Alexandre Benois (1870 - 1960)

1828

André Maurois

Les souffrances du jeune Werther

The woes of young Werther

Paris: La Pléiade, 1926

240 x 180 mm. 130 pages

Edition: 365. Copy nr. 253

In 1924 a last exhibition of the Mir Iskusstva  (World of Art), of which Benois had been one of the founders,  was held in Russia. By then many members of the group had left the country. Benois himself went to Paris in 1926, where he would live until his death in 1960. Benois was of course quite familiar with France and Paris, not only because he was a member of a family with French roots, but also because he had spent many holidays  there and had worked for the Russian Ballets. He was therefore best known in Paris as a theatre designer and an art critic, Benois also had been a promoter of book illustration. His accomplishments with Mir Iskusstva were major achievements in Russian art. The origin of Benois’ illustration for the Sufferings of young Werther, is not known. The novel is about Goethe writing his famous story of the same name. It is a historic novel that is illustrated in a classical way. The quality of the images is comparable with those done by Benois for the Queen of spades . The book is rebound in velum and the back shows a detail of the frontispiece painted in watercolours. In all the illustrations show good craftsmanship but lack the vigour that once filled Benois when he and Mir Iskusstva changed the art of early 20th century Russia.   

References:

Kruglov 2001, p. 208

Seslavinskii 2009, pp. 116-119