Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova (; (Лансере); – 19 September 1967) was a Russian painter.

Early life and education

Serebriakova portrait-of-e-solntseva-sister-of-artist-1914

Zinaida Yevgenyevna Lansere was born on on the estate of Neskuchnoye near

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Her father, Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Lansere (1848–1886), was a sculptor. Her mother, Yekaterina Lansere, was a painter and came from the artistic Benois family. Her grandfather, Nicholas Benois, was a prominent architect, chairman of the Society of Architects and member of the Russian Academy of Science. Her uncle, Alexandre Benois, was a painter, founder of the ''

Mir iskusstva ''Mir iskusstva'' ( rus, «Мир искусства», p=ˈmʲir ɪˈskustvə, ''World of Art'') was both a Russian magazine and the artistic movement it fostered, playing a significant role in shaping the Russian avant-garde. The movement was d ...

'' art group. One of Zinaida's brothers, Nikolay Lanceray, was an architect, and her other brother, Yevgeny Lanceray, had an important place in Russian and Soviet art as a master of monumental painting and

graphic art A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional graphics, i.e. produced on a flat surface,Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, director and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received #Awa ...

was also related to her. After her father's death, her mother took Zinaida and the other children to the Benois household in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. There they all grew accustomed to the presence of painters, musicians and other artistic figures. In 1900, Zinaida graduated from a women's gymnasium. In 1901, at the age of 17, she entered the art school founded by Princess Maria Tenisheva and studied with

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...

. From 1902 to 1903, she lived in Italy, and then studied at the studio of Osip Braz in

from 1903 to 1905. Following her marriage to Boris Serebriakov, she studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris from 1905 to 1906. After returning to Saint Petersburg, she joined ''Mir iskusstva''.

Early success

Serebriakova's most famous self-portrait, '' At the Dressing-Table'' (1909,

Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...

), was painted while she was snowed in at her family home and models from a nearby village were unable to travel there. Her brother Yevgeny encouraged Serebriakova to enter the painting in an exhibition mounted by ''

'' in 1910, where it was received with enthusiasm and purchased for the

collection. The self-portrait was followed by ''Girl Bathing'' (1911,

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...

), a portrait of ''Ye.K. Lanceray'' (1911, private collection), and a portrait of the artist's mother ''Yekaterina Lanceray'' (1912, Russian Museum). From 1914 to 1917, Serebriakova produced a series of pictures on the theme of Russian rural life including ''Peasants'' (1914–1915, Russian Museum) and ''Sleeping Peasant Girl'' (private collection). Within a decade of completing her studies, Serebriakova had received recongition from her peers. In 1916, the council of the Imperial Academy of Arts took the first steps in recognizing the achievements of Serebriakova and other women. The council recommended that the title of academician be awarded to Serebriakova,

Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva Anna Petrovna Ostroumova-Lebedeva (, 17 May 1871 — 5 May 1955) was a Russian and Soviet artist and painter most notable for her watercolor painting. She was also one of the pioneers of the woodcut technique in Russia. She was one of the member ...

, Olga Della-Vos-Kardovskaya and Aleksandra Shneyder. However, the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

the following year led to the final vote being cancelled. In 1916, Alexander Benois was commissioned to decorate the Kazan Railway Station in Moscow and he invited Yevgeny Lanceray,

Boris Kustodiev Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev (; – 28 May 1927) was a Russian and later Soviet painter and stage designer. Early life Boris Kustodiev was born in Astrakhan into the family of a professor of philosophy, history of literature, and logic at t ...

, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, and Serebriakova to help him. Serebriakova took on the theme of the

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Japan,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, and

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

are represented allegorically in the form of beautiful women. At the same time, she began compositions on subjects from classical mythology, but these remained unfinished.

Revolution

After the outbreak of the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

in 1917, Serebriakova's life changed. In 1919, her husband Boris died of

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

. She was left without any income, responsible for her four children and her sick mother. All the reserves of Neskuchnoye had been plundered, so the family suffered from hunger. She had to give up oil painting in favour of the less expensive techniques of charcoal and pencil. This was the time of her most tragic painting, ''House of Cards'', which depicts their four fatherless children. She did not want to switch to the Suprematist or Contructivist styles popular in the art of the early Soviet period, nor paint portraits of

commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and ...

s, but she found some work at the Kharkov Archaeological Museum, where she made pencil drawings of the exhibits. In December 1920, she moved to her grandfather’s apartment in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. After the

, inhabitants of private apartments were forced to share them with additional inhabitants, but Serebriakova was lucky – she was quartered with artists from the

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

. Thus, Serebriakova's work during this period focuses on theatre life. Also around this time, Serebriakova's daughter, Tatiana, entered the academy of ballet, and Serebriakova created a series of pastels on the

Mariinsky Theater The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

. She painted a series of portraits of ballerinas after developing an interest in ballet.

Paris

In the autumn of 1924, Serebriakova went to Paris, having received a commission for a large decorative mural. On finishing this work, she intended to return to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, where her mother and the four children remained. However, she was not able to return, and although she was able to bring her children, Alexandre and Catherine, to Paris in 1926 and 1928 respectively, she could not do the same for her two other children, Evgenyi and Tatiana, and did not see them again for many years. After this, Serebriakova traveled a great deal. In 1928 and 1930, she traveled to Africa, visiting

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. During a six-week trip to Morocco in December 1928, she created more than 130 portraits and cityscapes which she called “sketches,” drawn in haste as none of the locals would agree to pose, and only three landscapes for fear of straying too far from Marrakech. She was fascinated by the landscapes of northern Africa and painted the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

, as well as

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

women and

Africans The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each ethnicity generally having their own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Sahara ...

in ethnic clothing. She also painted a cycle devoted to Breton fishermen. The salient feature of her later landscapes and portraits is the artist's own personality — her love of beauty, whether in nature or in people. In 1947, Serebriakova at last took French citizenship, and it was not until Khruschev's Thaw that the Soviet Government allowed her to resume contact with her family in the Soviet Union. In 1960, after 36 years of forced separation, her older daughter, Tatiana (Tata), was finally allowed to visit her. At this time, Tatiana was also working as an artist, painting scenery for the

. Serebriakova's works were finally exhibited in the Soviet Union in 1966, in Moscow,

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, and

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, to great acclaim. Her albums sold by the millions, and she was compared to

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

and Renoir. Serebriakova rejoiced at success in her homeland. However, although she sent about 200 of her works to be shown in the Soviet Union, the bulk of her work remains in France today. Serebriakova died after a brain hemorrhage in Paris on 19 September 1967, at the age of 82. She is buried in Paris, at the Russian cemetery in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.

Personal life

In 1905, she married her first cousin, Boris Serebriakov, the son of Yevgeny's sister, and took his surname; Boris went on to become a railroad engineer. Together, they had four children.

Selected works

File:Serebriaikova veranda-spring.jpg, ''The Veranda in Spring'', watercolor, 1900 File:Zinaida Serebriakova The Shoots of Autumn Crops.jpg, '' The Shoots of Autumn Crops'' (Зеленя осенью), 1908 File:1910. Портрет Ольги Константиновны Лансере.jpg, ''Portrait of Olga Lanceray'', 1910 File:Serebriakova apples-on-the-branches-1910.jpg, ''Apples on the Branches'', 1910 File:1911. Купальщица.jpg, ''Nude'' (Купальщица), 1911 File:Serebryakova Bath house 1913.jpg, ''Bath-house'', 1913 File:Zinaida Serebryakova (1914) At Breakfast.jpg, '' At Breakfast'', 1914

Notes

References

Sources

* *
author's home page
* * *

External links

Brief desc. Cover image and description. Larger cover image showing her signature in Latin script.
bibrec
orbis has two errors: last name, ISBN -->

* ttp://www.russianartgallery.org/famous/serebryakova.htm Serebryakova's works at the Russian Art Gallery
Illustrated description of 2006 auction in Montreal at which four nudes by Serebriakova sold.
br>(Three show her signature in 1930s Paris. Two sold for over $500,000.)

(The following portraits from the above site show her signature in Cyrillic script.)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serebriakova, Zinaida 1884 births 1967 deaths Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery 20th-century Russian painters Russian symbolism Painters from Saint Petersburg Russian Impressionist painters Benois family Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière Russian Orientalist painters 20th-century Russian women artists Soviet emigrants to France Mir iskusstva artists