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{{Short description|Russian painter (1884–1967)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=December 2020}}
{{family name hatnote|Yevgenyevna|Serebriakova|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox artist {{Infobox artist
⚫ | name = Zinaida Serebriakova
|bgcolour = #6495ED
| native_name = {{nobold|Зинаида Серебрякова}}
⚫ |name = Zinaida Serebriakova
|birth_name = Зинаида Евгеньевна Серебрякова | birth_name = Zinaida Yevgenyevna Lansere
|image = Serebryakova SefPortrait.jpg | image = Serebryakova SefPortrait.jpg
⚫ | caption = '']. Self-Portrait'' (1909)
|imagesize = 250px
⚫ | birth_date = {{OldStyleDate|10 December|1884|30 November}}
⚫ |caption = Self-portrait: ''At the Dressing-Table'' (1909)
⚫ | birth_place =
⚫ |birth_date = {{OldStyleDate|12 December|1884|30 November}}
|birth_place = Neskuchnoye estate, near ], ] (present-day ]) Neskuchnoye, ], ]

|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1967|09|19|1884|12|12}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1967|09|19|1884|12|12}}
|death_place = ], ]
|nationality = ]n, later ] | death_place = ], France
| resting place = ], Paris
|ethnicity =
| nationality = Russian, Soviet, French (after 1947)
|field = ]
|training = by ], ], ] | field = ]
| training = by ], ], ]
| movement = ], ], ]
|movement = {{Flatlist|
| works =
*]
⚫ | patrons =
⚫ *]
| awards =
*]
⚫ | spouse = {{marriage|Boris Serebriakov|1905|1919|end=died}}
}}
|works = | children = 4
⚫ |patrons =
⚫ |awards =
⚫ |spouse = Boris Serebriakov (1905-1919)
|children = Evgenyi, Alexandre, Tatiana, Catherine
}} }}


'''Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova''' (née '''Lanceray''')<ref>Her last name is often spelled ''Serebryakova'' and her maiden name is sometimes spelled ''Lansere'' (Russian: Лансере). She usually signed her work ''Z. Serebriakova'' or in Cyrillic script and sometimes she spelled her last name ''Serebriakoff'' (Rusakova 2006). Her family called her by the nicknames ''Zika'' and ''Zina'' (Serebriakova 1987).</ref> ({{lang-ru|Зинаи́да Евге́ньевна Серебряко́ва}}, {{OldStyleDate|12 December|1884|30 November}} &ndash; 19 September 1967) was a ]n female ]. '''Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova'''<ref>Her last name is often spelled ''Serebryakova'' and her maiden name is sometimes spelled ''Lansere'' (Russian: Лансере́). She usually signed her work ''Z. Serebryakova'' or in Cyrillic script and sometimes she spelled her last name ''Serebryakoff'' (Rusakova 2006). Her family called her by the nicknames ''Zika'' and ''Zina'' (Serebryakova 1987).</ref> ({{langx|ru|Зинаида Евгеньевна Серебрякова}}; {{nee|'''Lansere'''}} (Лансере); {{OldStyleDate|12 December|1884|30 November}} – 20 September 1967) was a Russian and later French painter.


==Family== ==Family==
] ]
Zinaida Serebriakova was born on the estate of Neskuchnoye near ] (now Kharkiv, ]) into one of Russia's most refined and artistic families. Zinaida Serebriakova was born on the estate of Neskuchnoye near Kharkov into the artistic ] in the ].


She belonged to the artistic ]. Her grandfather, ], was a famous architect, chairman of the Society of Architects and member of the ]. Her uncle, ], was a famous painter, founder of the '']'' art group. Her father, ], was a well-known sculptor, and her mother, who was Alexandre Benois' sister, had a talent for drawing. One of Zinaida's brothers, ], was a talented architect, and her other brother, ], had an important place in Russian and Soviet art as a master of monumental painting and ]. The Russian-English actor and writer ] was also related to her. Her father, Evgenii Lansere, was a sculptor and her mother, Ekaterina Lansere, was a painter. Her grandfather, ], was a prominent architect, chairman of the Society of Architects and member of the ]. Her uncle, ], was a painter, founder of the '']'' art group.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Hilton |first=Alison |date=Autumn 1982 – Winter 1983 |title=Zinaida Serebriakova |journal=Woman's Art Journal |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=32–33 |doi=10.2307/1358032 |jstor=1358032 }}</ref> One of Zinaida's brothers, ], was an architect, and her other brother, ], had an important place in Russian and Soviet art as a master of monumental painting and ]. The English actor and writer ] was also related to her.


==Youth== ==Youth==
⚫ In 1900, she graduated from a women's ] (equivalent to grammar school or high school), and entered the art school founded by ]. She studied with ] in 1901 and ] artist ] between 1903 and 1905. From 1902 to 1903, she spent time in Italy, and from 1905 to 1906 she studied at the ] in Paris.


⚫ In 1905, she married her first cousin, Boris Serebriakov, the son of Evgenyi's sister, and took his surname. Boris went on to become a railroad engineer.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}
⚫ In 1900 she graduated from a women's ] (equivalent to grammar school or high school), and entered the art school founded by Princess ]. She studied under ] in 1901, and under ] artist ] between 1903 and 1905. In 1902–1903 she spent time in ], and from 1905 to 1906 she studied at the ] in Paris.


==Early success==
⚫ In 1905, Zinaida Lanceray married her first cousin, Boris Serebriakov, the son of Evgenyi's sister, and took his surname. Serebriakov went on to become a railroad engineer.
⚫ ]
]
⚫ Serebriakova's most famous self-portrait, ] (1909, ]), was painted while she was snowed in at her family home and models from a nearby village were unable to travel there. Her brother Evgenii encouraged Serebriakova to enter the painting in an exhibition mounted by the ] in 1910, where it was received with enthusiasm and purchased for the ] collection.<ref name=":0" /> The self-portrait was followed by ''Girl Bathing'' (1911, Russian Museum), a portrait of ''Ye.K.&nbsp;Lanceray'' (1911, private collection), and a portrait of the artist's mother ''Yekaterina Lanceray'' (1912, Russian Museum).


Serebriakova joined the '']'' movement in 1911.
==Happy years==
⚫ ]
From her youth onwards, Zinaida Serebriakova strove to express her love of the world and to show its beauty. Her earliest works, ''Country Girl'' (1906, ]) and ''Orchard in Bloom'' (1908, private collection), speak eloquently of this search, and of her acute awareness of the beauty of the Russian land and its people. These works are études done from nature, and though she was young at the time, her extraordinary talent, confidence and boldness were apparent.


⚫ From 1914 to 1917, Serebriakova produced a series of pictures on the theme of Russian rural life including ''Peasants'' (1914–1915, Russian Museum), ''Sleeping Peasant Girl'' (private collection).
⚫ Broad public recognition came with Serebriakova's self-portrait ] (1909, ]), first shown at a large exhibition mounted by the ] in 1910. The self-portrait was followed by ''Girl Bathing'' (1911, Russian Museum), a portrait of ''Ye.K.&nbsp;Lanceray'' (1911, private collection), and a portrait of the artist's mother ''Yekaterina Lanceray'' (1912, Russian Museum), already mature works, strict in composition.


⚫ When, in 1916, Alexander Benois was commissioned to decorate the ] in Moscow, he invited Yevgeny Lanceray, ], ], and Serebriakova to help him. Serebriakova took on the theme of the ]: ], Japan, ], and ] are represented allegorically in the form of beautiful women. At the same time, she began compositions on subjects from classical mythology, but these remained ].{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}
She joined the ''Mir iskusstva'' movement in 1911, but stood out from the other members of the group because of her preference for popular themes and because of the harmony, plasticity and generalized nature of her paintings.

⚫ In 1914&ndash;1917, Zinaida Serebriakova was in her prime. During these years she produced a series of pictures on the theme of Russian rural life, the work of the peasants and the Russian countryside which was so dear to her heart: ''Peasants'' (1914&ndash;1915, Russian Museum), ''Sleeping Peasant Girl'' (private collection).

The most important of these works was ''Bleaching Cloth'' (1917, Tretyakov Gallery), which revealed Zinaida Serebriakova's striking talent as a monumental artist. The figures of the peasant women, portrayed against the background of the sky, gain majesty and power by virtue of the low horizon.

⚫ When in 1916 Alexander Benois was commissioned to decorate the ] in Moscow, he invited Yevgeny Lanceray, ], ], and Zinaida Serebriakova to help him. Serebriakova took on the theme of the ]: ], Japan, ], and ] are represented allegorically in the form of beautiful women. At the same time she began compositions on subjects from classical mythology, but these remained ].


==Revolution== ==Revolution==

] ]
At the outbreak of the ] in 1917, Serebriakova was at her family estate of Neskuchnoye, and suddenly her whole life changed. In 1919 her husband Boris died of ] contracted in ] jails. 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, ], which depicts her four orphaned children. After the outbreak of the ] in 1917, Serebriakova's life changed. In 1919, her husband Boris died of ]. 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, ], which depicts their four fatherless children.


She did not want to switch to the ] style popular in the art of the early Soviet period, nor paint portraits of ]s, but she found some work at the ], where she made pencil drawings of the exhibits. In December 1920 she moved to her grandfather’s apartment in ]. 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 ]. 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 ]. She did not want to switch to the ] or ] styles popular in the art of the early Soviet period, nor paint portraits of ]s, but she found some work at the ], where she made pencil drawings of the exhibits. In December 1920, she moved to her grandfather’s apartment in ]. 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 ]. 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 ].


==Paris== ==Paris==
]'', 1914]]
⚫ 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 ], 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 ]. 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 ], as well as ] women and ] in ethnic clothing. She also painted a cycle devoted to ] 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 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 ], where her mother and the four children remained. However, she was not able to return, and although she was able to bring her younger children, Alexandre and Catherine, to Paris in 1926 and 1928 respectively, she could not do the same for her two older children, Evgenyi and Tatiana, and did not see them again for many years.

⚫ After this, Zinaida Serebriakova traveled a great deal. In 1928 and 1930 she traveled to Africa, visiting ]. She was fascinated by the landscapes of northern Africa and painted the ], as well as ] women and ] in ethnic clothing. She also painted a cycle devoted to ] 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 ]'s ] that the Soviet Government allowed her to resume contact with her family in the Soviet Union. In 1960, after 36&nbsp;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 ]. In 1947, Serebriakova at last took French citizenship, and it was not until ]'s ] that the Soviet Government allowed her to resume contact with her family in the Soviet Union. In 1960, after 36&nbsp;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 ].


Zinaida Serebriakova's works were finally exhibited in the Soviet Union in 1966, in Moscow, ], and ], to great acclaim. Her albums sold by the millions, and she was compared to ] and ]. 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's works were finally exhibited in the Soviet Union in 1966, in Moscow, ], and ], to great acclaim. Her albums sold by the millions, and she was compared to ] and ]. 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 ] at ].


==Tribute==
⚫ Zinaida Serebriakova died in Paris on 19 September 1967, at the age of 82. She is buried in Paris, at ] at ].
On 10 December 2020, ] celebrated her 136th birthday with a ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://doodles.google/doodle/zinaida-serebriakovas-136th-birthday/ |title=Zinaida Serebriakova's 136th Birthday |website=Google |date=10 December 2020 }}</ref>


==Selected artwork==
<gallery perrow="3" widths="208" heights="208" caption="Zinaida Serebriakova's paintings ">
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
⚫ File:1911. Купальщица.jpg|''Nude'', 1911
File:1913. Баня.jpg|''Sauna'', 1913 File:Serebriaikova veranda-spring.jpg|''The Veranda in Spring'', watercolor, 1900
⚫ File:Zinaida Serebriakova The Shoots of Autumn Crops.jpg|'']'' (Зеленя осенью), 1908
File:1912. Баня.jpg|''Sauna'', 1912
File:1910. Портрет Ольги Константиновны Лансере.jpg|''Portrait of Olga Lanceray'', 1910
⚫ File:Zinaida Serebriakova The Shoots of Autumn Crops.jpg|''The Shoots of Autumn Crops'', 1908
File:Serebriaikova veranda-spring.jpg|''The veranda in Spring'', watercolor, 1900
File:Serebriakova apples-on-the-branches-1910.jpg|''Apples on the Branches'', 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
</gallery> </gallery>

==See also==
* ]
⚫ * ]


==Notes== ==Notes==
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These templates can be copied for additional references. (], ]) These templates can be copied for additional references. (], ])
*{{cite book |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |others= |title= |year= |publisher= |location= |id= }} * {{cite book |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |others= |title= |year= |publisher= |location= |id= }}
* {{cite journal }}
*{{cite journal |quotes= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= |month= |title= |journal= |volume= |issue= |pages= |id= |url= |accessdate= }}
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*{{cite journal |quotes= |last=Hilton |first=Alison L. |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=1982{{ndash}}1983|title=Zinaida Serebriakova |journal=Woman's Art Journal |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=32–35 |id= |accessdate=|doi=10.2307/1358032 |publisher= Woman's Art, Inc. |jstor= 1358032 }} () * {{cite journal |last=Hilton |first=Alison L. |date=1982{{ndash}}1983|title=Zinaida Serebriakova |journal=Woman's Art Journal |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=32–35 |doi=10.2307/1358032 |publisher= Woman's Art, Inc. |jstor= 1358032 }} ()
*{{cite book |last=Rusakova |first=A. A. (Alla Aleksandrovna) |authorlink= |coauthors= |others= |title=Zinaida Serebriakova 1884-1967 |year=2006 |publisher=Iskusstvo-XXI vek |location=Moskva |isbn=5-98051-032-X |language=ru}} * {{cite book |last=Rusakova |first=A. A. (Alla Aleksandrovna) |title=Zinaida Serebriakova 1884-1967 |year=2006 |publisher=Iskusstvo-XXI vek |location=Moskva |isbn=5-98051-032-X |language=ru}}
: <!-- orbis has two errors: last name, ISBN --> : <!-- orbis has two errors: last name, ISBN -->
:Illustrated monograph on the creative development and life of Zinaida Serebriakova by St. Petersburg art critic A. A. Rusakova. :Illustrated monograph on the creative development and life of Zinaida Serebriakova by St. Petersburg art critic A. A. Rusakova.
*{{cite book |last=Serebriakova |first=Zinaida Evgenevna |authorlink= |coauthors= |others=compiled by V.N. Kniazeva, annotated by U.N. Podkopaeva |title=Zinaida Serebriakova : pisma, sovremenniki o khudozhnitse |year=1987 |publisher=Izobrazitelnoe iskusstvo |location=Moskva |id= |language=ru}} * {{cite book |last=Serebriakova |first=Zinaida Evgenevna |others=compiled by V.N. Kniazeva, annotated by U.N. Podkopaeva |title=Zinaida Serebriakova : pisma, sovremenniki o khudozhnitse |year=1987 |publisher=Izobrazitelnoe iskusstvo |location=Moskva |language=ru}}
:''Zinaida Serebriakova: Letters, contemporary views'' (literally: ''Zinaida Serebriakova: Letters, contemporaries on the artist'') :''Zinaida Serebriakova: Letters, contemporary views'' (literally: ''Zinaida Serebriakova: Letters, contemporaries on the artist'')
*{{cite book |last=Yablonskaya |first=M.N. |authorlink= |coauthors= |others=Anthony Parton (ed. and trans.) |title=Women artists of Russia's new age, 1900-1935 |year=1990 |publisher=Rizzoli |location=New York |isbn=0-8478-1090-9 }} * {{cite book |last=Yablonskaya |first=M.N. |others=Anthony Parton (ed. and trans.) |title=Women artists of Russia's new age, 1900-1935 |year=1990 |publisher=Rizzoli |location=New York |isbn=0-8478-1090-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/womenartistsofru00iabl }}


==External links== ==External links==
{{commons category}} {{commons category}}
* *
* *
*<br>(Three show her signature in 1930s Paris. Two sold for over $500,000.) * <br>(Three show her signature in 1930s Paris. Two sold for over $500,000.)
* {{ru icon}}<br>(The following portraits from the above site show her signature in Cyrillic script.) * {{in lang|ru}}<br>(The following portraits from the above site show her signature in Cyrillic script.)
:* {{ru icon}} :* {{in lang|ru}}
:* {{ru icon}} :* {{in lang|ru}}
* on ]

{{Authority control}} {{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 09:12, 23 December 2024

Russian painter (1884–1967)
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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Yevgenyevna and the family name is Serebriakova.

Zinaida Serebriakova
Зинаида Серебрякова
At the Dressing-Table. Self-Portrait (1909)
BornZinaida Yevgenyevna Lansere
10 December [O.S. 30 November] 1884
Neskuchnoye, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died19 September 1967(1967-09-19) (aged 82)
Paris, France
Resting placeSainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery, Paris
NationalityRussian, Soviet, French (after 1947)
Educationby Osip Braz, Repin, Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Known forPainting
MovementRepresentational, Neoclassical Revival, Mir iskusstva
Spouse Boris Serebriakov ​ ​(m. 1905; died 1919)​
Children4

Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova (Russian: Зинаида Евгеньевна Серебрякова; née Lansere (Лансере); 12 December [O.S. 30 November] 1884 – 20 September 1967) was a Russian and later French painter.

Family

The Artist's Sister, 1911

Zinaida Serebriakova was born on the estate of Neskuchnoye near Kharkov into the artistic Benois family in the Russian Empire.

Her father, Evgenii Lansere, was a sculptor and her mother, Ekaterina Lansere, was a painter. 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 art group. One of Zinaida's brothers, Nikolay Lanceray, was an architect, and her other brother, Yevgeny Yevgenyevich Lanceray, had an important place in Russian and Soviet art as a master of monumental painting and graphic art. The English actor and writer Peter Ustinov was also related to her.

Youth

In 1900, she graduated from a women's gymnasium (equivalent to grammar school or high school), and entered the art school founded by Princess Maria Tenisheva. She studied with Ilya Repin in 1901 and portrait artist Osip Braz between 1903 and 1905. From 1902 to 1903, she spent time in Italy, and from 1905 to 1906 she studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

In 1905, she married her first cousin, Boris Serebriakov, the son of Evgenyi's sister, and took his surname. Boris went on to become a railroad engineer.

Early success

Harvest, 1915
Self-Portrait as Pierrot, 1911

Serebriakova's most famous self-portrait, At the Dressing-Table (1909, Tretyakov Gallery), was painted while she was snowed in at her family home and models from a nearby village were unable to travel there. Her brother Evgenii encouraged Serebriakova to enter the painting in an exhibition mounted by the Union of Russian Artists in 1910, where it was received with enthusiasm and purchased for the Tretyakov Gallery collection. The self-portrait was followed by Girl Bathing (1911, Russian Museum), a portrait of Ye.K. Lanceray (1911, private collection), and a portrait of the artist's mother Yekaterina Lanceray (1912, Russian Museum).

Serebriakova joined the Mir iskusstva movement in 1911.

From 1914 to 1917, Serebriakova produced a series of pictures on the theme of Russian rural life including Peasants (1914–1915, Russian Museum), Sleeping Peasant Girl (private collection).

When, in 1916, Alexander Benois was commissioned to decorate the Kazan Railway Station in Moscow, he invited Yevgeny Lanceray, Boris Kustodiev, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, and Serebriakova to help him. Serebriakova took on the theme of the Orient: India, Japan, Turkey, and Siam 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

House of Cards, 1919

After the outbreak of the October Revolution in 1917, Serebriakova's life changed. In 1919, her husband Boris died of typhus. 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 commissars, 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. After the October Revolution, 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. 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.

Paris

At Breakfast, 1914

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, 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. 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, as well as Arab women and Africans 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 Moscow Art Theatre.

Serebriakova's works were finally exhibited in the Soviet Union in 1966, in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev, to great acclaim. Her albums sold by the millions, and she was compared to Botticelli 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 at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.

Tribute

On 10 December 2020, Google celebrated her 136th birthday with a Google Doodle.

Selected artwork

  • The Veranda in Spring, watercolor, 1900 The Veranda in Spring, watercolor, 1900
  • The Shoots of Autumn Crops (Зеленя осенью), 1908 The Shoots of Autumn Crops (Зеленя осенью), 1908
  • Portrait of Olga Lanceray, 1910 Portrait of Olga Lanceray, 1910
  • Apples on the Branches, 1910 Apples on the Branches, 1910
  • Nude (Купальщица), 1911 Nude (Купальщица), 1911
  • Bath-house, 1913 Bath-house, 1913

See also

Notes

  1. Her last name is often spelled Serebryakova and her maiden name is sometimes spelled Lansere (Russian: Лансере́). She usually signed her work Z. Serebryakova or in Cyrillic script and sometimes she spelled her last name Serebryakoff (Rusakova 2006). Her family called her by the nicknames Zika and Zina (Serebryakova 1987).
  2. ^ Hilton, Alison (Autumn 1982 – Winter 1983). "Zinaida Serebriakova". Woman's Art Journal. 3 (2): 32–33. doi:10.2307/1358032. JSTOR 1358032.
  3. "Zinaida Serebriakova's 136th Birthday". Google. 10 December 2020.

References

Brief desc. (in German) Cover image and description. (in Ukrainian) Larger cover image showing her signature in Latin script.
Illustrated monograph on the creative development and life of Zinaida Serebriakova by St. Petersburg art critic A. A. Rusakova.
  • Serebriakova, Zinaida Evgenevna (1987). Zinaida Serebriakova : pisma, sovremenniki o khudozhnitse (in Russian). compiled by V.N. Kniazeva, annotated by U.N. Podkopaeva. Moskva: Izobrazitelnoe iskusstvo.
Zinaida Serebriakova: Letters, contemporary views (literally: Zinaida Serebriakova: Letters, contemporaries on the artist)

External links

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