Albert Nikolayevitch Benois

Albert Nikolayevitch Benois (; – 16 May 1936) was a Russian painter and art teacher who specialized in watercolor landscapes. Biography His father was the architect, Nicholas Benois. He graduated from secondary school in 1871, then attended the Imperial Academy of Arts and took private watercolor lessons from Luigi Premazzi. In 1877, he graduated with the title of "Artist-Architect", first-degree, and took up watercolor painting. In 1880, he was one of the founding members of the "". From 1883 to 1885, he travelled through Italy, France and Spain. He earned the title of "Academician" in 1884, for two of his works from Italy. From 1876 to 1886, he was married to a Swiss pianist named Maria Kind (1855-1909), but divorced her after she had an affair with the composer, Sergei Taneyev. He became a member of the Imperial Academy in 1890 and was appointed a professor of watercolors in 1894; a position he held until 1905. He also served on the academy's governing board. In 1895, he was appointed a curator at the Russian Museum. In 1903, he began working as co-editor at the art journal, Mir Iskusstva. During times off from teaching, he continued to travel; visiting North Africa and taking a trip through Siberia, Manchuria, Korea and Japan, among other places. He became Director of the Museum of Applied Arts (operated by the People's Commissariat of Trade and Industry) in 1918. Two years later, he accompanied an expedition by the Petrograd Institute of Geology to the northern coast where he produced a series of paintings.