Exhibition "Zinaida Serebryakova" in Kaluga

On 28 October 2014, at 16:00, the exhibition "Zinaida Serebryakova" opened in the exhibition hall of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts.

It was timed to the 130th anniversary of the world-renowned artist.

For the first time in Kaluga’s history, 30 paintings and graphic works by Z.E.

Serebryakova are on display, drawn from several museum collections — the Russian Museum, the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts, and the Tula Regional Art Museum.

The exhibition’s presentation includes both the artist’s pre-revolutionary and emigration periods.

Particularly valuable exhibits include works that made Serebryakova famous in Russian art, such as "Banya", "Peasants", "House of Cards", "Study of a Girl (Self-Portrait)", and "Ballet Dressing Room (Swan Lake)".

Zinaida Evgenyevna Serebryakova (1884–1967) was a brilliant master of 20th-century painting, a participant in the Mir Iskusstva (World of Art) movement, and one of the first Russian women to enter the history of world painting.

She grew up in an artistic family spanning several generations (her father was sculptor E.A.

Lanceray, her uncle was artist and theater designer A.N.

Benois, and her brother was notable Soviet muralist and graphic artist E.E.

Lanceray), and absorbed the best humanistic traditions of Russian culture from childhood.

After brief studies in private schools in Petersburg and Paris, she became involved in Russia’s artistic life of the early 1900s and immediately won universal recognition — not just for the unique beauty and classical manner of her painting, but for how she expressed an appealing feminine essence, the simplicity and openness of her soul, and a clear, tranquil outlook on the world.

Her orientation toward classical themes and motifs remained.

In her peasant scenes, Serebryakova drew on the tradition of A.G.

Venetsianov – the poet of rural life and peasant labor.

She used complex perspectives and angles freely, but never dramatized her images, maintaining calm, contemplative grandeur and monumentality.

Serebryakova’s art is very diverse.

A magnificent draughtsman and refined painter, she worked in various genres.

The exhibition includes her multi-figure compositions, portraits, landscapes, and still lifes.

Among the exhibits are a number of exquisite self-portraits by the artist, each completely different in mood, painterly approach, and concept.

Great interest is also aroused by works belonging to two significant series – the "Moroccan" and "Ballet" series.

Painted with astonishing skill, they embody the artist’s conception of the harmony of human life and nature.

Zinaida Serebryakova was a nobly dreamy, calm person, detached from the anxieties of her time and turned to the beautiful past and classical traditions.

A person of generous soul, she left behind a significant creative legacy, imbued with a poetry of life, lyrical feeling, and true folk spirit.

The exhibition will run from 30 October to 14 December 2014 (open 10:00–18:00, Thursday until 19:00; closed on Mondays).

Contact phone: 56-28-30.