Valentin Serov | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait of Serov, 1902 | |
| Born | Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (1865-01-19)19 January 1865 |
| Died | 5 December 1911(1911-12-05) (aged 46) Moscow, Russia |
| Resting place | Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | Imperial Academy of Arts |
| Known for | Portrait painting |
| Notable work | Girl with Peaches, 1887 |
| Movement | Peredvizhniki,Impressionism,Mir iskusstva |
| Elected | Member Academy of Arts (1898) Full Member Academy of Arts (1903) |
Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (Russian:Валенти́н Алекса́ндрович Серо́в; 19 January [O.S. 7 January] 1865 – 5 December 1911) was aRussian painter anddraughtsman, generally considered the primary portraitist of his generation.
Serov was born inSaint Petersburg, the sole son of the Russian composer and music criticAlexander Serov and his wife and former studentValentina Serova, also a composer in her own right. Raised in a highly artistic milieu he was encouraged to pursue his talents by his parents and in his childhood he studied inParis andMoscow underIlya Repin and in theSt. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1880–1885) underPavel Chistyakov. Serov's early creativity was sparked by therealistic art of Repin and strict pedagogical system of Chistyakov. Further influences on Serov were the old master paintings he viewed in the museums ofRussia andWestern Europe, friendships withMikhail Vrubel and (later)Konstantin Korovin, and the creative atmosphere of theAbramtsevo Colony, to which he was closely connected.
The greatest works of Serov's early period were portraits:The Girl with Peaches (1887), andThe Girl Covered by the Sun (1888), both in theTretyakov Gallery. In thesepaintings Serov concentrated on spontaneity of perception of the model and nature. In the development of light and color, the complex harmony of reflections, the sense of atmospheric saturation, and the fresh picturesque perception of the world, there appeared the features of early Russianimpressionism (though Serov was not yet aware of works of French impressionists at the time of making those paintings).
From 1890 on, theportrait became the basic genre in Serov's art. It was in this field that his early style would become apparent, the paintings notable for the psychologically pointed characteristics of his subjects. Serov's favorite models were actors, artists, and writers, such asKonstantin Korovin (1891),Isaac Levitan (1893),Nikolai Leskov (1894), andNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1898)—all in the Tretyakov Gallery.[1]
Initially abstaining from the polychromatic, brightly colored painting style of the 1880s, Serov often preferred a dominant scale of black-grey or brown tones.Impressionistic features appeared sometimes in composite construction of a portrait, or to capture a sense of spontaneous movement. As in the work of his contemporariesJohn Singer Sargent andAnders Zorn, the impressionism is not doctrinaire, but derives as much from the study ofHals andVelázquez as from modern theory. Receiving wide popularity, in 1894 Serov joined with thePeredvizhniki (The Itinerants), and took on important commissions, among them portraits of grand duke Pavel Alexandrovich, (1897, Tretyakov Gallery), S.M. Botkin, 1899, andFelix Yusupov, 1903 as well as Princess Olga Orlova (these in theRussian Museum inSt. Petersburg). In these truthful, compositionally skillful, and picturesque executions in the grand manner, Serov consistently used linear-rhythmic drawing coupled with decorative color combinations.
At the same time, he developed a contrasting direction: he frequently produced intimate, heartfelt, chamber portraits, mainly of children and women. In portraits of children Serov aspired to capture pose and gesture, to reveal and emphasize a spontaneity of internal movement, sincere cleanliness and clearness of attitude of the child (Children, 1899, Russian Museum;Mika Morozov, 1901, Tretyakov gallery). Serov frequently called upon various graphic techniques—watercolors,pastels,lithographs and so forth. Figures in Serov's portraits gradually became more and more graphically refined and economical, particularly during the late period (Vasily Kachalov, 1908,Tamara Karsavina, 1909; numerous figures fromIvan Krylov's fables, 1895–1911). From 1890 to 1900 Serov produced manylandscape compositions on country themes, in which the artistic direction took a romantic turn.
Serov married Olga Trubnikova (1865—1927) in 1889. His wife and his children were the subject of many of his works. Notably, his paintingChildren was of his sons Yura and Sasha. His children were Olga (1890-1946), Alexander (Sacha) (1892-1959, Beirut), George (Yura) (1894-1929, Paris), Michael (1896-1938), Anton (1900-1942) and Natalia (1908-1950). The late Russian painterDmitry Zhilinsky, author of portrait gallery of the Danish Royal family, is Serov’s relative as direct grandson of Serov’s sister Nadezhda, whose son Dmitry became Zhilinsky’s father.
During his late period, which began in 1900, Serov was a member of "The World of art", an influential Russian art association and magazine which grew, in part, out of dissatisfaction with the Itinerants movement. At the start of the 20th century, Serov was at a stylistic turning point: features of impressionism disappeared from his work, and hismodernistic style developed, but the characteristic truthful and realistic comprehension of the nature of his subjects remained constant. In the early 20th century Serov created heroic portrait images; within the genre of the fashionable portrait, Serov focused on the dramatic depiction of creative artists, writers, actors, and musicians of import:Maxim Gorki's portraits (1904, A.M. Gorki's museum, Moscow);Maria Yermolova (1905) andFeodor Chaliapin (charcoal, 1905), both in the Tretyakov Gallery; andHelena Roerich (1909).
Serov's democratic beliefs were clearly shown during theRevolution from 1905 to 1907: he depicted a number of satirical figures exposing chastisers. A full member of theSt. Petersburg Academy of Arts since 1903, in 1905 he resigned as a gesture of protest against the execution of striking workers and their families on 9 January,Bloody Sunday. His late creativity found expression in historical painting (Peter II andElizabeth Petrovna departing for the hunt, 1900, Russian Museum), and depth of comprehension of the historical maintenance of an epoch (Peter I,distemper, 1907, Tretyakov Gallery).
The last years of Serov's life were marked by works on themes from classicalmythology. While addressing images from the ancient tradition, Serov endowed classical subject matter with a personal interpretation.
Valentin Serov died in Moscow on 5 December 1911, from stenocardia (an acute form ofangina) that eventually led tocardiac arrest, ending in heart failure due to severe complications. He was buried at theDonskoye Cemetery. The Soviets had his remains exhumed and reburied at theNovodevichy Cemetery.[2]
The best works of Serov are among the greatest of Russian realistic art. He taught in theMoscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture from 1897 to 1909), and among his students werePavel Kuznetsov,N. N. Sapunov,Martiros Saryan,Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin,N. P. Ulyanov, andKonstantin Yuon.
A 2016 exhibition of Serov's work at theTretyakov Gallery in Moscow attracted record crowds which queued for long hours in freezing temperatures.[3] Following the visit of Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, the crowd swelled to such an extent that one of the museum's doors was broken down.[3][4] Minister of CultureVladimir Medinsky ordered the exhibition—and the gallery's opening hours—to be extended, and a field canteen was deployed to provide the people who were standing in the lines with buckwheat porridge and hot tea.[3]
Aminor planet,3547 Serov, discovered bySoviet astronomerLyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1978, is named after him.[5]
![Vera Mamontova [ru], the so-called Girl with Peaches (1887) was the painting that inaugurated Russian Impressionism.](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSerov_devochka_s_persikami.jpg)
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