André Levinson

Born in St. Petersburg into a Russified middle-class family, André Levinson studied French literature and was appointed lecturer in that field at St. Petersburg University in 1910. At the same time, he made a name in Russian intelligentsia circles for his art reviews and criticism. Beginning in 1911, he turned his critical attention to his true passion, ballet. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Levinson, accompanied by his wife and daughter, moved to Paris, where he found work at the Sorbonne. He also became a ballet critic for French journals and was deemed one of the most important ballet critics, historians, and theorists of his era. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1929.