Russian artist, member of the World of Art association, one of the first Russian women to enter the history of painting
Zinaida Serebryakova
short biography
Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova(maiden name Lansere; November 28, 1884, Neskuchnoye village, Kursk province - September 19, 1967, Paris, France) - Russian artist, member of the World of Art association, one of the first Russian women to enter the history of painting. Student of Osip Braz.
Family
Zinaida was born on December 10, 1884. In her autobiography, written in response to a letter from a senior researcher at the State Tretyakov Gallery, O. A. Zhivova, Serebryakova indicated her date of birth as December 12, which does not correspond to documented facts and other autobiographies. She spent her childhood in the Neskuchnoye estate in one of the most famous families of art, the Benois-Lansere. Her grandfather, Nikolai Benois, was a famous architect, her father Eugene Lansere was a famous sculptor, and her mother Ekaterina Nikolaevna (1850-1933, daughter of architect Nikolai Benois, sister of architect Leonty Benois and artist Alexander Benois) was a graphic artist in her youth. Nadezhda Leontievna Benois (married Ustinova), Zinaida's cousin, was the mother of the British actor and writer Peter Ustinov - thus, he was Z. E. Lansere's cousin-nephew.
Husband - Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov, who was Zinaida's cousin. Children:
- Serebryakov, Evgeny Borisovich (1906, Neskuchnoye - 1990, Leningrad). Architect, restorer. After 1945, he participated in the restoration of the architectural monuments of Peterhof.
- Serebryakov, Alexander Borisovich (1907, Neskuchnoye - 1995, Paris). He worked on the interior design of museums, shops, mansions, park pavilions; performed decorative panels, monumental paintings.
- Serebryakova, Tatyana Borisovna (1912-1989, Moscow). Theatrical artist. Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
- Serebryakova, Ekaterina Borisovna (1913-2014), artist, founding member and honorary president of the Zinaida Serebryakova Foundation (France).
Paintings by Z. E. Serebryakova with members of her family
B. A. Serebryakov
1913
At breakfast
1914
Youth
In 1900, Zinaida graduated from the women's gymnasium and entered the art school founded by Princess M. K. Tenisheva. In 1903-1905 she was a student of the portrait painter O. E. Braz. In 1902-1903 she travels to Italy. In 1905-1906 he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. In 1905, Zinaida Lansere marries a student and her cousin Boris Serebryakov.
Pre-revolutionary years
As an artist Serebryakova was formed in St. Petersburg. The researchers emphasized "Pushkin and Blok's muses, in the genius of Dostoevsky", associated with the artist's work.
Since her apprenticeship, Z. Lansere has tried to express her love for the beauty of the world. Her early works - "Peasant Girl" (1906, Russian Museum) and "Garden in Bloom" (1908, private collection) - tell about the search for and keen sense of the beauty of the Russian land.
Serebryakova’s self-portrait (“Behind the toilet”, 1909, State Tretyakov Gallery), first shown at the large exhibition “World of Art” in 1910, brought wide fame. The self-portrait was followed by The Bather (1911, Russian Museum), the portrait of E. K. Lansere (1911, private collection) and a portrait of the artist’s mother Ekaterina Lansere (1912, Russian Museum) are mature works and solid in composition. She joined the World of Art society in 1911, but differed from the rest of the group love for simple plots, harmony, plasticity and generalizations in his canvases.
In 1914-1917, the work of Zinaida Serebryakova experienced a flourishing period. During these years, she painted a series of paintings on the themes of folk life, peasant work and the Russian village, which was so close to her heart: "Peasants" (1914-1915, Russian Museum), "Harvest" (1915, Odessa Art Museum) and others.
The most important of these works was The Whitening of the Canvas (1917, State Tretyakov Gallery). The figures of peasant women, captured against the background of the sky, acquire monumentality, emphasized by the low horizon line.
In 1916, Alexander Benois received an order to paint the Kazansky railway station in Moscow, he invites Yevgeny Lansere, Boris Kustodiev, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and Zinaida Serebryakova to take part in the work. Serebryakova took the theme of the East: India, Japan, Turkey and Siam are allegorically represented as beauties. At the same time, she is working on an unfinished painting on the themes of Slavic mythology.
Revolution
Zinaida met the October Revolution in her native Neskuchny estate. In 1919, her husband Boris died of typhus. She is left with four children and a sick mother without a livelihood. Stocks Neskuchny were looted. Due to the lack of oil paints, she has to switch to charcoal and pencil. At this time, she draws a tragic work - "House of Cards", showing all four orphaned children.
She refuses to switch to the futuristic style popular with the Soviets or draw portraits of commissars, but she finds a job at the Kharkov Archaeological Museum, where she pencil sketches the exhibits. In December 1920, Zinaida moved to Petrograd to her grandfather's apartment. Artists of the Moscow Art Theater Theater were settled in this apartment “for compaction”. During this period, she paints on themes from the theatrical life. In 1924, 14 paintings by the artist were successfully shown at an exhibition in New York, among them the painting Sleeping Girl on a Red Blanket (1923) aroused particular interest.
Paris
In the autumn of 1924 Serebryakova went to Paris, having received an order for a large decorative panel. She failed to return, and she was cut off from her homeland and children (two children - Alexander and Catherine - managed to be transported abroad). She lived at that time on a Nansen passport and in 1947 received French citizenship.
In 1928 and 1932 Z. E. Serebryakova went to Morocco. There she paints the Atlas Mountains, Arab women, Africans in bright turbans. She also wrote a series of paintings dedicated to the fishermen of Brittany.
Retrospective exhibition of the great Russian artist in the Tretyakov Gallery - dedicated to
Zinaida Serebryakova became one of the first Russian artists in world art, but she almost did not find her own fame. In her works - motherhood, love for nature and a subtle sense of beauty. Post-revolutionary Russia and the USSR rejected her tender children's portraits and landscapes, and the French society was absorbed by the newfangled art deco and did not accept the talent of this lonely woman. We selected 11 paintings to illustrate the difficult life path of the artist.
1. "Girl with a candle", self-portrait
1911 Oil on canvas. 72×58 cm State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
Zinaida Serebryakova was very good at portraits. The main thing in them is the skillfully conveyed depth of character of each individual person. During the period of forced emigration to France, works in this genre brought the artist at least some livelihood and saved her from starvation.
In the painting “Girl with a Candle”, Zinaida Serebryakova managed not only to create an elegant portrait, but also to anticipate the metaphor of her own life. A young tender girl with a slight blush on her cheeks turned to look at the viewer from the darkness of the canvas surrounding her. An innocent quivering face is illuminated by an invisible candle. It seems that this bright and touching heroine is locked in the gloomy colors of a rectangular frame. But there is neither fear nor doubt in her large, mirror-like, almond-shaped eyes. Only determination and an invitation to go with her, following the light of a candle, through the darkness. And just as this young face glows with some kind of inner spiritual warmth, so did the soul of Serebryakova, who turned out to be a hostage to the sad circumstances of her own fate.
2. “In the meadow. Boring»
1910s Canvas, oil. 62.8 × 84.3 cm. Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum.
Scenes of simple village life are Serebryakova's second creative love. The artist was born and raised in the village of Neskuchnoye, Kharkov province, on the estate of famous artists Benoit-Lansere. It was impossible not to draw in this house: each member of the family chose a creative path for himself and became either a sculptor - like Zinaida's father, or an artist - like an uncle, or an architect - like a brother. They liked to say in the house: "All our children are born with a pencil in their hand." Neskuchnoye itself, surrounded by forests, lands and endless meadows, was not just a building with walls and a roof for the artist's family. The estate became a real family nest, a creative space that breathed and lived with the atmosphere of art and beauty.
Zinaida Serebryakova began to draw from the first years of her life. She lovingly depicted everything that surrounded her: trees, gardens, huts, windows and windmills. Most of all, she was inspired by the purity and richness of natural colors, scenes of bustling peasant life, proximity to the earth and ordinary people. Painting «In the meadow. Boring" depicts a peasant girl - or maybe the artist herself - with a baby in her arms. An idyllic green landscape, a herd of peaceful cows, the quiet Muromka River - these natural beauties of the native land filled the heart of the artist since childhood.
3. "Behind the toilet", self-portrait
1909 Oil on canvas. 75×65 cm State Tretyakov Gallery.
Winter in 1909 came early. 25-year-old Zinaida Serebryakova met her in Neskuchny, where she stayed with her two children. Her husband, engineer Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov, is about to return from a working trip to Siberia in order to celebrate Christmas with his family. In the meantime, Zinaida wakes up alone in a bright room, goes to a mirror lined with women's knick-knacks and begins her morning toilet. It is this self-portrait that will bring her all-Russian fame and become her most significant work.
Clear winter light from the window, a simple tidy room, fresh morning shades - the whole picture sounds like a hymn to simple joy and serenity. Zinaida's uncle, the artist Alexandre Benois, was impressed by this work: “What I find especially sweet about this portrait is that there is no demonism in it, which has recently become street vulgarity. Even a certain sensuality, contained in this image, is of the most innocent, immediate quality. This moment of ecstasy before the future, frozen on the canvas, amazed the guests at the exhibition of the Union of Artists, where the painting first participated in 1910. Pavel Tretyakov immediately purchased the canvas for his gallery. Enthusiastic critics and artists, among whom were Serov, Vrubel and Kustodiev, immediately recognized the outstanding talent of Zinaida Serebryakova and accepted her into their creative circle "World of Art".
In the context of the artist's life, this work is even more important. The young girl in the picture has just woken up and found herself on the threshold of her own life. Is she incredibly curious about what the coming day will bring? What events are about to happen when she finishes combing her hair? Dark penetrating eyes peer into the mirror with interest. Do they foresee future historical catastrophes and broken lines of fate?
4. "Whitening the canvas"
1917 Oil on canvas. 141.8 × 173.6 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery.
After the debut at the exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists in 1910, the work of Zinaida Serebryakova flourished. The monumental canvas "Whitening of the Canvas" was one of the last works of the artist's "golden period" and fully revealed her talent. Zinaida often watched the work of peasant women in Neskuchnoye and, before starting work on the canvas, she made many sketches. The peasants treated the Benoit-Lansere family with great love and respect, and the “good lady” Zinaida Serebryakova often asked village women to be models for her sketches. She always treated their difficult peasant lot with great participation and sympathy.
In the picture, tall, strong women have spread a cloth on the banks of the river and are getting ready for work. Liberated poses, faces flushed from work - these heroines do not even try to pose. The artist seems to have snatched a moment of their daily work and transferred it to the canvas. Sky and earth with a low horizon in the composition of the work are secondary - the figures of girls come to the fore. This whole picture is a hymn, a sublime ode to the daily ritual of ordinary hardworking women, majestic and strong in their simplicity.
5. "At breakfast" (or "At lunch")
1914 Oil on canvas. 88.5 × 107 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery.
More than the beauty of rural life and peasant life, Zinaida Serebriakova was inspired only by her children. The artist had four of them. The painting “At Breakfast” depicts a pensive Zhenya at the far end, seven-year-old Sasha and little daughter Tanya. On the table are the usual cutlery, dishes, a decanter, slices of bread. It would seem that what is significant in this picture?
The maternal, feminine nature of Serebryakova's work manifested itself in this canvas with great force. The closest and beloved people gathered together at the dinner table. The sacrament and comfort of a joint meal reign here. Grandmother, mother of the artist, pours soup into bowls. The children turned towards Zinaida, as if expecting her to join the dinner at any moment. They have beautiful clear faces. This work, recognized as one of the best works of children's portraits, is an image of a happy childhood and the happiest days of Zinaida Serebryakova with her family.
6. “Portrait of B.A. Serebryakova"
1900s. Paper, tempera. 255x260 mm. State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin, Moscow.
In the painting "Portrait of B. A. Serebryakov" - Zinaida's husband, Boris. Perhaps this is one of the most delicate of her works. The love of two young people was born very early and ended very early. Boris often traveled around the country with orders for the construction of railways. At the age of 39, he died of typhus in the arms of his wife. In 1919, the artist was left alone with four children. The revolution had just died down, and gloomy changes were approaching.
In the upper right corner of the portrait is the signature: “Borechka. Boring. November". The Neskuchnoye family estate became that piece of paradise where the lovers spent the happiest years of their lives. Calm, balanced and very earthy, Boris Serebryakov had a technical mindset and was far from the ideals of art, which his chosen one breathed from childhood. What could unite him and a shy, unsociable girl from the creative world? It was the love of the land, their roots and the simple life. The years spent with her beloved husband and children in Neskuchny became a heavenly time, a golden age in the artist's life. After his death, she was no longer married. His departure and the misfortunes that began in the country put an end to that beautiful serene era.
7. House of Cards
1919 Oil on canvas. 65 × 75.5 cm. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
This picture is the saddest and most disturbing in the work of Serebryakova. She became a symbol of the fragility and insecurity of the life that the artist had to say goodbye forever after the death of her husband. On the canvas are four children of Zinaida, dressed in gloomy mourning clothes. They are concentrating on building a house of cards. Their faces are serious, and the game does not cause joy. Perhaps because they understand that one random movement is enough for the house of cards to crumble.
In this canvas, Zinaida Serebryakova, still shaken by recent events, again tries to pick up a brush. She remains the only breadwinner for four children and an aging mother. The Neskuchnoye family estate was looted and burned. Hunger sets in, and it becomes unimaginably difficult to find any money or food. In these difficult months, the artist has only one task - to survive. She begins to realize: you can build happiness for a long time and reverently, but to lose it, just a moment is enough. Very soon this moment will overtake Serebryakova and finally tear her away from the only thing she has left.
8. "In the ballet dressing room Swan Lake"
1924 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
In 1920, Zinaida Serebryakova and her family were forced to move from the ruined family nest to Petrograd and live in the former apartment of Benois. On her luck, the artists of the Moscow Art Theater come here according to the distribution, and life for a short moment is again filled with an atmosphere of art and joy. The eldest daughter Tatyana entered the ballet school, and from 1920 to 1924 Serebriakova was often invited backstage at the Mariinsky Theater. There she eagerly catches the last notes of romantic aesthetics, which is about to be swallowed up by futurism striding through the world of art. The artist flatly refuses to paint portraits of commissars and draw propaganda posters. She herself wrote of that period: "Potato husk cutlets were a delicacy for lunch." A few customers paid for the work with products, not money. Despite all this, Zinaida did not leave the brush and gave the world many portraits of famous ballerinas and artists of that time.
9. "Self-portrait with daughters"
1921 Oil on canvas. 90 × 62.3 cm. Rybinsk State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve.
In 1924 Serebryakova was invited to Paris to make an expensive decorative panel. Zinaida prepares documents, says goodbye to the children and leaves to work in France. In the picture, daughters Tanya and Katya are snuggling snugly against their mother. Could they suspect that they would part with her not for months, but for years?
First there was a panel, and then emptiness. Serebryakova was on the sidelines. Shy, a stranger in a foreign country, she literally begged because of the lack of demand for her paintings. Money for portraits ran out even before the work was completed. Everything that she managed to get, the artist sent to Russia for children who missed her immensely. The eldest Tatyana described their parting as follows: “I lost my temper, rushed to the tram and ran to the pier, when the ship had already begun to leave and my mother was out of reach. I almost fell into the water, my friends picked me up. Mom thought that she was leaving for a while, but my despair was boundless, I seemed to feel that for a long time, for decades, I would part with my mother.
The artist also recalled this period of her life in France with longing: “How I dream and want to leave. My income is so small.<...>My whole life has passed in anticipation, in aching annoyance and reproach to myself that I parted with you.
10. “Collioure. Katya on the terrace
1930 Tempera on canvas. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
Between the USSR and the Western world, the "iron curtain" was gradually lowering, and the hope of seeing children again was fading away every day. Serebryakova was still trying to find a way to settle down in Paris, but her aging mother, who remained in Russia with her children, was already in need of help. And the return to the Motherland that rejected her did not promise a pleasant meeting. Therefore, with the assistance of the Red Cross, the artist writes two children to France: Sasha and Katya. It would be hard to ask for more support. Sasha takes orders all the time and paints the interiors of rich houses in Paris. Katya is fully responsible for the household and unloads her mother as much as possible.
Zinaida Serebryakova traveled several times to different regions of France in order to gain inspiration for new works. There was catastrophically little money, and she and her daughter stayed either with relatives, or in monasteries, or with local residents. The painting "Collioure. Katya on the Terrace” was made during one of these trips. It was the daughter who became the main model in the portraits of Zinaida, and in life - a reliable support that supported her until the end of her days. Ekaterina Serebryakova dedicated her life to serving her mother's talent. It was thanks to her efforts that the artist's paintings returned to Russia and were presented to the general public for the first time.
11. Self portrait
1956 Oil on canvas. 63x54 cm. Tula Regional Art Museum.
This self-portrait was one of the last works of Zinaida Serebryakova. During the Khrushchev thaw, the artist's children, who remained in Russia, were finally able to meet her. In 1960, daughter Tatyana went to France and hugged her mother for the first time in 36 years.
The only lifetime exhibition of Serebryakova's paintings in her homeland took place in 1965, shortly before her death. Unfortunately, Zinaida herself no longer felt the strength to come, but she was happy with this event, which, like a thread, connected her with long-abandoned lands and people.
The "house of cards" of her life really collapsed. Beautiful children grew up without her, although they became artists and architects, as always happened in the Benoit-Lansere family. The wonderful estate burned down, and the peasant voices fell silent forever - they were replaced by the roar of industrialization and Soviet anthems. However, in Serebryakova's canvases, that beautiful age forever remained, into which her deep almond-shaped eyes peered through the reflection in the mirror. The world that her restless hands painted with homemade paints.
The artist's contemporaries treated her with unforgivable carelessness, but this still did not make her change herself and her work. In a letter to children from Paris, Zinaida says: “How terrible that contemporaries almost never understand that real art cannot be “fashionable” or “unfashionable”, and require constant “updating” from artists, but in my opinion, the artist should remain by itself!"
For referenceYou can see the artist's paintings live from April 5 to July 30 at the Tretyakov Gallery at the Zinaida Serebryakova retrospective exhibition, the general sponsor of which is VTB Bank.
Serebryakova Z. E.
Zinaida Lansere, Serebryakov's husband, was born near Kharkov. She was destined to give birth to four children, become a widow, change Kharkov to Petrograd, and then to Paris, and there settle down in the cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois.
She was born and raised in a family where more than one generation worshiped art. Great-great-grandfather Caterino Cavos - originally from Italy, musician, author of operas, symphonies; great-grandfather, Albert Cavos - architect; native grandfather - Nikolai Benois - architect, academician. Zinaida's father is the famous sculptor Nikolai Lansere.
After the death of her father, Zina lived with her grandfather, Nikolai Benois, where a creative atmosphere reigned, and the atmosphere of the house was permeated with the spirit of art. The dining room was decorated with paintings painted by her mother, a student of the Academy of Arts. The rooms were furnished with antique furniture made by old masters. Famous people gathered in the house: Bakst, Somov, Diaghilev and others.
Zina herself loved to draw since childhood. She never thoroughly studied drawing anywhere: only two months in a private drawing school under the guidance of I. Repin, she studied for two years in the workshop of O.E. Braz. But she was so good at learning, absorbing everything useful, and already at the age of 17 she easily learned to work with watercolors in two or three colors, to achieve purity and beauty of tone.
For health reasons, in 1901 she was taken to Italy, where she enthusiastically and a lot painted mountain landscapes with rich vegetation, the sea with coastal stones, narrow, sun-drenched streets, houses, interiors of rooms.
In 1905, Zina married a railway engineer Serebryakov and went with him on a honeymoon trip to Paris. There she entered the school-workshop, where she worked hard, imitating the Impressionists. But besides the streets and houses of Paris, she was interested in the life of the peasants, sketched cattle, carts, sheds.
Returning to Moscow, Zinaida writes a lot, especially likes to paint portraits. She was described in magazines as having a "big, colorful temperament". She began to exhibit among already well-known painters, and she was noticed. Later, A. Benois wrote about the exhibition of Serebryakova's works: "... she gave the Russian public such a wonderful gift, such a" smile in her mouth "that one cannot help but thank her..."
In the paintings of Serebryakova, complete immediacy and simplicity, a true artistic temperament, something resonant, young, laughing, sunny and clear were noted. All her works amaze with vitality, innate skill. And village boys, and students, and rooms, and fields - everything at Serebryakova comes out bright, living her own life and sweet.
Before the First World War, the artist visited Italy, Switzerland, where she painted many landscapes. She returned home in the summer of 1914, where she was met by gloomy and bewildered male faces, wailing soldiers and roaring girls.
In 1916, Alexander Benois was offered to paint the Kazansky railway station in Moscow, then he attracted recognized masters - Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Boris Kustodiev, and Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova was among these chosen ones.
In 1918, the Neskuchnoye estate, where the Serebryakovs lived, burned down. The family moved to Kharkov. Boris Anatolyevich, Zinaida's husband, contracted typhus in 1919 and died.
The Serebryakovs lived poorly, sometimes on the verge of poverty. The artist was forced to earn extra money by drawing visual aids. A joyless life dragged on. Then the Serebryakovs moved to St. Petersburg, settled in the empty apartment of their grandfather N.L. Benois. At least somehow to live, the artist enters the service in the workshop of visual aids for a beggarly salary.
In the meantime, in 1924, there was an exhibition of Serebryakova in America, at which about 150 paintings were sold. At the time, it was very big money, especially in the destroyed Land of the Soviets. Settled in Paris with his family, Alexander Benois called them to them. Moreover, she received an order for a panel from Paris. What will the mother of four children living in the "travel restricted" Soviet Union do? Will he leave them and rush to France? Or will he still stay with them? In addition to the children, Serebryakova also has a sick mother in her arms. Livelihood - zero.
Serebryakova decided to go. Biographers say: "Later she repented and wanted to return to Russia, even to the USSR. But she did not succeed." But why didn't it work? Or did you still not want to? For example, Marina Tsvetaeva succeeded. Zinaida Serebryakova - no. Although her older brother, Yevgeny Lansere, a Soviet professor, came to her in France. He worked in Tbilisi and was sent to Paris by the decision of the People's Commissariat for Education of Georgia. They managed to send two children to her in France, two more remained in Russia - Serebryakova would see one of her daughters only after 36 years, during the Khrushchev thaw.
France did not bring Serebryakova happiness. There was little money, she lived an almost impoverished life. She sent pennies to the children. And she repented very much of her decision to leave Russia. And the creativity of the period of emigration was not so bright, splashing colors, temperament. All the best is at home.
Winter in Tsarskoye Selo (1911)
Whitening of the canvas (1916-17)
Behind the toilet. Self portrait (1908-1909)
Self-portrait in a white blouse (1922)
Self-portrait dressed as Pierrot (1911)
Bath
Brittany, Pont-l-Abbé (1934)
Countess St. Hippolyte, nee Princess Trubetskaya (1942)
Katya with dolls (1923)
Basket of flowers
Bather (1911)
Nun from Cassis (1928)
Switzerland
On the terrace in Kharkov (1919)
Still life with vegetables (1936)
Boring. Fields (1912)
Nanny (1908-1909)
Peasant woman putting on shoes (1915)
Sunlit (1928)
Beach
Portrait of A. A. Cherkesova-Benoit (1938)
Portrait of Serebryakov. (1922)
Portrait of a ballerina L.A. Ivanova. (1922)
Portrait of E. N. Heidenreich in blue
Portrait of Natasha Lansere with a cat (1924)
Portrait of O. I. Rybakova in childhood (1923)
Portrait of Olga Konstantinovna Lansere (1910)
Portrait on blue
Bird Yard (1910)
Market at Pont-l-Abbé (1934)
Snowflakes (1923)
Sleeping girl on blue (Katyusha on a blanket) 1923
Sleeping peasant woman
Tata and Katya
Terrace at Collioure
At dinner (1914)
Zinaida Serebryakova (1884 - 1967) was waiting for a happy life. A beautiful and kind girl. She married for great love. She gave birth to four healthy children.
Joyful everyday life of a happy mother and wife. Which had the opportunity to be realized. After all, she, like many children in the Lansere-Benoit family, painted from early childhood.
But everything began to crumble in 1917. She was 33 years old. The beautiful world turned into a series of hardships and suffering.
Why Serebryakova did not fit into the new era? What forced her to leave for Paris forever? Why would she be separated from her children for 36 years? And recognition will come to her only a year before her death in 1966?
Here are 7 paintings by the artist that will tell us about her life.
1. Behind the toilet. 1909
Zinaida Serebryakova. In front of a mirror (self-portrait). 1910 State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. wikipedia.orgUnusual self-portrait. The girl is reflected in the mirror. We understand this by the double candle. White underwear. White color in the interior. Women's trinkets in front of a mirror. Pink blush. Big eyes and spontaneous smile.
Everything is so charming and fresh. It's like an allegory of carefree youth. When the mood is good even in the morning. When a day full of pleasant worries lies ahead. And there is so much beauty and health in stock that it will last for many more years.
Zinaida Serebryakova was a sickly and withdrawn child in her childhood. But her childhood thinness turned into a graceful figure. And isolation - in a modest and benevolent character.
Her friends noted that she always looked younger than her years. And at 40, and at 50, she almost did not change outwardly.
Self-portraits by Z. Serebryakova (aged 39 and 53).
The self-portrait “In front of the mirror” was written in the happy years of his life. She married her cousin, with whom she was deeply in love. She has already given birth to two boys. Life went on as usual in their family estate Neskuchnoe.
2. At breakfast. 1914
Zinaida Serebryakova. At breakfast. 1914 State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Art-catalog.ruThere are three children of Serebryakova in the picture. Zhenya buried his nose in the glass. Sasha turned around. Tanya also looks attentively, putting the pen on the plate. The fourth child, Katya, is still in the arms of a nurse. She is too small to sit at a common table.
Why is the picture called "At Breakfast"? After all, on the table we see a tureen.
Before the revolution, it was customary to have two breakfasts. One was light. The second one is more satisfying. Which later became known as lunch.
The plot of the picture is very simple. It's like a photograph was taken. The hand of a grandmother pouring soup. View of the table from above, from the height of an adult. Immediate reactions of children.
There is no husband at the table. He is a travel engineer. And at that time he was on a business trip in Siberia. On the construction of the railway.
3. Whitening of the canvas. 1917
Zinaida Serebryakova. Canvas bleaching. 1917 State Tretyakov Gallery. Artchive.ruIn the 1910s Serebryakova created a series of works with peasants. who worked on her estate. She got up very early and ran with paints in the field. To make sketches from nature.
Serebryakova was an aesthete. Simple women are all beautiful. Passing the images through themselves, they came out of her purified and clear. Even the most ordinary person became special. The most unsightly thing is amazing.
Her paintings were in striking contrast with the works of other artists. At that time, they admired the luxurious Vrubel and the extraordinary Chagall.
Left: . 1890 State Tretyakov Gallery. On right: . Birthday. 1915 Museum of Modern Art, New York
Among these bright, expressive images, unpretentious peasant women Serebryakova stood apart. But she was still appreciated. And even awarded the title of academician in early 1917.
But a life full of recognition and prosperity will soon collapse. Like a house of cards.
4. House of cards. 1919
Serebryakova Zinaida. House of cards. 1919 Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Artchive.ruThis is one of the saddest pictures of Serebryakova. There is no extravaganza of light colors on it. Only sad children. Fragile house of cards. And even a lying doll acquires an ominous meaning. A tragedy occurred in the life of Serebryakova ...
Outside in 1919. The peasants crowded up to the owners' house. They decided to warn Zinaida that things were really bad. Nearly all estates were plundered around. And in which case, they will be unable to protect the hostess with the children.
Serebryakova put the children and mother on the cart. They left forever. In a few days the estate will be set on fire.
There was no news of her husband for a whole year. He was in prison. On the way home, he catches typhoid fever. And quickly fade away in the arms of his wife.
Serebryakova was monogamous. Even then, she realized that her happy life was over forever. She will never marry again.
5. Snowflakes. 1923
Zinaida Serebryakova. Ballet restroom. Snowflakes (ballet The Nutcracker). 1923 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Artchive.ruSerebryakova had four children and an aging mother in her arms. I had to feed my family. And she decided to move to Petersburg. Hoping to make money there.
She often painted ballerinas at the Mariinsky Theater. In the theater, which was once designed by her great-grandfather.
Ballerinas are not depicted on stage. And backstage. Correcting hair or pointe shoes. Another photo effect. A moment in the life of beautiful, elegant girls.
But in St. Petersburg, the work brought her mere pennies. Her paintings did not fit into the new era.
Artists were required to retrain as poster artists and designers of Soviet life. The advanced Stepanova and Rodchenko willingly obeyed the call “Artist to production”.
Left: Varvara Stepanova. Sportswear project. 1923 Right: Alexander Rodchenko. Poster “The best nipples were not and are not.” 1923
Poverty haunted the family. Serebryakova decided to go to work in Paris. I thought for a couple of months. But it turned out, forever.
6. Illuminated by the sun. 1928
Serebryakova Zinaida. Illuminated by the sun. 1928 Kaluga State Museum. Avangardism.ruIn Paris, things went well at first. She painted portraits to order.
However, Serebryakova lacked the ability to defend her interests. She gave portraits or sold them for a penny, just to win the sympathy of wealthy clients. Many have taken advantage of this generosity. As a result, she worked almost at a loss. Got out. I made homemade paints. To keep going.
One day, good luck. Baron Brower ordered a panel for Serebryakova for his mansion. He liked the work of the artist so much that he even sponsored her trip to Marrakech. Where she gained incredible impressions.
There, her masterpiece “Illuminated by the Sun” was written. Incredible picture feeling. The heat from which the air “melts” and hurts the eyes. In contrast with the dark skin of a smiling Moroccan woman.
It is amazing that the picture was written in 30 minutes! The Quran forbids people from posing. Therefore, Serebryakova worked at phenomenal speed to complete the drawing in half an hour. Moroccan models did not agree to more of her.
But vivid impressions only temporarily muffled the heartache. The Soviet authorities allowed only two of her children, Sasha and Katya (youngest son and youngest daughter) to be released from the country.
The two remaining children, the eldest Zhenya and Tatyana, were never released for unknown reasons. She will see them only 36 years later.
7. Sleeping model. 1941
Zinaida Serebryakova. Sleeping model. 1941 Kiev Museum of Russian Art. Gallerix.ruIn Paris, Zinaida created a lot of nudes. They are written in neoclassical style. Like the old masters. Her nudes are like or Giorgione. Beautiful. Delicate. Pinkskins.
There was not a drop of Russian blood in Serebryakova. She was French by origin (nee Lansere). But in France, she felt Russian. Didn't make friends with anyone. Worked around the clock.
In addition, she was again out of fashion. Art Deco style ruled the ball.
Left: Tamara Lempicka. Self-portrait in green Baghetti. 1929 Private collection. Right: Jean Dupas. A woman in a fur coat. 1929 Private collection.
As her daughter Katya recalls, there were many artists around who followed fashion. Brush up and down. They call it something special. And they sell.
Serebryakova could not agree to this. But what about the details? How is the color? And stubbornly painted her classic nudes. It's rare to be able to sell.
One joy. After the war, her children were allowed to visit their mother. Daughter Tatyana was already 48 years old. She recalls that she easily recognized her mother. She hasn't changed much. Same bangs, same smile...
Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova (maiden name Lansere) was born on November 28, 1884 in the family estate of Neskuchnoye, in the Kursk province, in one of the most famous families of the Benois-Lancere art. Her grandfather, Nikolai Benois, was a famous architect, and her father, Eugene Lansere, was a famous sculptor. Mother came from the Benois family, she and her sister, Alexandra Benois, were graphic artists in their youth. One of her brothers, Nikolai, was an architect, the other, Evgeny, played an important role in the history of Russian and Soviet art of monumental painting and graphics. Zinaida owes her artistic development primarily to her uncle Alexander Benois, mother's brother and older brother.
The artist spent her childhood and youth in St. Petersburg in the house of her grandfather, the architect N. L. Benois, and in the Neskuchny estate. Zinaida's attention was always attracted by the work of young peasant girls in the field. Subsequently, this is reflected more than once in her work. To draw a lot, forgetting about everything, she began at a young age. Favorite childhood hobby has become a vocation. Yes, and Zina could not help but become an artist - her path seemed to be predetermined from birth: the girl grew up in a family where everyone was creative. Zina re-read rare books on art from a huge home library several times. All relatives were engaged in creative work: they painted, went to sketches. Growing up, Zina worked in a studio under the guidance of the famous painter Ilya Repin. The student copied the Hermitage canvases with talent, and greatly appreciated this occupation, because the works of the old masters of the brush taught her a lot. In 1886, after the death of his father, the family moved from the estate to St. Petersburg. All family members were busy with creative activities, Zina also painted with enthusiasm. In 1900, Zinaida graduated from the women's gymnasium and entered the art school founded by Princess M. K. Tenisheva. In 1902-1903, during a trip to Italy, she created many sketches and studies.
Self-portrait 1900
In 1905, she marries Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov, her cousin. Later, 21-year-old Zinaida, already married, studied painting in Paris, where in October 1905 she left with her mother. Here Zinaida attends the Academy de la Grande Chaumière, works hard, draws from nature. Soon they were joined by the artist's husband Boris Serebryakov, a travel engineer. They were close relatives to each other - cousins and sisters, so they had to fight for their happiness, as relatives prevented marriage between blood relatives.
Self-portrait 1907
After France, the young artist usually spent summer and autumn in Neskuchny - she painted portraits of peasant women, and left for St. Petersburg for the winter. Happy for the creative development of Zinaida was 1909, when she stayed longer at the estate. In Neskuchny, Zinaida works hard - she creates sketches, portraits and landscapes. In the very first works of the artist, it is already possible to discern her own style, to determine the circle of her interests. In 1910, Zinaida Serebryakova was waiting for real success.
Portrait of Olga Konstantinovna Lansere 1910
Self-portrait 1910
Self-portrait in a scarf 1911
Bather 1911
In 1910, at the 7th exhibition of Russian artists in Moscow, the Tretyakov Gallery acquired a self-portrait "Behind the Toilet" and gouache "Green in Autumn". Her landscapes are magnificent - pure, bright tones of colors, the perfection of technology, the unprecedented beauty of nature.
Behind the toilet. Self-portrait 1909
Family portrait 1914
Self-portrait 1914
The flowering of the artist's work occurs in 1914-1917. Zinaida Serebryakova created a series of paintings dedicated to the Russian village, peasant labor and Russian nature - "Peasants", "Sleeping Peasant Woman".
In the painting "Whitening of the Canvas", Serebryakova's bright talent as a muralist was revealed.
Peasants 1914
Peasant woman putting on shoes, 1915
Peasant woman with rolls of canvas on her shoulder and in her hands, 1916-1917
Peasant Woman Spreading Canvas 1916-1917
Narcissus and Nymph Echo. Etude 1916-1917
Nude. Sketch: 1916-1917
Bathing 1917
Diana and Actaeon 1916-1917
In 1916, A. N. Benois was entrusted with painting the Kazansky railway station in Moscow, he also attracted Zinaida to work. The artist took up the theme of the countries of the East: India, Japan, Turkey. She allegorically represented these countries in the form of beautiful women. At the same time, she began work on compositions on the themes of ancient myths. Self-portraits occupy a special role in the work of Zinaida Serebryakova.
India 1916
Japan (Odalisque) 1916, Siam 1916
Turkey (Two odalisques) 1916, Turkey, 1915-1916
During the civil war, Zinaida's husband was on a survey in Siberia, and she and her children were in Neskuchny. It seemed impossible to move to Petrograd, and Zinaida went to Kharkov, where she found work in the Archaeological Museum. Her family estate in "Neskuchny" burned down, all her works perished. Boris later died. After burying her husband, Zinaida was left alone in charge of a large family, consisting of a mother in poor health and four children. In the autumn of 1920, she received an invitation to transfer to the Petrograd Department of Museums and accepted it, but life did not become easier. In her diary, the widow wrote with anguish about the everyday hardships that befell her, a depressed state of mind. All these years the artist lived in constant thoughts about her husband. She painted four portraits of her husband, which are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Novosibirsk Art Gallery. Zinaida's daughter Tatyana began to study ballet. Zinaida, together with her daughter, visit the Mariinsky Theater, they also go backstage. In the theater, Zinaida constantly painted. In 1922, she created a portrait of D. Balanchine in a Bacchus costume. The family is going through hard times. Serebryakova tried to paint paintings to order, but she did not succeed. She loved to work with nature. Creative communication with ballerinas over the course of three years was reflected in an amazing series of ballet portraits and compositions.
Nude 1920
Self-portrait in red 1921
Portrait of Tata dressed as Harlequin 1921
Blue Ballerinas 1922
Portrait of G. M. Balanchivadze (J. Balanchine) in the costume of Bacchus, 1922
Galina Teslenko, a colleague of the artist, became a friend of the artist for many years. “You are so young, loved, appreciate this time,” Serebryakova told her in 1922. “Oh, it’s so bitter, so sad to realize that life is already behind us ...”.
Unusually emotional by nature, she sharply reacted to everything that happened around, took sorrow and joy to heart. Contemporaries noted her amazingly sincere attitude to people and events, she responded vividly to requests, appreciated kindness in people, admired everything beautiful, and hated evil.
Anna Akhmatova 1922
Nude 1923
Portrait of a ballerina E.N. Heidenreich in red 1923
In the first years after the revolution, a lively exhibition activity began in the country. In 1924 Serebryakova became an exhibitor of a large exhibition of Russian fine arts in America. All the paintings presented to her were sold. With the proceeds, she decides to go to Paris to arrange an exhibition and receive orders. As it turned out, she left the country forever. The two children of the artist remained in Russia, and the elders Alexander and Ekaterina came to their mother in 1925 and 1928. The artist met her daughter Tatyana 36 years later, when she came to visit her mother in Paris. But even in a foreign land it was not possible to get rid of want, and here life remained difficult. The years spent in Paris did not bring her joy and creative satisfaction. No matter how hard the Russian artist worked, her earnings were too small to keep up with prices. She yearned for her homeland, sought to reflect her love for her in her paintings. Her first exhibition took place only in 1927. She sent the money she earned to her mother and children.
Resting black woman. Marrakesh 1928
“Life now seems to me a meaningless fuss and a lie - now everyone’s brains are very clogged, and now there is nothing sacred in the world, everything is ruined, debunked, trampled into the dirt,” the artist wrote. In the mid-30s, Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova was going to return to her homeland. But it turned out not to be fate: at first, the paperwork was delayed, then the move was made impossible by the Second World War and the occupation of Paris.
Allegory of summer 1936-1937
In 1961, two Soviet artists, S. Gerasimov and D. Shmarinov, visited her in Paris. Later in 1965, they arrange an exhibition for her in Moscow.
In 1966, the last, large exhibition of Serebryakova's works took place in Leningrad and Kyiv.
Children and Russian artists called her to return, but the old artist was already seriously ill, and after two surgeries, she did not dare to move. Yes, and her son and daughter, who also became artists, she did not want to leave abroad. “In general, I often regret that I drove so hopelessly far from my own,” she wrote back in 1926. And with bitterness she summed up her life: “Nothing came out of my life here, and I often think that I did an irreparable thing, breaking away from the soil ...”. Z.E.
Serebryakova died at the age of 82 in Paris, in September 1967. A few years before her death, the artist's friends and children organized an exhibition in Russia, and for many - not only compatriots - it became a discovery of genuine Russian talent.
