Art critic and impresario. Writing art criticism was only one of many activities for Diagilev, who organised a series of spectacular exhibitions as well as opera and ballet productions which culminated in the Russian Seasons in Paris. Diagilev arrived in St Petersburg from Perm' in 1890 and joined the informal 'Society of Self-Education' organised by Dmitrii Filosofov, Aleksandr Benua, Konstantin Somov and other young artists and intellectuals who would subsequently form the nucleus of the World of Art group. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of St Petersburg University in 1896, and in the same year published his first exhibition review in the newspaper The News (Novosti). He was one of the chief organisers and editor of the World of Art journal published from 1898 until 1904. The first editorial article signed by Diagilev, but probably written with the assistance of Filosofov, signalled a radical change in Russian aesthetic thought which discarded the utilitarian approach to art and instead turned to aestheticism and contemporary Western art. In addition to numerous articles on current exhibitions and events in the art world, Diagilev studied Russian eighteenth century art which resulted in a monograph on Dmitrii Levitskii published in 1902.
Pseudonyms: Liubitel'; Paspartu.
Complicated Questions (in four parts)
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