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Paintings by Zinaida Serebryakova. Zinaida Serebryakova: biography and photos

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova ( maiden name Lansere; December 12, 1884, p. Neskuchnoe, Kharkov province, now Kharkov region, Ukraine - September 19, 1967, Paris, France) - Russian artist, member of the World of Art association, one of the first Russian women who entered the history of painting.

Biography of Zinaida Serebryakova

Zinaida Serebryakova was born on November 28, 1884 in the Neskuchnoye family estate near Kharkov. Her father was a famous sculptor. Mother came from the Benois family and was a graphic artist in her youth. Her brothers were no less talented, the younger one was an architect, and the older one was a master of monumental painting and graphics.

His artistic development Zinaida is primarily indebted to her uncle Alexandre Benois, her 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.

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.

In 1905 she marries Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov. After the wedding, the young went to Paris. Here Zinaida attends the Academy de la Grande Chaumière, works hard, draws from nature.

A year later, the young return home. In Neskuchny, Zinaida works hard - she creates sketches, portraits and landscapes. In the very first works of the artist, you can already see her own style to determine the scope of her interests. In 1910, Zinaida Serebryakova was waiting for real success.

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. Circumstances force the artist to leave Russia. She goes to France. 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.

In the 1920s, Zinaida Serebryakova returned with her children to Petrograd, to Benois's former apartment. Zinaida's daughter Tatyana began to study ballet. Zinaida, together with her daughter visit Mariinskii Opera House, there are also behind the scenes. In the theater, Zinaida constantly painted.

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.

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 visual 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. She leaves in 1924.

The years spent in Paris did not bring her joy and creative satisfaction. 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.

In 1961 in Paris she was visited by two Soviet artist- S. Gerasimov and D. Shmarinov. Later in 1965, they arrange an exhibition for her in Moscow.

In 1966, the last big exhibition Serebryakova's works in Leningrad and Kyiv.

In 1967, in Paris, at the age of 82, Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova died.

Creativity Serebryakova

Even in her youth, the artist always expressed her love for Russia in her sketches. Her painting "The Garden in Bloom" and some others clearly speak of the charm of Russian vast expanses, meadow flowers, fields.

The paintings that appeared in the expositions of the exhibitions of 1909-1910 express a peculiar and inimitable style.

The greatest delight among the audience was caused by the self-portrait “Behind the toilet”. A woman living in a small village, one of the short winter evenings, looking in the mirror, smiles at his reflection, as if playing with a comb. In this work of the young artist, like herself, everything breathes freshness. There is no modernism; a corner of the room, as if illuminated by youth, appears before the viewer in all its charm and joy.

The greatest peak of the artist's work falls on the pre-revolutionary years. These are paintings about peasants and beautiful Russian landscapes, as well as everyday genres for example, the picture "At breakfast", "Ballerinas in the dressing room".

behind the toilet At breakfast Canvas bleaching

One of the significant works of these years is the painting "Whitening of the Canvas", written in 1916, where Serebryakova acts as a muralist.

The figures of village women in the meadow near the river look majestic, because of the image of the low horizon. In the early morning they spread the freshly woven canvases and leave them for the day under the bright rays of the sun. The composition is built in red, green and brown tones, which gives the small canvas the properties of a monumental and decorative canvas. This is a kind of hymn to the hard work of the peasants. The figures are made in different color and rhythmic keys, which creates a single plastic melody, closed within the composition. All this is a single majestic chord that glorifies the beauty and strength of the Russian woman. Peasant women are depicted on the banks of a small river, from which pre-morning fog rises. Reddish rays of the sun give a special charm female faces. "Whitening of the Canvas" is reminiscent of ancient frescoes.

The artist interprets this work as a ritual act, showing the beauty of people and the world, using the picturesque and linear rhythm of the picture. Unfortunately this is the last big job Zinaida Serebryakova.

In the same year, Benois was ordered to decorate the Kazansky railway station with paintings and he invited his niece to work. The artist decides to create an oriental theme in her own way. Represent India, Japan, Turkey and Siam as beautiful women East.

In the prime of her work, the artist suffers great grief. ill with typhus, a short time her husband burns out from this terrible disease, and Serebryakova's mother and four children remain in her arms. The family is in dire need of literally everything. The stocks that were on the estate were completely looted. There are no colors, and the artist writes her "House of Cards" with charcoal and pencil, in which she depicts her children.

Serebryakova responds with a categorical refusal to master the style of futurism and finds work in the archaeological museum of Kharkov, making sketches of exhibits with a pencil.

Art lovers buy her paintings almost for free, for food or old things.

Serebryakova travels around African countries. Exotic landscapes surprise her, she paints the Atlas Mountains, portraits of African women, creates a cycle of studies about the fishermen of Brittany.

In 1966 in the capital of the USSR in Moscow and some major cities exhibitions of Serebryakova's works were opened, many of the paintings were acquired by Russian museums.

In her youth, Zinaida fell in love and married her own cousin. The family did not approve of their marriage, and the young were forced to leave their native lands.

In the canvases of the Russian artist Zinaida Serebryakova there are many paintings describing the life and work of the peasant population. She painted people working on the land from life right on the field where the peasants worked. In order to have time to grab all the details, the artist got up before the workers, came to the field with paints and brushes before the start of all work.

Due to constant poverty, Serebryakova was forced to make paints on her own, since there was simply nothing to buy them for. Today, fabulous sums are offered for Serebryakova's works, although Zinaida did not always manage to sell her paintings during her lifetime, and the artist had to live in poverty for almost all the time allotted on earth.

Having left for France, and leaving her daughter and son in Russia, Serebriakova could not even imagine that the next time she would see her own child only after 36 years.

Girl with a candle. Self-portrait (detail)

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova fell to the lot difficult fate, in which there was great love, and the happiness of motherhood, and the joy of creating, and many years of separation from children, and longing for the abandoned Motherland.

Artist Zinaida Serebryakova. Life and art

The future artist Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova (nee Lansere) was born on December 10, 1884 in the Neskuchny estate near Kharkov, in the family of the famous sculptor Evgeny Lansere and Ekaterina Lansere (nee Benois).

In 1886, the artist's father died suddenly and big family settled in grandfather's apartment Nicholas Benois famous architect.

Zinaida's mother was a graphic artist in her youth. And there were also two famous uncles: the architect Leonty Benois and the artist Alexander Benois.

In the family of Eugene and Catherine Lansere, in addition to Zinaida, two more children grew up: Nikolai (later an architect) and Eugene (later a famous artist).

Zina grew up ... a sickly and rather unsociable child, in which she resembled her father and did not at all resemble her mother, nor her brothers and sisters, who all had a cheerful and sociable disposition.

From the memoirs of Alexandre Benois

The childhood and youth of the future artist were spent in St. Petersburg, and in her beloved Neskuchny estate. The girl began to draw early and uncle Alexander Benois worked a lot with her talented niece.

One of the first paintings by Zinaida Serebryakova is "Apple Tree". This picture was painted in 1900 in Neskuchny. A young strong perky tree bends its branches under the weight of ruddy fruits. Many years later, art historians will say that the young Zinaida, subconsciously, depicted a symbol of fertility, free life in unity with nature. And this symbol determined the whole creative way artist for the rest of his life.

... In our Neskuchny estate, where everything is, both nature and the surrounding me peasant life, excited and delighted me with their picturesqueness, and I generally lived in some kind of “future of enthusiasm” ...

Zinaida Evgenievna graduated from the women's gymnasium in 1900 and without much effort entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Painting. However, the girl did not like studying at the Academy, and very soon the future artist left the walls of the Academy and entered the art school of Princess M.K. Tenisheva, and some time later she began to take painting lessons from the famous portrait painter Osip Braz.

In 1902, the girl was sent to Italy for treatment and the study of Italian painting.

Now it is difficult to say how sick Zinaida Evgenievna was ... The thing is that the future famous artist had a cousin, Boris Serebryakov. Young people were friends for a long time, were friends and fell in love with each other. Relatives knew about this connection, in the end they resigned themselves to the inevitable and stopped preventing the lovers.

In the end, all the relatives agreed to this marriage, but the church was against the wedding of close relatives. The issue was resolved with the help of a "gift" of 300 rubles - the priest married the young and the Serebryakov family (Zinaida Evgenievna took her husband's surname) left for Paris in 1905.

In the capital of France, Zinaida enters the Academy de la Grande Chaumière and studies with great enthusiasm, draws a lot from life, writes sketches.

In 1906, the young family returned to St. Petersburg. To a young spouse it is necessary to graduate from the university (he will become a railway engineer), and the young wife comes time to give birth to her first child.

In 1906, the son of Eugene was born, and in 1907, the son of Alexander.

The family lives in Neskuchny, Zinaida takes care of small children and writes a lot: sketches, landscapes and portraits. And he decides to exhibit his works at the 7th exhibition of artists in Moscow in 1910.

Self-portrait "Behind the toilet" and gouache "Green in autumn" acquires Tretyakov Gallery. It was an undeniable and very resounding success.

behind the toilet

I decided to stay with the children in Neskuchny ... My husband Boris Anatolyevich was on a business trip, winter came early this year, everything was covered with snow - our garden, fields around, snowdrifts everywhere, it was impossible to go out. But the house on the farm is warm and cozy, and I began to draw myself in the mirror ...

From the memoirs of Zinaida Serebryakova

Then there was a small, but very happy, break in creative activity: in 1912, the daughter Tatyana was born, and a year later - Catherine.

From 1914 to 1917 he creates a whole series of paintings about Russian nature and the Russian village (“Peasants”, “Sleeping Peasant Woman”, the famous “Whitening of the Canvas”), helps his brother Alexander to paint the Kazan Station, writes compositions based on ancient myths and a whole series of self-portraits.

It always seemed to me that being loved and being in love is happiness, I was always like a child, not noticing the life around, and was happy, although even then I knew sadness and tears ... You are so young, loved, appreciate this time , precious friend.

Letter from Zinaida Serebryakova to Galina Teslenko. Petrograd, February 28, 1922 =

And then the revolution broke out, and after the revolution came Civil War. Zinaida Evgenievna, together with her children, moved to Kharkov, where a job was found for her in the archaeological museum. The family estate near Kharkov "Neskuchnoe" burned down along with all the paintings of the artist. The husband went to Siberia to work, fell ill with typhus and died.

With a sick mother and four small children in her arms, without a livelihood, without a permanent home. It was at this time that one of the most tragic paintings of the artist "House of Cards" appeared. oil paints just not, and she writes with a pencil and charcoal.

The house of cards is her happiness, which suddenly collapsed, her four orphaned children. And their poor, exhausted mother.

In 1920, the Serebryakov family returned to St. Petersburg, to the apartment of their grandfather Nikolai Benois. Here, for the first time last years, luck smiled on the disadvantaged family - Moscow Art Theater artists, and not Soviet workers, were hooked into a large apartment “for compaction”.

Zinaida starts writing again. She paints several portraits of her late husband (now they are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Novosibirsk art gallery), writes a whole series of works about the theater. It so happened that the daughter of Zinaida Evgenievna began to study ballet and the artist, along with her daughters, often visits the Mariinsky Theater.

Difficult hungry times are replaced by some revival - exhibition activity is being revived. Serebryakova again works hard and in 1924 becomes a participant in a large exhibition of Russian artists in America. All her paintings have been sold, but the $500 received for paintings is catastrophically small for life. big family V Soviet Russia and inspired Serebryakova decides to go to Paris, arrange a personal exhibition there and earn more money.

This is the official version. Or maybe she believed in her success and wanted simple well-being and international recognition? This is my version.

However, in Paris, even without Serebryakova, there is a huge number of Russian artists, and Paris is changeable and spoiled with an incredible offer of painting at very easy prices. In addition, Zinaida Evgenievna completely lacked a commercial vein.

Subsequently, Konstantin Somov said:

She is so pathetic, unhappy, inept, everyone offends her.

Serebryakova's first exhibition in Paris took place only in 1927.

Zinaida Evgenievna sends all the money earned in Paris to Petersburg to support her family. She herself lives in France on bird's rights (with a refugee passport. She received French citizenship only in 1947).

Life now seems to me a senseless 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.

Why didn't she return to Russia? Why didn't you move your family to France? Tough questions that I can't exactly answer.

A few years later, daughter Katya arrives in France, and then son Alexander. And stop immigration from Soviet Union. Zinaida Evgenievna will see her daughter Tatyana only after 36 years with the onset of the Khrushchev thaw.

In 1961, two Soviet artists arrived in Paris - D. Shmarinov and S. Gerasimov. It was they who helped organize exhibitions of Serebryakova's paintings in Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv in 1966. Albums with her work are sold in millions of copies around the world.

Finally, such a coveted fame comes to her, and this fame came from abandoned Russia - after an exhibition in the USSR, a real hunt around the world begins for the artist's canvases. Serebriakova is compared with Renoir and Botticelli.

She never gained her independence. financial well-being which she has pursued all her life.
But international fame remained.

Today, her paintings are sold not just "for a lot". In 2015, Sleeping Girl was sold at auction for $5.9 million.
Life is terribly unfair. Or fair? I have no answer.

Paintings by Zinaida Serebryakova

Sleeping peasant woman

Canvas bleaching

In the ballet dressing room ("Big Ballerinas")

sleeping model

At breakfast

Portrait of B.A. Serebryakova

Resting black woman

Lying Moroccan woman

Portrait of Vera Fokina

sleeping girl

Nude

House of cards

Greenery in autumn

Behind the toilet. self-portrait

illuminated by the sun

Self-portrait dressed as Pierrot

Portrait of Olga Konstantinovna Lansere

Bather

Girl with a candle. self-portrait

Nurse with child

Ballet restroom. Snowflakes

Self portrait with daughters

Katya with dolls

Serebryakova Katya in a blue dress near the Christmas tree

Katya with a still life

Portrait of A.D. Danilova

Portrait of V.K. Ivanova dressed as a Spaniard

Son Alexander in carnival costume

Zinaida Serebryakova (1884 - 1967) was waiting happy life. A beautiful and kind girl. Married to 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-Benois family, painted with early childhood.

But everything began to crumble in 1917. She was 33 years old. beautiful world turned into a series of hardships and suffering.

Why Serebryakova did not fit into 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.org

Unusual self-portrait. The girl is reflected in the mirror. We understand this by the double candle. snow white underwear. White color in the interior. Women's trinkets in front of a mirror. Pink blush. Big eyes and an immediate 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.ru

There 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 construction railway.

3. Whitening of the canvas. 1917

Zinaida Serebryakova. Canvas bleaching. 1917 State Tretyakov Gallery. Artchive.ru

In 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. Ordinary women she's 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 contemporary art, NY

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.ru

This 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 information about the husband whole year. He was in imprisonment. 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.ru

Serebryakova 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.ru

In 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 Marrakesh. 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 muted 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.ru

In 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...

Z. Serebryakova, 1900s

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova (1884-1967) - artist.

Zinaida Serebryakova was born on December 12, 1884 in the Neskuchnoye estate Kursk province. She was the youngest of six children in the family of the sculptor Yevgeny Alexandrovich Lansere (1848-1886) and his wife Ekaterina Nikolaevna (1850-1933), née Benois.

The father died when Zinaida was two years old, and the mother and children left Neskuchny for the St. Petersburg apartment of their father, Nikolai Leontyevich Benois (1813-1898). In my grandfather's house, everything lived on art: exhibitions, the theater, the Hermitage. Zinaida's mother was a graphic artist in her youth, uncle Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870-1960) and older brother Evgeny Lansere were fond of drawing.

The family was not surprised when the gifted girl decided to become an artist. For several years she changed schools, countries and teachers in search of what she needed. In 1900 - the art school of Princess Tenisheva. A year later, a few months at the school of Ilya Repin. Then a year in Italy. In 1903-1905. apprenticeship with a portrait painter O.E. Braza (1873-1936). In 1905-1906. - Académie Grande Chaumière in Paris.

In 1905, Zinaida Lanceray married Boris Serebryakov, who was her cousin. They have known each other since childhood. And in 1910, the artist Zinaida Serebryakova received recognition for the painting "Behind the toilet". Family happiness and the joy of creativity!

The October coup found Zinaida Serebryakova in Neskuchny. In 1919, her husband died of typhus. She was left with four children and a sick mother. The estate was plundered, and in 1920 she went to Petrograd to her grandfather's apartment. There was a place after compaction.

Serebryakova left for Paris in 1924 and never returned. After some time, they managed to smuggle the children Sasha and Katya to her. She helped her mother and Tata and Zhenya as much as she could.

For half of her life, the brilliant artist Zinaida Serebryakova lived in impoverished Parisian emigration. Abroad, fame came to her after her death. And in the homeland? In the USSR in 1960, after 36 years of separation, her daughter Tatyana Borisovna Serebryakova, Tata, came to her in Paris. But the artist did not dare to follow her to Russia. There was no energy to move. Only in the spring of 1965, the 80-year-old artist realized her dream - she came to Moscow to open her first exhibition in the USSR.

Serebryakova - the joy of life

Wearing a scarf, 1911

Pierrot. Portrait 1911

Biography of Serebryakova

1884. November 28 (December 12) - birth in the Neskuchnoye estate of the Belgorod district of the Kursk province in the family of the sculptor Yevgeny Alexandrovich Lansere and his wife Ekaterina Nikolaevna (nee Benois) daughter Zinaida.
1886. March 23 - the death of his father from tuberculosis. Autumn - moving to St. Petersburg to the mother's parents - academician of architecture Nikolai Leontyevich Benois and grandmother Camilla Albertovna.
1893. Studying at the Kolomna Women's Gymnasium.
1898. December 11 - the death of grandfather N.L. Benoit.
1899. Summer - the first summer after the death of his grandfather, wholly spent in the Neskuchnoye estate.
1900. Graduation from high school and admission to art school M.K. Tenisheva.
1902. Ekaterina Nikolaevna's trip with her daughters Ekaterina, Maria and Zinaida to Italy on Capri - "Capri" sketches.
1903. March - moving to Rome, acquaintance under the guidance of A.N. Benois with the art of Antiquity and the Renaissance. Summer - work in Neskuchny on landscapes and sketches of peasants. Autumn - admission to the workshop of O.E. Braza (training in it until 1905).
1905. Spring - visit organized by S.P. Diaghilev historical exhibition portraits in the Tauride Palace. September 9 - marriage to Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov. November - departure with his mother to Paris to study at the Academy de la Grande Chaumière. December - the arrival in Paris of her husband, who entered the Paris Higher School of Roads and Bridges.
1906. Studying at the Academy de la Grande Chaumière. April - return to St. Petersburg. May 26 - the birth of a son in Neskuchny, named after the artist's father Evgeny.
1907. September 7 - the birth of his son Alexander.
1908-1909. Serebryakova painted landscapes and portraits in Neskuchny.
1910. February - participation in the VII exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists in St. Petersburg with thirteen works. Acquisition three works Tretyakov Gallery.
1911. December - participation in the exhibition "World of Art" in Moscow. Serebryakova was elected a member of the association.
1912. January 22 - the birth of daughter Tatyana.
1913. June 28 - the birth of daughter Catherine.
1914. May-June - a trip to Northern Italy (Milan, Florence, Padua, Venice). On the way - Berlin, Leipzig, Munich.
1915. November - participation of Serebryakova in the exhibition of sketches, sketches and drawings "The World of Art" in Petrograd.
1916. December - participation in the exhibition "World of Art" in Petrograd. Work on panel sketches for the Kazansky railway station. Images of oriental beauties did not appear in the painting of the station.
1917. January - Serebryakova was nominated for the title of academician of the Academy of Arts. S.R. Ernst completed a monograph on the work of Serebryakova, published in 1922.
1918. Serebryakova with her mother and children lived in Kharkov in temporary apartments. Sometimes she came to Neskuchnoye.
1919. January - Zinaida Serebryakova came to her husband in Moscow. March 22 - death of B.A. Serebryakova from typhus in Kharkov. Autumn - the Neskuchnoye estate was looted and destroyed. November - resettlement with mother and children to Kharkov. End of the year - participation in the "First Art Exhibition of the Kharkov Council of Workers' Deputies".
1920. January-October - work in the Archaeological Museum at Kharkov University. December - return to Petrograd.
1921. April - Serebryakova's family moved to the "Benois House". Acquisition by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts of a number of works by the artist with their subsequent transfer to the Russian Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery.
1922. May-June - participation in the exhibition "World of Art" in Petrograd. The beginning of work at the Choreographic School and the Mariinsky Theater on sketches of artistic dressing rooms, portraits of ballerinas.
1924. January - participation in the exhibition of artists "World of Art". March 8 – opening in New York exhibitions of one hundred Russian artists in the USA. Of the 14 paintings by Serebryakova, two have been sold. August 24 - Serebryakova's departure from the USSR. September 4 - arrival in Paris.
1925. Spring - Serebryakova in England cousin H.L. Ustinova. May-June - work on custom portraits. Summer - the arrival of Alexander's son in France. Moving with his son to Versailles, working on sketches in the Versailles park.
1927. March 26 - April 12 - Serebryakova's exhibition in the gallery of J. Charpentier. June-August - arrival on a business trip E.E. Lansere.
1928. March - daughter Katya arrives in Paris. Summer - work in Bruges on portraits of members of the family of Baron J.A. de Brower. December - the beginning of a six-week trip to Morocco.
1929. January - the end of the trip to Morocco. February 23 - March 8 - exhibition of Moroccan works by Serebryakova at the Bernheim Jr. Gallery. April 30 - May 14 - Serebryakova's exhibition in the gallery of V.O. Hirshman.
1930. January-February - participation in the exhibition of Russian art in Berlin. Summer - a trip to the south of France, the creation of numerous landscapes in Collioure and Menton. Participation in the exhibition of Russian art in Belgrade.
1931. March-April - participation in exhibitions of portraits of the French Association of Artists. July-August - a trip to Nice and Menton. November-December - exhibition (together with D. Bushen) in Antwerp and Brussels.
1932. February-March - a trip to Morocco: work on portraits, landscapes, everyday scenes. Summer - work in Italy: landscapes of Florence and Assisi. December 3-18 - Serebryakova's exhibition at the J. Charpentier Gallery, articles by A.N. Benois and K. Mauclair. December - participation in the exhibition " Russian art" in the Renaissance Gallery in Paris. Participation in the exhibition "Russian Painting of Two Centuries" in Riga.
1933. March 3 - the death of his mother in Leningrad. April - participation in the exhibition of portraits of the French Association of Artists. Summer - a trip to Switzerland and the south of France. Transfer to Rue Blanche in Montmartre.
1934. April - participation in the exhibition of portraits in the House of Artists in Paris. July-August - Serebryakova in Brittany: work on landscapes, portraits of lacemakers and fishermen.
1935. Spring - participation in the exhibition of Russian art in London. Summer - a trip to Esteny (Auvergne), the creation of still lifes with grapes. End of the year - preparation for painting the hall of the villa of Baron Zh.A. de Brouwer "Manoir du Relay". Participation in the exhibition "Russian art of the XVIII-XX centuries" in Prague.
1936. Work on a panel for Manoir du Relay. December - Serebryakova in Belgium to "try on" four panels in the Manoir hall.
1937. April - Serebryakova in Belgium for the delivery of panels and finalization of maps written by her son Alexander. June - visit to the Soviet pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris. June-August - trips to Brittany, to the south of France, to the Pyrenees.
1938. January 18 - February 1 - Serebryakova's exhibition in the gallery of J. Charpentier in Paris. June-August - trips to England and Corsica. Serebryakova has a sharp deterioration in her health - heart neurosis. On the recommendation of doctors, she went to Italy, to San Gimignano. December - eye surgery.
1939. May 6 - death of K.A. Somov. July-August - Serebryakova in Switzerland: work on portraits and landscapes. September 3 - France joins the Second world war. Transfer to Rue Campagne Premier.
1940. The beginning of the year - the termination of postal communication with relatives in the USSR. June 14 - German troops enter Paris.
1941. June 22 - German attack on the USSR. Autumn - participation in the Autumn Salon with three works. Work on the landscapes of the Tuileries and the Luxembourg Gardens.
1942. Operation for Graves' disease. Death in prison in Saratov of brother H.E. Lansere, who was arrested in 1938.
1944. August 25 - the liberation of Paris.
1946. September 13 - death in Moscow of brother E.E. Lansere. December - the resumption of correspondence with relatives.
1947-1948. Serebryakova in England: work on commissioned portraits and still lifes.
1949. August - a trip to the French provinces of Auvergne and Burgundy to work on commissioned portraits.
1951. Beginning of a permanent exhibition in the USSR of Serebryakova's works at exhibitions from private collections and museum funds.
1953. Summer - Serebryakova in England: work on landscapes.
1954. May-June - a nine-day exhibition of works, together with A.B. and E.B. Serebryakov, in the workshop on Campagne Premier Street.
1955 November - Decision to bequeath several of his works to museums in the Soviet Union.
1956. August - meeting with A.N. Benois and in his workshop with F.S. Bogorodsky.
1957. May-September - visits to Serebryakova by Vice-President of the Academy of Arts of the USSR V.S. Kemenov.
1958. March - Serebryakova's meeting with V.S. Kemenov and USSR Ambassador to France S.A. Vinogradov, who offered to return to their homeland. June - visiting the tour performance of the Moscow Art Theater " The Cherry Orchard", a meeting with the theater management and actress K. Ivanova.
1960. February 9 - death of A.N. Benois in Paris. April is the first visit to Paris of Tatyana's daughter after thirty-six years of separation. December 15 - the opening of the exhibition "The Benois Family" in London, in which Serebryakova participated in three landscapes.
1961. Address by T.B. Serebryakova to the board of the Union of Artists to organize an exhibition of her mother in the USSR. March - a visit to Serebryakova by employees of the Soviet embassy, a visit by S.V. Gerasimova, D.A. Shmarinova, A.K. Sokolov to view the work.
1962. February 17 - participation in four works in the evening in favor of Russian invalids of the First World War.
1964. May - the arrival of Tatyana's daughter from Moscow. Spring-summer - Serebryakova selected and put in order works for an exhibition in Moscow. Sending work with the help of the Soviet embassy. Autumn - correspondence about the design of the poster and the catalog of the exhibition.
1965. May-June - exhibitions of Zinaida Serebryakova in Moscow in showroom Union of Artists and Kyiv in Kiev State Museum Russian art.
1966. February - a visit to Serebryakova art critic I.S. Silberstein. March-April - an exhibition of paintings by Serebryakova in Leningrad at the Russian Museum, which was a huge success. Spring - visit of the Director of the Russian Museum V.A. Pushkareva. The Russian Museum acquired 21 works by Serebryakova from the exhibition. December - the first visit to Paris of the son of Eugene.
1967. Spring - Eugene and Tatyana arrive in Paris to meet with their mother. Creation of portraits of Tatyana and Evgeny, V.A. Pushkareva. September 19 - Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova died after a short illness. She was buried in the cemetery of Saint Genevieve de Bois near Paris.

Paintings by Serebryakova

Successfully started life talented artist Z.E. Serebryakova, after 1917 turned into years of wandering, suffering and memories of the past. She was torn between the need to create and the need to earn money to support her family. But Serebryakova's paintings are always beauty and harmony, an open and benevolent look.

Serebryakova in Moscow

Komsomolskaya, 2. Kazansky railway station. In 1916, Z. Serebryakov, at the invitation of his uncle A.N. Benois participated in the painting of the station.
Lavrushinsky, 10. Tretyakov Gallery. After the exhibition, organized in 1910 by the association "World of Art", the Tretyakov Gallery acquired several paintings by Serebryakova.

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 famous sculptor Nicholas 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. Gathered in the house famous people: Bakst, Somov, Diaghilev and others.

Zina herself loved to draw since childhood. She never thoroughly studied drawing anywhere: only two months in private school drawing under the guidance of I. Repin, for two years she studied 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 to Honeymoon in 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 famous painters and got 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)