Zinaida Serebryakova

27 December 2015

Two posts from ‘Russia beyond the Headlines‘, marking her birthday date of 12 December, reminded me of how much I love the work of the Russian painter Zinaida Serebryakova, particularly those paintings showing monumental peasant women in their everyday working dress.

Bleaching Linen: 1917.  This is my favourite, because of the textile-related subject matter, but also the boldness of the composition, looking up at the figures from a low angle.  I’d no idea it was so big until I saw the real painting in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

There are plenty of examples of Serebryakova’s work to be found on the internet.  Here are three slide-shows posted by someone called Leonid. (Thanks Leonid!)

Zinaida Serebryakova Part 1; Part 2; Part 3

Self portrait with two of her children