She was renowned for her joyful realist style and thrived at a time when female painters were seldom recognized. Serebriakova left an indelible mark on her nation’s culture through masterful paintings of the contemporary life and landscapes of her Russian homeland.
Her grandfather, Nicholas Benois, was a famous architect, chairman of the Society of Architects and member of the Russian Academy of Science. Her uncle, Alexandre Benois, was a famous painter, founder of the Mir iskusstva art group. Her father, Yevgeny Nikolayevich Lanceray [Wikidata], was a well-known sculptor, and her mother, who was Alexandre Benois' sister, had a talent for drawing. One of Zinaida's brothers, Nikolay Lanceray, was a talented 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 Russian-English actor and writer Peter Ustinov was also related to her.  |
| Self Portrait 1911 |
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| Country Girl |
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| Bleaching Cloth |
In 1917, the Russian Revolution destroyed her secure life. Her husband died of typhoid contacted in a Bolshevik jail, her money and her family's estate were confiscated. She was left penniless with four children to raise.
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| House of Cards |
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Anna Akhmatova 1922 |
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| Blue Ballerinas, 1922 |
"She did not want to switch to the futurist style 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." In 1924, she was able to leave Russia and move to Paris, having received a commission to paint a large decorative mural. She was able to get her two youngest children out of Russia but did not see her two oldest children until the thaw in Russian politics until Khruschev, 35 years later.
She was now able to travel , visiting Africa, Morocco, and the Atlas mountains of Morocco. Her love of beauty as well as respect for her subjects shines through all of her paintings.
Zinaida Serebriakova died 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
Zinaida Serebriakova died 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
