Alexander Benois on the Russian art of the 18th century

Alexander Benois, like other critics and art historians directly or indirectly associated with the World of Art association, stands at the origins of the discovery of Russian 18th century art culture as a full-fledged creative heritage. In this sense, the views of Benoit and his associates were in opposition to the opinion, prevailing in the second half of the 19th century, that Russian art, starting from the Petrin time and, practically, until the crisis of classicism, represents a break in development and a sad example of senseless imitation of the West. This idea was clearly expressed in the works at the turn of the century, which is especially noticeable in the works of A.P. Novitsky and V.V. Stasov. To this opinion Benoit opposes his concept, based on the recognition of the high importance of art as such, regardless of the value of its official functions. This found a vivid embodiment in his works “Russian Painting of the 19th century” and “The Russian School of Painting”, where A.N. Benois gives a succinct and expressive description of the visual language of Russian and foreign masters of portrait, landscape and historical painting. While recognizing the Russian art of this time as essentially pan-European, he nevertheless does not ignore the problem of national specifics.