Zinaida Serebriakova Painted Lighthearted, Poetic Pictures

DECEMBER 10, ON THIS DAY

Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova was a Russian painter who represented symbolism, expressionism and art-deco styles. Her paintings frequently featured scenes of nature, rural life, and peasants at work, particularly women. Serebriakova constantly painted lighthearted, poetic pictures of her loved ones. They convey the artist\’s emotional state, which was one of utmost familial happiness. Serebriakova also enjoyed doing self-portraits. She always embodies elegance and was excited about romance. And even when Serebriakova painted other ladies, we can still perceive her own reflection in their looks.

Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova was born On December 10, 1884 to Evgeny Aleksandrovich Lanceray and Ekaterina Nikolaevna Benois in the town of Neskuchnoye, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire. Serebriakova completed her general education at the women\’s gymnasium in 1900. A year later, Serebriakova was taught by the painter Ilya Repin. She started her creative education at Princess Maria Tenisheva\’s art school in 1902. The following year, she became a student of the other master, portraitist Osip Braz, who had taught her art for two years. Serebriakova enrolled for a year at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris in 1905.

All of Serebriakova\’s paintings demonstrate her strong attachment to and love for the people or things she depicts, whether it\’s portraits of friends and family or the world of ballet dance, where she found herself after her daughter. On the days of ballet performances, Serebriakova was permitted to enter the backstage area of the Mariinsky Theater where she sketched the ballerinas from nature. These depictions assist in establishing a holiday-like ambiance and helping one to fully immerse oneself in the environment of theatrical dressing rooms.

One of her most popular paintings \’Self-Portrait at the Dressing Table\’ was presented at the Union of Russian Artists exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1910. The painting\’s realism, enthusiasm, and creativity represented her joyful home life. She often included her children in the paintings, such as At Dinner (1914), which was seen as harmonious and cheery while remaining unsentimental. Zinaida\’s nudes of the time were also critically praised. Her series of \”peasant\” paintings, such as Midday and Harvest, which depict peasant women working the land and relaxing after labour, are examples of how Serebryakova\’s belief in national art was expressed. Her inspiration for these came from Russian artist Venetsianov, who used rural life to illustrate the harmony in nature. Other Serebryakova works, including Bleaching Linen were praised for their rhythmic structure and straightforward, strong forms. Serebriakova\’s work at the time featured a lot of portraits, especially of her own family and acquaintances. She painted pictures of rural life and landscapes while she was visiting Neskuchnoye. With works like The Bather, The Bath House, Harvest, and Bleaching Linen, the female form both naked and dressed becomes a particular staple of the decade from 1910 to 1917.

A large exhibition of Zinaida Serebryakova\’s artwork was mounted in 1966 in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev. Eighty-two-year-old Zinaida Serebryakova passed away in Paris on September 19, 1967. It\’s surprising that Zinaida Serebryakova painted nudes for the majority of her life, conveying both her personal philosophy and a deeper sense of self-expression. She has always admired the beauty of the human race. Her paintings were created using a variety of mediums (oil, sanguine, and pastel), and were frequently extremely rich in colour changes. The artist always achieved a unique ornamental effect for the image while also precisely verifying the compositional placement of nature in the painting. Her adoration of beauty, whether it be in nature or in people, is a defining characteristic of her later landscapes and portraits. The link to her closest and dearest things, though, was what was most crucially missing.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinaida_Serebriakova
2. https://musings-on-art.org/serebryakova-zinaida
3. https://www.askart.com/artist/Zinaida_Evgenievna_Serebriakova/11069945/Zinaida_Evgenievna_Serebriakova.aspx