Zinaida Serebryakova. The difficult fate of the artist

Girl with a candle. Self-portrait (fragment)

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova had a difficult fate, which included great love, the happiness of motherhood, the joy of creating, many years of separation from her children, and longing for her abandoned homeland.

Artist Zinaida Serebryakova. Life and art

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

In 1886, the artist’s father died suddenly and the large family settled in the apartment of Nikolai Benois’s grandfather, a famous architect.

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

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

Zina grew up... as a sickly and rather unsociable child, in which she resembled her father and did not at all resemble her mother or her brothers and sisters, who were all distinguished by their cheerful and sociable disposition.

From the memoirs of Alexandre Benois

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

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 critics will say that young Zinaida, subconsciously, depicted a symbol of fertility, free life in unity with nature. And this symbol determined the artist’s entire creative path for the rest of his life.

...On our Neskuchny estate, where everything, both nature and the peasant life around me, excited and delighted me with their picturesqueness, and I generally lived in a kind of “child of enthusiasm”...

Zinaida Evgenievna graduated from a 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 began taking painting lessons from the famous portrait painter Osip Braz.

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

Now it’s difficult to say how sick Zinaida Evgenievna was... The thing is that the future famous artist had a cousin, Boris Serebryakov. The young people were friends for a long time, became friends and fell in love with each other. The relatives knew about this connection, in the end they resigned themselves to the inevitable and stopped interfering with 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 people and the Serebryakov family (Zinaida Evgenievna took her husband’s surname) left for Paris in 1905.

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

In 1906, the young family returned to St. Petersburg. The young spouse needs to graduate from university (he will become a railway engineer), and the time has come for the young wife to give birth to their first child.

In 1906, a son, Evgeniy, was born, and in 1907, a son, 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.

The self-portrait “Behind the Toilet” and the gouache “Greenery in Autumn” are acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery. It was an undoubted 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 in snow - our garden, the fields around, there were 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 short, but very happy, break in creative activity: in 1912, daughter Tatyana was born, and a year later - Ekaterina.

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

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

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

And then the revolution broke out, and after the revolution came the civil war. Zinaida Evgenievna and 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 artist’s paintings. 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 means of livelihood, without permanent housing. It was at this time that one of the artist’s most tragic paintings, “House of Cards,” appeared. There are simply no oil paints and she writes with pencil and charcoal.

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

In 1920, the Serebryakov family returned to St. Petersburg, to the apartment of grandfather Nikolai Benois. Here, for the first time in recent years, luck smiled on the destitute family - Moscow Art Theater artists, and not Soviet workers, were moved into a large apartment “to consolidate.”

Zinaida begins to write again. She paints several portraits of her late husband (they are now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Novosibirsk Art Gallery), writes a whole series of works about the theater. It so happened that Zinaida Evgenievna’s daughter began to study ballet and the artist and her daughters often visit the Mariinsky Theater.

Hard times of hunger are giving way to some revival - exhibition activities are being revived. Serebryakova again worked a lot and in 1924 became a participant in a large exhibition of Russian artists in America. All her paintings were sold, but the $500 received for the paintings was catastrophically insufficient for the life of a large family in Soviet Russia, and the inspired Serebryakova decided 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 prosperity and international recognition? This is already my version.

However, in Paris, even without Serebryakova, there are a huge number of Russian artists, and Paris is fickle and spoiled by a simply incredible offer of paintings at very affordable prices. In addition, Zinaida Evgenievna completely lacked a commercial streak.

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 she earned in Paris to St. Petersburg to support her family. She herself lives in France on a bird's license (with a refugee passport. She received French citizenship only in 1947).

Life now seems to me like meaningless vanity and lies - everyone’s brains are now 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? Difficult questions that I definitely cannot answer.

A few years later, daughter Katya comes to France, and then son Alexander. And immigration from the Soviet Union stops. Zinaida Evgenievna will see her daughter Tatyana only 36 years later 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 works sell millions of copies around the world.

The much-desired fame finally comes to her, and this fame comes from abandoned Russia - after the exhibition in the USSR, a real hunt begins all over the world for the artist’s paintings. Serebryakova is compared to Renoir and Botticelli.

She never managed to gain the independence and financial well-being that she had been striving for all her life.
But international fame remained.

Today her paintings are sold not just “for high prices”. In 2015, the painting “Sleeping Girl” was sold at auction for $5.9 million.
Life is terribly unfair. Or is it fair? I have no answer.

Paintings by artist Zinaida Serebryakova

Sleeping peasant woman

Whitening canvas

In the ballet dressing room ("Big Ballerinas")

Sleeping model

At breakfast

Portrait of B.A. Serebryakova

Resting black woman

Reclining Moroccan woman

Portrait of Vera Fokina

Sleeping girl

Nude

House of cards

Greenery in autumn

Behind the toilet. Self-portrait

Sunlit

Self-portrait dressed as Pierrot

Portrait of Olga Konstantinovna Lanceray

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 still life

Portrait of A.D. Danilova

Portrait of V.K. Ivanova in a Spanish costume

Son Alexander in a carnival costume

I already made a post about . But in connection with the exhibition currently taking place at the Nashchokin House Gallery dedicated to its 125th anniversary, I cannot help but rewrite it.
Because this exhibition is not enough for me. It's a pathetic distillation of her work. And I love her no less than Valentina Serova. This is amazing, cheerful and powerful, not at all feminine painting. And looking at her, it is completely impossible to guess what difficult fate God has prepared for this amazing woman.

Behind the toilet. Self-portrait.1908-1909. Tretyakov Gallery

I think everyone knows the Benois family, famous in our art.
So the sister of Alexander Nikolaevich Benois - Ekaterina Nikolaevna (she was also a graphic artist) married the sculptor Evgeniy Alexandrovich Lanceray. Evgeny Aleksandrovich Lanceray was the best animal artist of his time. I would even say not only mine.
The Lansere family owned the Neskuchnoye estate near Kharkov. And there, on December 10, 1884, their daughter Zinochka, their sixth and last child, was born.
Two sons Evgeniy and Nikolai also became creative personalities. Nikolai became a talented architect, and Evgeniy Evgenievich -

- like my sister, she is an artist. He played an important role in the history of Russian and Soviet art of monumental painting and graphics.
When Zinochka was 2 years old, dad died of tuberculosis. And she, her brothers and mother went to St. Petersburg to visit her grandfather. To the big Benoit family.
Zinaida Evgenievna spent her childhood and teenage years in St. Petersburg. The architecture and museums of St. Petersburg, and the luxurious park of Tsarskoye Selo, where the family went in the summer, had an influence on the formation of the young artist. The spirit of high art reigned in the house. In the Benois and Lancer families, the main meaning of life was service to art. Every day Zina could watch how adults worked selflessly, painted a lot in watercolors, a technique that everyone in the family mastered.

The girl’s talent developed under the close attention of older family members: her mother and brothers, who were preparing to become professional artists. The entire home environment of the family fostered respect for classical art: grandfather’s stories -

Portrait 1901
Nikolai Leontievich about the Academy of Arts, trips with children to Italy, where they got acquainted with the masterpieces of the Renaissance, visiting museums.

1876-1877: the fountain in front of the facade of the Admiralty, in collaboration with A.R. Geshvend, was made by N.L. Benoit.
In 1900, Zinaida graduated from a women's gymnasium and entered an art school founded by Princess M.K. Tenisheva. In 1903-1905, she was a student of the portrait artist O. E. Braz, who taught to see the “general” when drawing, and not to paint “in parts.” In 1902-1903 she travels to Italy. In 1905-1906 he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

Winter in Tsarskoe Selo.
In 1905, in St. Petersburg, S. Diaghilev organized an exhibition of Russian portrait painters. For the first time, the beauty of the art of Rokotov, Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Venetsianov was revealed to the Russian public... Venetsianov's portraits of peasants and the poeticization of peasant labor inspired Zinaida Serebryakova to create her paintings and pushed her to seriously work on portraits.

Self-portrait
Since 1898, Serebryakova spends almost every spring and summer in Neskuchny. The work of young peasant girls in the fields attracts her special attention. Subsequently, this will be reflected more than once in her work.

Harvesting bread
Not far from the Lansere estate, on the other side of the river on a farm, there is the Serebryakovs’ house. Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Lansere’s sister, Zinaida, married Anatoly Serebryakov. Their son Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov was thus the artist’s first cousin.

Since childhood, Zina and Borya have been raised together. They are nearby both in St. Petersburg and Neskuchny. They love each other, are ready to unite their lives, and their families accept their relationship. But the difficulty is that the church did not encourage marriages of close relatives. In addition, Zinaida is of the Roman Catholic faith, Boris is Orthodox. After long ordeals, trips to Belgorod and Kharkov to see the spiritual authorities, these obstacles were finally removed, and on September 9, 1905 they got married.
Zinaida was passionate about painting, Boris was preparing to become a railway engineer. Both, as they say, doted on each other and made the brightest plans for the future.

Peasant woman with kvass.
After the wedding, the young couple went to Paris. Each of them had special plans connected with this trip. Zinaida attended the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere, where she painted from life, and Boris enrolled in the Higher School of Bridges and Roads as a volunteer.

A year later, full of impressions, the Serebryakovs return home.

In Neskuchny, Zinaida works hard - she writes sketches, portraits and landscapes, and Boris, as a caring and skillful owner, mows reeds, plants apple trees, monitors the cultivation of the land and the harvest, and is interested in photography.

She and Zinaida are very different people, but these differences seem to complement and unite them. And when they are apart (which happens often), Zinaida’s mood deteriorates and her work falls out of her hands.
In 1911, Zinaida Serebryakova joined the newly recreated World of Art association, one of the founders of which was her uncle, Alexander Nikolaevich

Portrait of B. Serebryakov.
Since August 1914, B.A. Serebryakov was the head of the survey party for the construction of the Irkutsk - Bodaibo railway, and later, until 1919, he took part in the construction of the Ufa - Orenburg railway. This happy marriage, in its own way, brought the couple four children - sons Zhenya and Shura, daughters Tanya and Katya. (All of them subsequently connected their lives with art, becoming artists, architects, and decorators.) Tatyana Borisovna died in 1989. She was a very interesting theater artist, she taught at the Moscow Academy of Arts in memory of 1905. I knew her. She was a bright, talented artist until her old age with very bright, radiant, black cherry eyes. That's how it is with all her children.

At breakfast
If I had not seen these eyes myself in life, I would not have believed in the portraits of Z. Serebryakova.
Apparently everyone in their family had such eyes.
Serebryakova’s self-portrait (1909, Tretyakov Gallery (it’s above); first shown at a large exhibition organized by the World of Art in 1910) brought wide fame to Serebryakova.

The self-portrait was followed by “Bather” (1911, Russian Museum), a portrait of the artist’s sister

“Ekaterina Evgenievna Lanceray (Zelenkova)” (1913) and a portrait of the artist’s mother “Ekaterina Lanceray” (1912, Russian Museum)

- mature works, solid in composition. She joined the World of Art society in 1911, but differed from the other members of the group in her love for simple subjects, harmony, plasticity and generalizations in her paintings.

Self-portrait. Pierrot 1911
In 1914-1917, the work of Zinaida Serebryakova experienced a period of prosperity. During these years, she painted a series of paintings on the themes of folk life, peasant work and the Russian village, which was so close to her heart: “Peasants” (1914-1915, Russian Museum).

The most important of these works was “Whitening the Canvas” (1917, State Tretyakov Gallery). The figures of peasant women, captured against the sky, acquire monumentality, emphasized by the low horizon line.

They are all written powerfully, richly, very colorfully. This is the anthem of life.
In 1916, Alexander Benois received an order to paint the Kazansky railway station (*) in Moscow; he invited Evgeny Lanceray, Boris Kustodiev, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and Zinaida Serebryakov to take part in the work. Serebryakova took the theme of the East: India, Japan, Turkey and Siam are allegorically represented as beauties. At the same time, she is working on a large painting on themes of Slavic mythology, which remains unfinished.

Zinaida met the October Revolution in her native estate Neskuchnoye. Her life suddenly changed.
In 1919, great grief happened to the family - her husband, Boris, died of typhus. At the age of 35, she is left alone with four children and a sick mother without any means of support. Here I cannot help but note that her mother was also left alone with the children at about this age, and both of them, monogamous, continued to be faithful until death to their deceased husbands, who left them so early at such a young age.

Portrait of B.A. Serebryakov. 1908
Hunger. Neskuchny's reserves were plundered. There are no oil paints - you have to switch to charcoal and pencil. At this time, she draws her most tragic work - House of Cards, showing all four orphaned children.

She refuses to switch to the futuristic style popular with the Soviets or to draw portraits of commissars, but finds work at the Kharkov Archaeological Museum, where she makes pencil sketches of exhibits. In December 1920, Zinaida moved to Petrograd to her grandfather's apartment. They really only had three rooms left. But fortunately they were filled with relatives and friends.
Daughter Tatyana started studying ballet. Zinaida and her daughter visit the Mariinsky Theater and go behind the scenes. In the theater, the artist constantly painted. Creative communication with ballerinas over three years was reflected in an amazing series of ballet portraits and compositions.

Ballet restroom. Snowflakes

Portrait of ballerina L.A. Ivanova, 1922.

Katya in a fancy dress at the Christmas tree.

In the same house, on another floor, Alexander Nikolaevich lived with his family, and Zina paints a wonderful portrait of his daughter-in-law with her grandson

Portrait of A.A. Cherkesova-Benoit with her son Alexander.
In the first years after the revolution, lively exhibition activity began in the country. Serebryakova took part in several exhibitions in Petrograd. And in 1924, she became an exhibitor at a large exhibition of Russian fine art in America, which was organized with the aim of providing financial assistance to artists. Of the 14 works presented by Zinaida Evgenievna, two were sold immediately. Using the proceeds, she, burdened with worries about her family, decides to travel abroad to organize an exhibition and receive orders. Alexander Nikolaevich Benois advised her to go to France, hoping that her art would be in demand abroad and she would be able to improve her financial situation. At the beginning of September 1924, Serebryakova left for Paris with her two children, Sasha and Katya, who were fond of painting. She left her mother with Tanya, who was fond of ballet, and Zhenya, who decided to become an architect, in Leningrad, hoping to earn money in Paris and return to them.
In the first years of her life in Paris, Zinaida Evgenievna experiences great difficulties: there is not enough money even for necessary expenses. Konstantin Somov, who helped her receive orders for portraits, writes about her situation: “There are no orders. There is poverty at home... Zina sends almost everything home... She is impractical, makes many portraits for nothing for the promise of advertising her, but all the while receiving wonderful things, she is forgotten..."
In Paris, Serebryakova lives alone, goes nowhere except museums, and really misses her children. All the years of emigration, Zinaida Evgenievna writes tender letters to her children and mother, who always spiritually supported her. She lived at this time on a Nansen passport and only in 1947 received French citizenship.

Tanya and Katya. girls at the piano 1922.

self-portrait with daughters 1921.

Zhenya 1907

Zhenya 1909
Zinaida travels a lot. In 1928 and 1930 he travels to Africa and visits Morocco. The nature of Africa amazes her; she draws the Atlas Mountains, Arab women, Africans in bright turbans. She also paints a series of paintings dedicated to the fishermen of Brittany.

Marrakesh. Walls and Towers of the city.

Moroccan woman in a pink dress.

Marokesh. Pensive man.

During the Khrushchev Thaw, contacts with Serebryakova were allowed. In 1960, after 36 years of separation, her daughter Tatyana (Tata), who became a theater artist at the Moscow Art Theater, visited her. In 1966, large exhibitions of Serebryakova's works were shown in Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv. Suddenly she becomes popular in Russia, her albums are printed in millions of copies, and her paintings are compared to Botticelli and Renoir. The children called her to return to Russia. However, Serebryakova finds it inappropriate to burden children and loved ones with worries about themselves at such an advanced age (80 years old). In addition, she understands that she will no longer be able to work fruitfully in her homeland, where her best works were created.
On September 19, 1967, Zinaida Serebryakova died in Paris at the age of 82. She was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.
Serebryakova's children are Evgeny Borisovich Serebryakov (1906-1991), Alexander Borisovich Serebryakov (1907-1995), Tatyana Borisovna Serebryakova (1912-1989), Ekaterina Borisovna Serebryakova (1913- ____).

In October 2007, the Russian Museum hosted a personal exhibition “Zinaida Serebryakova. Nudes"
For me, this is a completely separate topic in her work. She writes and draws the naked female body so powerfully and sensually, in a completely unfeminine way. I don't know another woman artist like her.
One of her most famous from this series:

Bathhouse.

"Bath". 1926

Reclining nude.

And now we just admire her paintings:

Still life with a jug.

Self-portrait.

Self-portrait with scarf 1911.

Serebryakov Boris Anatolievich.

Lansere Olga Konstantivna.

In the kitchen. Portrait of Katya.

Portrait of S.R. Ernst. 1921

Self-portrait with a brush, 1924.

Old lady in a cap. Brittany

Self-Portrait (1922).

Self-Portrait (1946).

Benois Alexander Nikolaevich (1924).

Balanchine George (in costume as Bacchus, 1922).

Benois-Clément Elena Alexandrovna (Elena Braslavskaya, 1934).

Lola Braz (1910).

Scenery. The village of Neskuchnoye, Kursk province.

Paris. Luxembourg Garden.

Menton. View of the city from the harbor.

Menton. Velan Ida (portrait of a lady with a dog, 1926).

HER. Lancer in a hat 1915.

Lifar Sergey Mikhailovich (1961).

Lukomskaya S.A. (1948).

Well, many of you see this all the time

(girl with a candle, self-portrait, 1911).
Also tell me that you don’t know such an artist. After all, every day our Zina reminds us of her :)):)
And finally

Yusupov Felix Feliksovich (prince, 1925).

Yusupova Irina Alexandrovna (princess, 1925).

...A sun-drenched stone city that grew up among soft lilac mountains, a golden glowing beach and a gentle sea, girls full of the freshness of life, colorful Moroccan women in bright outfits, portraits of a son, daughter, acquaintances and strangers who look at the viewer... with children's eyes, full of purity , joy and surprise. At the beginning of this year, the Tretyakov Gallery hosted an exhibition of works by Zinaida Serebryakova and works by her children, Ekaterina and Alexander.

Serebryakova, one of the first Russian women to go down in the history of painting, the heir to the beautiful and famous artistic families of Benois-Lancer, had a difficult fate. Soon after the revolution, she lost her husband, leaving her alone with four small children. The need to earn money forced Zinaida to go to France, but she was no longer able to return to Soviet Russia, and found herself separated from her children and mother... But, despite all the troubles and tragedies, she did not lose the light of her soul, which now pours from her paintings.

Her great-granddaughter, Anastasia Nikolaeva, through whose efforts this exhibition “Zinaida Serebryakova. Parisian period. Alexander and Ekaterina Serebryakov."

Zinaida Serebryakova had such a strong love for the world, love for everything that surrounds her, that it is passed on to people who then look at her paintings. She had the gift of love, which manifested itself in her love for art and people...

She was the youngest in the family. Her father died very early, when she was not yet three years old, and they went to live with her grandfather, the famous architect Nikolai Benois. So, from childhood, she found herself surrounded by a world for which the most important thing was serving art. Likewise, for her daughter, Ekaterina Serebryakova, service to art has always been the most important thing. I look at Aunt Katya, who recently turned 100 years old, she can’t even imagine that you can lie down to rest during the day: “No, I have to work!” Even at her age, she always tries to do something. Love for one's work plus a great capacity for work - this was passed down from the family.

When you look at the portraits of the artist’s children, whom Zinaida Serebryakova painted a lot, you see how deeply and tenderly she loved them. How was she able to survive the breakup?..

Of course, she took it all very hard. When she left for France in 1924, she did not think that she was leaving forever. She expected to stay there for a short time in order to somehow earn some money. After she was widowed, she had to feed her family - her mother and four children. She could only draw, and these were hungry years, and no one needed her painting. Moreover, she did not adapt to any fashion trends of that time. The only opportunity to earn money was commissioned portraits, and the people who could make these orders had already left the country.

Her brother, Alexandre Benois, wrote to her from Paris that perhaps, having arrived there, she could find orders. But having arrived in Paris, no one needed her here either; at that time, other paintings were in fashion. And then, Zinaida had absolutely no business acumen, she was almost unadapted to life, and in France she turned out to be very helpless. When she made portraits, she was not always paid, and they did not always do what they promised. She hardly ate; she sent all the money she managed to earn to Russia. And, of course, she suffered being separated from her children.

With the help of Alexander, Benoit managed to transport his eldest son, Alexander, to France. He arrived as a 16-year-old boy and immediately began to earn money, took on everything - helped his uncle, Alexandre Benois, sketched views of Paris, made illustrations for books and magazines, painted some lampshades, drew postcards, maps of Paris for tourist guides to help family.

- Did all Serebryakova’s children also draw?

Yes, since childhood. It was a family in which it was like air - it was necessary to breathe as well as to draw. Alexander and Ekaterina became artists, Evgeny Serebryakov was an architect-restorer. My grandmother, Tatyana, was a theater artist...

In 1928, one of the women whose portraits Zinaida painted, having learned that the artist had children in Russia, offered to help her. We managed to bring Katya, the youngest, to Paris. She was traveling alone on the train, she was about fifteen years old. Aunt Katya said that my mother worked a lot, did not go into the kitchen, did not cook, and the 15-year-old girl had to take over the housework, cooking, shopping, and cleaning. It turned out that Katya devoted her whole life to the talent of Zinaida Serebryakova, despite the fact that she herself was a talented artist. But for her, her mother and her creativity always came first.

Of course, the fate of Ekaterina Borisovna Serebryakova was fully reflected in the biblical “Honor your father and mother, may it be good for you, and may you live long on earth.” Now she is over a hundred years old, but she is in good health. Neither she nor her brother Alexander had their own families. During her best years, Katya was always close to her mother; she sacrificed her life to her mother and art.

But it turned out that she does not have a lonely old age. The family of her sister, Tatyana, became her family. And I live with her, and my children and grandchildren, her great-great-grandchildren, come to see her. And seeing “your children’s children” is the highest good. Unexpectedly, in her old age, the Lord gave her all this.

- Is Ekaterina Borisovna a believer?

Zinaida Serebryakova was from a French, Catholic family. My mother was a Catholic, my father at some point wanted to convert to Orthodoxy, but did not have time. They were not very religious people, but, of course, they went to church. And Zinaida herself had an Orthodox husband, and according to Russian rules, their children had to be baptized in Orthodoxy.

When Boris Serebryakov died, the children, together with their grandmother and mother, began to go to the Catholic Church, and considered themselves Catholics all their lives. And once in France, not being very close to the Russian emigration, they went to Catholic churches. But when I began to look up the documents, it turned out that all the Serebryakov children were baptized in Orthodoxy. A priest from the Parisian Church of the Three Saints, who comes to visit her, confessed to me that his acquaintance and conversation with Aunt Katya became one of the strongest impressions of his life, that she is a deeply Orthodox person in spirit and worldview.

After Zinaida’s death, there was a long period when she almost did not go to church, but in recent years, priests from the Three Hierarchs’ Compound have come to see her, she regularly receives communion, and even went to church for Easter Vespers. On a spiritual level, it seems to me that this coming to the Church was the completion of her path, her sacrificial life in the service of beauty and art.

One artist friend said that Zinaida Serebryakova can be called a “confessor in art.” Finding herself in a hostile revolutionary environment that did not recognize real art, then in France, she managed to remain herself all her life, and she continued to carry these ideals of beauty and love all her life, despite the fact that she did not receive money for her work, despite the fact that no one knew her. Sometimes it seemed to her that no one needed her.

And only in the last years of her life, when in 1960 her daughter Tatyana had the opportunity to come to her from Russia, she was able to convince herself of the opposite. Through the efforts of Tatiana, my grandmother, two large exhibitions were held in Moscow in 1966. And Zinaida Serebryakova saw that she had not lived her life in vain. A year later, in 1967, she died.

- How was the meeting with the children after 36 years of separation?

It wasn't easy for everyone. Of course, there was fear of the first meeting, but there was also confirmation of the closeness that had existed between them all these years. After all, Zinaida corresponded with her children all her life; they were in a close spiritual connection. My grandmother sent my mother all the books on art that were published in Russia and described all the exhibitions. They had the same view on many current events in the art world.

After a trip to her mother, my grandmother, Tatyana Borisovna, began work on organizing an exhibition of Serebryakova in Russia. Yes, her works were in the permanent exhibition of the Russian Museum, but they didn’t talk about the artist. Her name was suppressed after she left for Paris. Thanks to the efforts of Tatyana Borisovna, a large exhibition of Serebryakova’s works was able to take place in Moscow. The daughter ministry of Tatiana and Ekaterina made it possible to preserve Serebryakova’s legacy in both Russia and France.

- Were the works kept in the family?

The family survived the difficult 30s, when the children's grandmother died of starvation. Tatyana was left alone with her older brother Evgeniy when she was still a little girl. Sometimes they had to exchange their mother’s works with collectors for a loaf of bread, but at the same time they were able to save many of the works. And Catherine in France, despite the fact that they lived very modestly, tried to preserve everything. The children's caring attitude towards their mother's heritage made it possible to convey it to this day in its entirety.

The exhibition presents virtuoso, subtle architectural watercolors by Alexander, lively, tender still lifes and landscapes by Catherine... In your opinion, did the children continue the artistic traditions of their mother?

Alexander and Catherine, rather, continued the artistic tradition of the Benois-Lancer family. Perhaps, due to the scale of her personality and the uniqueness of her language, the work of Zinaida herself stands a little apart from the traditions of the family. Alexander and Catherine lived in France, were forced to work a lot to order, and were close to the world of art, to which their uncle, Alexandre Benois, belonged. The art is European, but on the other hand, it is deeply Russian. After all, they didn’t even study anywhere, but simply entered into a family tradition when a person began to draw from childhood.

Of course, everyone had talent, but it manifested itself in completely different ways. The works of Zinaida, Alexander, Ekaterina are very different from each other, but at the same time they all have something in common - a careful and loving attitude towards nature and some very deep sense of reality. Yes, the style is realism, but not photographic. Each work contains an inner feeling of nature, revealing its true beauty.

Ekaterina Borisovna’s works are perhaps similar to the paintings of Fyodor Tolstoy, executed in the manner of Russian painting of the 17th century, but there is not the slightest dryness or excessive punctuality in them. The works are realistic, but they are alive, they have color, light, and space. Catherine spoke a language that was closer to her. Zinaida Serebryakova herself, of course, is a realist, but in no way a socialist realist...

- Realist of the Silver Age, poetic realist...

She drew how she saw, how she felt, how she breathed...

It must also be said that Zinaida turned out to be surprisingly faithful in her love for her husband, who died when she was very young. She was left alone with four children, but she was a very interesting woman, and there were men who looked after her. But Serebryakova remained faithful to her husband and never married again. And it was a revelation for me to find portraits of her husband, drawn from his photographs already in the 50s. And she signed it with her hand: “Beloved Borechka”... It seems to me that this is evidence of the integrity of her nature, which is visible both in life and in art: a love that is one for life.

- Tell us a little about the works that are presented at the exhibition.

Many write that the French period was a kind of decline in Serebryakova’s work, that nothing equal to what she created in her homeland was done abroad. Of course, in Russia Serebryakova had the opportunity to paint large monumental works like “Whitening the Canvas”, she had the financial opportunity to devote herself to creativity that did not require immediate earning of money, she could write for her own pleasure.

She was worried that in France she did not have the conditions to work on large paintings. But I am sure that her sketches and Parisian portraits cannot be called decadent. The continuation and development of the line of creativity that began in Russia has achieved the highest mastery in portraiture. Looking at a person with love, Serebryakova looks deep inside every time. And then, when you look at the portraits she painted, there is a feeling of contact not only with a work of art, but also with the person himself. They are very simple on the surface, but they touch on many levels.

One Old Believer, with such extreme views, having seen the portrait sketch of sleeping children that Zinaida did, asked: “Who wrote this? You look like an icon!” And this was just a sketch of sleeping children. A sense of calm and love comes from her work.

- Have your children inherited this gift?

Yes, of course, we all draw. My dad Ivan Nikolaev, Tatyana’s son, is an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, corresponding member of the Academy of Arts, and for many years was the chairman of the monumental section in Moscow. He is the author of projects for several Moscow metro stations - “Otradnaya”, “Borovitskaya”, “Dostoevskaya”. In the 60s he did a very good painting in the National Hotel and Restaurant. He has many large works in Moscow, other cities of Russia, and in Europe. Then he worked on the paintings of several churches.

My sister Lisa and I graduated from Stroganovka. Lisa became an icon painter, working in the workshops of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. I work more in oils and also paint icons.

My brother, Hieromonk Innokenty, also graduated from the icon painting school at the MDA, and is now asceticizing in one of the Lavra monasteries. Sister Tatyana used to draw, but now she has almost no time, she has eight children, a priest husband - Father Valery Gurin, cleric of the St. Nicholas Church in Pyzhi.

- But you also continued the maternal line of the family, raising four children. Are they artists too?

Senior, Vasily - . Varvara is also an icon painter; she graduated from the Lavra Icon Painting School. Despite the fact that she already has two children, she tries to write. Peter works for our Foundation and actively helps in all activities, and in particular, in organizing this exhibition. And the youngest, Kolya, did not follow the artistic line; he studies at the Higher School of Economics. But you need someone to be your dad...

Now, Anastasia, are you continuing the work of Ekaterina and Tatiana, are you preserving and disseminating the legacy of Zinaida Serebryakova?

Alexander and Ekaterina sought to preserve the entire collection of Serebryakova’s works and tried to do everything so that it would not fall apart. A decision was made to organize the French state Zinaida Serebryakova Foundation. Its work is supervised by the French Ministry of Culture, which helps achieve many goals. The Foundation includes many members of our family. And the aspirations of the Foundation’s leaders, of course, coincide with the family’s desire for Serebryakova’s legacy to be preserved, so that people know this artist. The maximum task is to create a museum where Serebryakova’s works would be presented in a permanent exhibition. But, thank God, it is possible to hold temporary exhibitions.

Now is a time when many around are dissatisfied, they like to criticize everything, they see life in darkness and dirt. With this exhibition, I really wanted to bring into people’s lives the light and joy that Zinaida Serebryakova’s works radiate. And even in a very difficult life situation, you can not lose heart or grumble, but engage in creativity, constructive work, and give people love.

Interviewed by Alisa Strukova

Recently, the Nashchokin House Gallery hosted an exhibition dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the famous artist from the Benois family, Zinaida Serebryakova.
This is amazing, cheerful and powerful, not at all feminine painting. And looking at her, it is completely impossible to guess what difficult fate God has prepared for this amazing woman.

"Bath". 1926

Reclining nude.

And now we just admire her paintings:

Still life with a jug.

Self-portrait.

Self-portrait with scarf 1911.

Serebryakov Boris Anatolievich.

Lansere Olga Konstantivna.

In the kitchen. Portrait of Katya.

Portrait of S.R. Ernst. 1921

Self-portrait with a brush, 1924.

Old lady in a cap. Brittany

Self-Portrait (1922).

Self-Portrait (1946).

Benois Alexander Nikolaevich (1924).

Balanchine George (in costume as Bacchus, 1922).

Benois-Clément Elena Alexandrovna (Elena Braslavskaya, 1934).

Lola Braz (1910).

Scenery. The village of Neskuchnoye, Kursk province.

Paris. Luxembourg Garden.

Menton. View of the city from the harbor.

Menton. Velan Ida (portrait of a lady with a dog, 1926).

HER. Lancer in a hat 1915.

Lifar Sergey Mikhailovich (1961).

Lukomskaya S.A. (1948).

Yusupova Irina Alexandrovna (princess, 1925).

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova is a famous Russian artist. She was a prominent representative of the association of artists "". She is also known as one of the first Russian women to go down in the history of Russian painting.

Zinaida Serebryakova (before her marriage - Lansere) was born on December 12, 1884 in the village of Neskuchnoye in the Kharkov province. Since childhood, she has been surrounded by creativity and art. The fact is that Zinaida Evgenievna was born into a family that was famous for its real talents in various types of creativity. Her grandfather was the famous architect Nikolai Benois (1813-1898). Zinaida's father (1848-1886) was also a famous sculptor. Zinaida also had a sister, Alexandra Benois, who was engaged in graphics, a brother, Nikolai, an architect, and a brother, Evgeniy, a graphic artist and painter. It is worth noting that the line of talented sculptors and artists did not end with Zinaida Serebryakova. Daughter Evgenia became an architect and restorer, son Alexander became a famous designer and artist, daughter Tatyana became an Honored Artist of the RSFSR, daughter Ekaterina became an artist.

Zinaida Lansere graduated from a women's gymnasium and an art school. She was a student of the famous painter Osip Emmanuilovich Braz (1873-1936). She also studied at the Parisian Académie de la Grande Chaumière. In 1905 she married railway engineer Boris Serebryakov.

The art of the artist who glorified Russian painting is very soulful and warm. With the help of her creativity, she tried to convey to the viewer the beauty of the Russian land and Russian culture. She also traveled a lot. In 1924 she left for Paris and for a long time could not see her children. The first time after separation she met her daughter only 36 years later in 1960, when the Khrushchev thaw began. She died in Paris on September 19, 1967. Currently, her paintings are in the collections of such large museums as: Odessa Art Museum, Russian Museum, State Tretyakov Gallery.

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