Alexandre Benois.

Artistic lineage defined Alexandre Benois’s childhood. His father Nicholas Benois designed the Imperial Mariinsky Opera House, and his brothers Leon and Albert were professional artists. The family’s private four-story mansion next to the Mariinsky Theatre gave him a front-row seat to the arts. He was born on April 21, 1870 in St. Petersburg, into a family of Italian, Russian and French ancestry.

He studied art at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, then pursued law at Imperial St. Petersburg University. There he formed a lifelong friendship with fellow student Sergei Diaghilev, with whom he would later create the Mir Iskusstva art movement and the Ballets Russes.

Benois collaborated with Diaghilev on art exhibitions from 1899 to 1907, organizing the first international art show of Scandinavian and Russian artists in 1900. The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre employed him as scenic director from 1901 to 1905. In 1909 he co-founded the Ballets Russes, designing sets for productions including Petruchka with music by Igor Stravinsky, Giselle by Adolphe Adam, and Les Sylphides choreographed by Mikhail Fokin.

At the Moscow Art Theatre, he worked with Stanislavsky. He curated paintings at the Hermitage Museum from 1918 to 1926. After fleeing the Russian Revolution, he continued collaborating with Diaghilev in Paris, publishing over 100 art books and designing for about 200 ballets and operas worldwide.

Anna Karlovna Kind married Benois; the couple had two children: Nicola Benois, who became a painter and designer for La Scala Opera in Milan, and Helene Clement Benois. His brother Albert was a prominent watercolorist, and his niece Nadia Benois worked in film and theatre in London. Other notable artistic relatives include his niece Zinaida Serebryakova and nephew Eugene Lanceray, both artists in Paris, as well as his grand-nephew Sir Peter Ustinov, an Academy Award-winning British actor.

Benois’s work on the Ballets Russes from 1909 onward revolutionized stage design. He published the first comprehensive History of Russian Painting in 1904 and conducted research on the court of Louis XIV, discovering the memoirs of the Count de Saint-Simon. His family legacy continued through his son Nicola and grand-nephew Peter Ustinov. Benois is most remembered as the co-founder of the Ballets Russes and the designer of some of the most influential ballet productions of the 20th century.