Exhibition of Zinaida Serebryakova opens for the first time in Kazan
On 24 April 2015, at the Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan, the exhibition "Zinaida Serebryakova.
Collection of the State Russian Museum" opened.
The exhibition of Zinaida Serebryakova’s works from the State Russian Museum is the first introduction of the people of Tatarstan to the work of this outstanding artist.
The State Russian Museum of St.
Petersburg holds one of the largest collections of Serebryakova’s works, numbering 60 paintings and about 200 graphic works, covering all stages of the artist’s career.
This collection was formed throughout Serebryakova’s life.
The first acquisitions were made by the museum in 1911 from the famous "World of Art" exhibition that launched Serebryakova’s name.
Other sources of the collection were the artist’s children Tatyana and Evgeny Serebryakova’s holdings, as well as works acquired from Serebryakova’s personal exhibition in Leningrad in 1966.
The exposition presented in Kazan, consisting of 66 works of painting and graphics, allows visitors to become familiar with the artist’s various periods and main themes.
Included are works painted at her family estate Neskuchnoe near Kharkov, addressing peasant themes — such as "Harvesting Grain", "Peasants", and studies for the famous "Bleaching Canvas".
Her self-portraits are magnificent — Kazan displays her 1911 self-portrait.
Zinaida Serebryakova was the first artist in Russia to revive the tradition of depicting the beautiful female form in all its living grace.
She developed this theme when she was commissioned to create panels for Moscow’s Kazan railway station (a project she was invited to by her uncle, A.N.
Benois, but the project was left unrealized due to the revolutionary events of 1917).
The exhibition also includes works created in Petrograd, in which Serebryakova discovered a new theme — ballet (e.g., "Ballet Dressing Room (Swan Lake)", "Portrait of ballerina E.N.
Geydenreich in Red", etc.).
The exhibition will run until 5 July.
