Биография Зинаиды Серебряковой

Zinaida Lancera was destined to draw - by her family - for sure. Zina's father, Eugene Lansere, was a famous St. Petersburg sculptor, mother - nee Ekaterina Benois, the sister of Alexander Benois. Zina is the youngest child, she was not even two years old when her father died of consumption. From the Neskuchnoye estate (then - the Kursk province of the Russian Empire, now - the Kharkov region of Ukraine), the mother and children moved to St. Petersburg to the parental home.

In addition to the joy of painting, the girl's life was illuminated by another great joy - love. The family spent the summer in Neskuchny, where their relatives, the Serebryakovs, lived on a neighboring estate. With Boris, her cousin, Zina was familiar from childhood, over time, friendship grew into love. The young people decided to get married, but they did not succeed right away. Parents were in favor, but the church opposed because of the kinship of the lovers.

From her very marriage to the revolution, Zinaida Serebryakova was happier than ever. Their lives were simple, calm and joyful. In winter they lived in Petersburg, in warm weather - in Neskuchny. They did not particularly participate in secular entertainments; Zinaida's interests revolved around her children, her beloved husband and painting. Even when walking with the children, she certainly took the album with her.

By 1913, the Serebryakovs already had four children: the older boys Zhenya and Sasha and the girls Tata and Katya.

After the revolution in Russia, probably everyone faced changes in their lives. Boris was arrested, the estate in Neskuchny was burned. Fortunately, their peasants were warned, so the Serebryakovs left for Kharkov on time. Released, Boris died in the arms of his wife from typhus, leaving her in the "people's country" under construction with four children.

The brightest event of this "life after life" for Zinaida Serebryakova was, perhaps, a trip to Morocco. The Belgian Baron Brower saw her paintings at one of the exhibitions and offered to pay for the trip so that he could pick up any pictures he liked from the paintings written there. In 1928 and 1932, Zinaida traveled to Morocco.

Only during the Khrushchev thaw, in 1960, Tatiana, and a few years later, and son Eugene were able to come to his mother. And six years later - to organize her exhibition in Moscow. The success was deafening! But Serebryakova herself did not dare to come to the USSR. And age made itself felt, and to return to the place where she was once very happy, knowing that those places no longer exist, not everyone can afford.

The self-portrait "Behind the Toilet" (1909). Serebryakova began to paint it "playfully", but it was this picture that made her a celebrity. “I decided to stay with my children in Neskuchny ... My husband Boris Anatolyevich was on a business trip, winter came early this year, everything was covered with snow - our garden, the fields around, everywhere there are snowdrifts, you can't get out. But the house on the farm is warm and cozy, and I began to paint myself in the mirror ... ”- she later recalled.

Serebryakova began to draw tables of historical finds for the archaeological museum at Kharkov National University. This boring part-time job was luck - it allowed me to somehow feed the children and the elderly mother. At this time, the artist painted her darkest work "House of Cards" (1919) - all four orphaned children are depicted on canvas. The house of cards they are building is about to crumble - just like the world of the Serebryakovs.

The eldest daughter Tatyana began attending ballet classes, and Serebryakova was able to observe the complex and interesting world behind the scenes of the Mariinsky Theater. This is how a whole series of ballet scenes appeared, easily and swiftly outlined in pastels. Her young dancers, dressing up and getting ready to perform, are weightless, innocent, graceful and at the same time serious.

Zinaida Serebryakova was destined to live two destinies. In the first, she is a descendant of an artistic family, a happy, beloved and loving wife, mother of adored children and a talented artist who entered Russian painting with her self-portrait in front of a mirror, in which happiness, love, contentment, freshness and joy of life seem to be concentrated. The second fate is a widow, separated from her children, struggling to earn a piece of bread, not finding a place in a foreign land and losing her homeland, torn apart by anxiety and devoured by hopeless longing.