Orig 1921 Ink Drawing by Alexander Nikolaevich Benois Start Price USD 6,000.00 Current Price USD 6,000.00 Time Left 22 days 13 hours 2 minutes Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Tuesday, September 16, 2008 End Time Monday, December 15, 2008 Location West Coast See more about 'Orig 1921 Ink Drawing by Alexander Nikolaevich Benois' Description India Ink drawing on paper by Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870 - 1960) , signed lower right, "Diaghilev de Ballet Russe" 4 9/16" x 8 7/16". Ink drawing of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev, Director of the Ballet Russe, 1921. Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870 - 1960) Click on the thumbnails below for additional views: Front Title Signature Back ABOUT THE ARTISTAlexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870 - 1960) , (Russian) (4 May 1870, St. Petersburg–9 February 1960, Paris), was a prominent member of the St. Petersburg artistic intellectual Benois family, an influential art critic, artist, preservationist, and founding member of Mir iskusstva. His influence on the modern ballet and stage design is considered seminal. Alexandre's father Nicholas Benois and brother Leon Benois were noted Russian architects. Alexandre didn't plan to devote his life to art and graduated from the Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg University in 1894. Three years later, while in Versailles, he painted a series of watercolors depicting Last Promenades of Louis XIV. When exhibited by Pavel Tretyakov in 1897, they brought him to attention of Sergei Diaghilev and Leon Bakst. Together they founded the art magazine and movement Mir iskusstva which aimed at promoting the Aesthetic Movement and Art Nouveau in Russia. During the first decade of the new century, Benois continued to edit Mir iskusstva but also pursued his scholarly interests. He prepared and printed several monographs on the 19th-century Russian art and Tsarskoye Selo. From 1918 to 1926, he ran the gallery of Old Masters in the Hermitage Museum, to which he secured his brother's heirloom—Leonardo's Madonna Benois. In 1903, he printed his illustrations to Pushkin's Bronze Horseman which have since been recognized as one of the landmarks in the genre. In 1901, Benois was appointed scenic director of the Mariinsky Theatre. Since then, he devoted most of his time to stage design and decor. Sets and costumes he designed for Ballets Russes productions of Les Sylphides (1909), Giselle (1910), and Petrushka (1911) are counted among his greatest triumphs. Although he worked primarily with Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes, he simultaneously collaborated with the Moscow Art Theatre and other notable theatres of Europe. His Memoirs were published in two volumes in 1955. The Russian artists Eugene Lanceray and Zinaida Serebriakova were his nephew and niece, and the British actor Sir Peter Ustinov was his grand nephew. The company invited contemporary artists to design sets and costumes, including (1) Anisfeld, Boris Israelevich, 1879-1973 (2) Bakst, Léon, 1866-1924 (3) Balla, Giacomo, 1871-1958 (4) Bauchant, André, 1873-1958 (5) Benois, Alexandre, 1870-1960 (6) Braque, Georges, 1882-1963 (7) Cocteau, Jean, 1889-1963 (8) De Chirico, Giorgio, 1888-1978 (9) Delaunay, Sonia (10) Derain, André, 1880-1954 (11) Dobuzhinskii, Mstislav Valerianovich, 1875-1957 (12) Ernst, Max, 1891-1976 (13) Fortuny, Mariano, 1871-1949 (14) Gabo, Naum, 1890-1977 (15) General, artists. Research files, 1981 (16) Golovin, Alexander IAkovlevich, 1863-1930 (17) Goncharova, Nataliia Sergeevna, 1881-1962 (18) Gris, Juan, 1887-1927 (19) Jones, Robert Edmond, 1887-1954 (20) Korovin, Konstantin Alekseevich, 1861-1939 (21) Larionov, Mikhail Fedorovich, 1861-1884 (22) Laurencin, Marie, 1883-1956 (23) Lissim, Simon, 1900- (24) Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954 (25) Miró, Joan, 1893-1983 (26) Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973 (27) Pruna, Pere, 1904-1977 (28) Rerikh, Nikolai Konstantinovich, 1874-1947 (29) Rouault, Georges,1971-1958 (30) Serov, Valentin Aleksandrovich, 1865-1911 (31) Shervashidze, Aleksandr, 1867-1968 (32) Soudeikine, Serge (33) Stravinsky, Vera. Research files, 1974-1985 (34) Tchelitchew, Pavel, 1898-1957 Click Here to See More Fine Art TERMS OF SALE: All images are watermarked for your protection. The final item shipped does not have watermarks. We list items to the best of our product knowledge and testing capabilities. 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