projet d'une Sylvia, 1901) in Saint Petersburg, and played an active part in the exhibition of Russian art that Diaghilev presented in Paris in 1906. For the first season of the Ballets Russes at the Châtelet in 1909, he designed the sets and costumes for Pavillon d'Armide, Le Festin and Les Sylphides.
The following year, he revived Giselle, and with Petrushka (1911) found the opportunity to combine realism with poetic wonder. In 1914, he rewrote the libretto of Le Coq d'or and directed Stravinsky's opera Le Rossignol. Benois returned to Russia, where he worked for Stanislavski's Art Theatre, before returning to France and working for Ida Rubinstein: Les Noces de Psyché et de l'Amour, La Bien-Aimée, Boléro, Le Baiser de la Fée (1928), La Valse (1929), Amphion (1931), Semiramis, Diane de Poitiers (1934). For the Paris Opera, he designed the sets and costumes for Giselle in 1924 (with Olga Spessivtseva) and Le Coq d'or in 1927. He also created the sets and costumes for Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1932), Le Bal des Cadets, The Nutcracker (1940) and Raymonda (1946) for the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo, and for Le Moulin Enchanté (1949) for the Marquis de Cuevas' company. He died in Paris in 1960.
