Zinaida Serebryakova, a Russian artist who became famous at the beginning of the 20th century for her self-portrait, lived a long and eventful life, most of which took place in exile in Paris. Now, in connection with the holding of a huge exhibition of her works at the Tretyakov Gallery, I want to remember and tell about her difficult life, about the ups and downs, about the fate of her family.
Zinaida Serebryakova: biography, first successes in painting
She was born in 1884 in the famous art family of Benoit-Lansere, which became famous for several generations of sculptors, artists, architects and composers. Her childhood was spent in a wonderful creative atmosphere in the circle of a large family, surrounding her with tenderness and care.
The family lived in St. Petersburg, and for the summer always moved to the Neskuchnoe estate near Kharkov. Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova studied painting privately, first with Princess Tenishcheva in St. Petersburg, then with portrait painter O. Braz. She later continued her education in Italy and France.
Upon returning from Paris, the artist enters the World of Art society, which unites artists of those times, later called the Silver Age. The first success came to her in 1910, after showing his self-portrait “Behind the Toilet” (1909), immediately bought by P. Tretyakov for the gallery.
The picture shows a beautiful young woman who stands in front of a mirror, doing morning toilet. Her eyes look friendly at the viewer, next to the table are women’s little things: perfume bottles, a casket, beads, an unlit candle. In this work, the face and eyes of the artist are still full of joyful youth and the sun, they express a bright emotional life-affirming mood.
Marriage and children
With her chosen one, she spent all her childhood and youth, constantly communicating in both Neskuchny and St. Petersburg with the family of her relatives Serebryakov. Boris Serebryakov was her cousin, since childhood they loved each other and dreamed of getting married. However, this did not work out for a long time because of the church’s disagreement on closely related marriages. And only in 1905, after an agreement with the local priest (for 300 rubles), relatives could arrange a wedding for them.
The interests of the newlyweds were completely opposite: Boris was preparing to become an engineer of railways, he liked risk and even went to practice in Manchuria during the Russian-Japanese war, and Zinaida Serebryakova was fond of painting. However, they had very tender and strong love relationships, bright plans for a future life together.
Their life together began with a year-long trip to Paris , where the artist continued to study painting at the Academy de la Grand Chaumiere, and Boris studied at the Higher School of Bridges and Roads.
Returning to Neskuchnoye, the artist is actively working on landscapes and portraits, and Boris continues his studies at the Institute of Railways and is engaged in housekeeping. They had four weather children: first two sons, then two daughters. During these years, many works have been devoted to her children, which reflect all the joys of motherhood and growing up babies.
The famous painting “At Breakfast” paints a family feast in the house where love and happiness live, portrays children at the table, surrounding household trifles. The artist also paints portraits of her own and her husband, sketches of economic life in Neskuchny, draws local peasant women in the works “Canvas Whitening”, “Harvest”, etc. painters.
Revolution and hunger
The revolutionary events of 1917 reached Neskuchny, bringing fire and disaster. The estate of Serebryakov was burned down by the “fighters of the revolution”, but the artist herself and the children managed to leave it with the help of local peasants, who warned her and even gave her a few bags of wheat and carrots. Serebryakov move to Kharkov to grandmother. Boris during these months worked as a specialist in roads, first in Siberia, then in Moscow.
Not receiving any news from her husband, greatly worrying about him, Zinaida Serebryakova goes to look for him, leaving the children with her mother. However, after their reunion on the road, Boris contracted typhus and died in the arms of a loving wife. Zinaida is left alone with 4 children and an elderly mother in a hungry Kharkov. She moonlights in the archaeological museum, making sketches of prehistoric skulls and buying food for the children for this money.
Tragic “House of Cards”
The painting “House of Cards” by Zinaida Serebryakova was painted several months after the death of her husband Boris, when the artist was starving to live with children and her mother in Kharkov, and became the most tragic among her works. Serebryakova herself perceived the name of the picture as a metaphor for her own life.
It was painted with oil paints, which were the last in that period, because all the money was spent on not starving the family. Life fell apart like a house of cards. And in front of the artist there were no prospects in her creative and personal life, the main thing at that time was to save and feed the children.
Life in Petrograd
In Kharkov, there was neither money, nor orders for works on painting, so the artist decides to move the whole family to Petrograd, closer to relatives and cultural life. She is invited to work in the Petrograd Museum Department to become a professor at the Academy of Arts, and in December 1920 the whole family already lives in Petrograd. However, she refused to teach in order to work in her workshop.
Serebryakova paints portraits, views of Tsarskoye Selo and Gatchina. However, her hopes for a better life did not come true: there was also hunger in the Northern capital, and even had to peel potatoes.
Rare customers helped Zinaida feed and raise children, daughter Tanya began to study choreography at the Mariinsky Theater. Young ballerinas, who posed for the artist, constantly came to their house. So a whole series of ballet paintings and compositions was created, in which young sylphs and ballerinas are shown, dressing for the stage in the play.
In 1924, the revival of exhibition activities began. Several paintings of Zinaida Serebryakova at the exhibition of Russian art in America were sold. Having received the fee, she decides to leave for a while in Paris in order to earn money to support her large family.
Paris. In exile
Leaving children with her grandmother in Petrograd, Serebryakova came to Paris in September 1924. However, her creative life was unsuccessful: at first she did not have her own workshop, there were few orders, she managed to earn very little money, and she sends them to her family in Russia.
In the biography of the artist Zinaida Serebryakova, life in Paris turned out to be a turning point, after which she could never return to her homeland, and she would see her two children only after 36 years, almost before her death.
The brightest period of life in France is when her daughter Katya comes here, and together they visit small towns in France and Switzerland, making sketches, landscapes, portraits of local peasants (1926).
Travel to Morocco
In 1928, after writing a series of portraits for a Belgian businessman, Zinaida and Ekaterina Serebryakova went on a trip to Morocco with the money they earned. Struck by the beauty of the East, Serebryakova does a series of sketches and works, painting the eastern streets and local residents.
Returning to Paris, she arranges an exhibition of "Moroccan" works, collecting a huge number of enthusiastic reviews, but could not earn anything. All friends noted her impracticality and inability to sell their work.
In 1932, Zinaida Serebryakova again went to Morocco, again doing sketches and landscapes there. In these years, her son, Alexander, who also became an artist, was able to escape. He is engaged in decorative activities, decorates interiors, and also makes custom-made lampshades.
Her two children, having arrived in Paris, help her to earn money, actively engaged in various art and decorative works.
Children in Russia
Two children of the artist Evgeny and Tatyana, who remained in Russia with their grandmother, lived very poorly and hungry. Their apartment was compacted, and they occupied only one room, which had to be heated independently.
In 1933, her mother, E.N. Lansere, died, unable to bear the hunger and deprivation, the children remained themselves. They have already grown up and have chosen creative professions: Zhenya became an architect, and Tatyana became an artist in the theater. Gradually, they arranged their lives, created families, but for many years they dreamed of meeting their mother, constantly conducting correspondence with her.
In the 1930s, the Soviet government invited her to return to her homeland, but in those years Serebryakova worked on a private order in Belgium, and then the Second World War began. After the war ended, she became very ill and did not dare to move.
Only in 1960, Tatiana was able to come to Paris and see her mother, 36 years after the separation.
Serebryakova exhibitions in Russia
In 1965, during the thaw in the Soviet Union, the only lifetime exhibition of Zinaida Serebryakova was held in Moscow, then it was held in Kiev and Leningrad. The artist at that time was 80 years old, and she could not come because of her health condition, but she was immensely happy that she was remembered at home.
The exhibitions were held with tremendous success, reminding everyone of the forgotten great artist, who was always devoted to classical art. Serebryakova was able, despite all the turbulent years of the first half of the 20th century, to find her own style. In those years, impressionism and art deco, abstractionism and other movements dominated in Europe.
Her children, who lived with her in France, remained loyal to her until the end of her life, equipping her life and helping financially. They never started their families and lived with her until her death at the age of 82, after which they organized her exhibitions.
Buried Z. Serebryakova in 1967 at the cemetery of Saint-Genevieve de Bois in Paris.
Exhibition in 2017
The exhibition of Zinaida Serebryakova in the Tretyakov Gallery is the largest in the last 30 years (200 paintings and drawings), dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death, runs from April to the end of July 2017.
The previous retrospective of her works took place in 1986, then some projects were carried out that showed her work in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and at small private exhibitions.
This time, the curators of the French Fondation Serebriakoff Foundation collected a large number of works to make a grand exhibition, which during the summer of 2017 will be placed on 2 floors of the Gallery's Engineering Building.
A retrospective is arranged in chronology, which will allow the viewer to see the various creative lines of the artist Zinaida Serebryakova, starting from the early portraits and ballet works of the Mariinsky Theater dancers that were made in Russia in the 1920s. All her paintings are characterized by emotionality and lyrics, a positive sense of life. In a separate room presents works with images of her children.
The next floor contains works created in exile in Paris, including:
- Belgian panels commissioned by Baron de Brouwer (1937-1937), which at one time were considered dead during the war;
- Moroccan sketches and sketches written in 1928 and 1932;
- portraits of Russian emigrants who were painted in Paris;
- Landscapes and sketches of nature in France, Spain, etc.
Afterword
All the children of Zinaida Serebryakova continued their creative traditions and became artists and architects, working in various genres. The youngest daughter Serebryakova, Ekaterina, lived a long life, after the death of her mother, she was actively involved in exhibition activities and work in the Fondation Serebriakoff fund, and died at the age of 101 in Paris.
Zinaida Serebryakova was devoted to the traditions of classical art and gained her own style of painting, demonstrating joy and optimism, faith in love and the power of creativity, capturing many beautiful moments of her and surrounding life.