Valentin Alexandrovich Serov

Valentin Alexandrovich Serov January 19, 1865 - December 5, 1911
Self-portrait, 1880's Self-portrait, 1883	Valentin Alexandrovich Serov was born into the family of a famous Russian composer Alexander Serov. In 1871 his father died, and in 1872-73 the little boy with his widowed mother, née Bergman, lived in Munich, where he had lessons from the artist K. Kepping. In 1874, they moved to Paris, where Valentin regularly visited the studio of Ilya Repin, who was very fond of the little boy. In 1875, the Serovs came to live at Abramtsevo, the estate of the industrial tycoon Savva Mamontov, and the cultural center of the time, where artists, musicians and actors were always welcome. Valentin grew up in an atmosphere of constant creativity, which characterized the Mamontovs’ household. He was lucky in getting a professional education from early childhood from the best Russian artists, and he soon showed himself to be a remarkably precocious draughtsman. He would catch the likeness of a model often more quickly and surely than the older artists in the ‘facetious drawing competitions’, which were so much a part of the gay and idyllic life of Abramtsevo. At the age of 15 Serov entered Academy of Arts in the class of professor Pavel Tchistykov. There he met his lifelong friend Vladimir Derviz. His first exhibited works Girl with Peaches. Portrait of Vera Mamontova. (1887) and Girl in the Sunlight. Portrait of Maria Simonovich. (1888) were a sensation. Critics called them a new word in painting. At the time of painting them Serov was unfamiliar with the works of the French Impressionists, yet he came very close to Renoir in these luminous, sunny, splendidly composed portraits. Serov tried himself in different genres: he was a beautiful landscape painter in a more sensuous and less nostalgic vein than another teacher of his, Isaac Levitan: Pond in Abramtsevo. (1886), The Overgrown Pond. Domotcanovo. (1888), Village. (1898), Watermill in Finland. (1902). Serov’s historical paintings are also of value and interest: Peter II and Princess Elizabeth Petrovna Riding to Hounds. (1900), Peter the Great. (1907). Serov became the most successful and brilliant portraitist in Russia of the 1890s and first decade of the 20th century. His most famous portraits are Portrait of the Actress Maria Yermolova. (1905), Portrait of Henrietta Girshman. (1907), Portrait of Ida Rubenstein. (1910), Portrait of Princess Olga Orlova. (1911). He traveled much, participated in exhibitions in Russia and abroad. In 1897-1909, Serov taught in Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He was a superb technical master of the many media in which he practiced and that too did not fail to impress his students. Among his pupils were N.N. Sapunov, M.I. Mashkov, P.V. Kuznetsov, N.P. Krymov, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, C.Y. Sudeykin, K.F. Yuon and others. In 1903, he was elected the academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Serov died in 1911.
A collection of images of works in a variety of media by Serov. I first became attracted to Serov during the 1995 exhibit by The Museum of Russian Art "In the Russian Tradition", which included two Serov paintings - "Girl with Peaches, Portrait of Vera Mamontova" and the stunning "Mika Morozov" (the first two images below). Click on any image to view a larger version. Assembled by Bob Smith, Auguest 2010

Girl with Peaches Portrait of Vera Mamontova	Mika Morozov, 1901
Alexander Pushkin on a Park Bench, 1899	Bathing of a Horse, 1905	Bullocks_Study, 1885
By the Window Portrait of Olga Trubnikova, 1885	By the Window Portrait of Olga Trubnikova	Colts at Watering Place Domotcanovo, 1904
Girl in the Sunlight Portrait of Maria Simonovich, 1888	In a Village Peasant Woman with a Horse, 1898	In Winter, 1898
Lilacs in Vase, 1887	Maria Mamontova Riding a Horse, 1884
Model, 1905	October Domotcanovo, 1895	Peasant Woman in a Cart, 1896
Peter II and Princess Elizabeth Petrovna Riding to Hounds, 1900	Pond in Abramtsevo, Study, 1886
Portrait of A. Kasyanov, 1907	Portrait of Adelaida Simonovich, 1889	Portrait of Alexander Lensky and Alexander Yuzhin, 1908
Portrait of Alexander Turchaninov, 1906	Portrait of Alexei Morozov, 1909	Portrait of Alexei Stakhovich, 1911
Portrait of Anna Benois, 1908	Portrait of Anna Pavlova, 1909	Portrait of artist Ilya Repin, 1892
Portrait of Ballet Dancer T. Karsavina, 1909	Portrait of Count Felix Sumarokov-Elstone, later Prince Yusupov, 1903	Portrait of Count Nikolay Sumarokov-Elstone, 1903
Portrait of Countess Varvara Musina-Pushkina, 1895	Portrait of Dmitry Stasov, 1908	Portrait of Fedor Shalyapin, 1905
Portrait of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, Study, 1893	Portrait of Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich, 1901	Portrait of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, 1900
Portrait of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, 1897	Portrait of Henrietta Girshman, 1906	Portrait of Henrietta Girshman, 1907
Portrait of Henrietta Girshman, 1911	Portrait of Ida Rubenstein, 1910	Portrait of Ivan Morozov
Portrait of Ivan Zabelin, 1892	Portrait of Izabella Grunberg, 1910	Portrait of K Pobedonostsev, 1902
Portrait of Kolya Simonovich, 1880	Portrait of Lialia Simonovich, 1880	Portrait of Mara Oliv, 1895
Portrait of Maria Akimova, 1908	Portrait of Maria Botkina, 1905	Portrait of Maria Lvova, 1895
Portrait of Maria Morozova, 1897	Portrait of Mikhail Fokin, 1909	Portrait of Nadezhda Derviz with Her Child, 1888_89
Portrait of Nickolai Leskov	Portrait of Nikolay Pozniakov, 1908	Portrait of P. Semenov-Tyan_Shansky, 1905
Portrait of Praskovya Mamontova, 1889	Portrait of Prince Felix Yusupov Count Sumarokov-Elstone, 1903	Portrait of Prince Vladimir Golitsyn, 1906
Portrait of Princess Olga Orlova, 1911	Portrait of Princess Polina Shcherbatova, 1911	Portrait of Princess Zinaida Yusupova, 1900-2
Portrait of Ilya Repin	Portrait of Savva Mamontov, 1887	Portrait of Sergei Chokolov, 1887
Portrait of Sophia Botkina, 1899	Portrait of Sophia Dragomirova-Lukomskaya, 1900	Portrait of the Actress Glikeria Fedotova, 1905
Portrait of the Actress Maria Yermolova, 1905	Portrait of the Artist Ilya Ostroukhov, 1902	Portrait of the Artist Isaac Levitan, 1893
Portrait of the Artist Konstantin Korovin, 1891	Portrait of the Artist Pavel Tchistyakov, 1881	Portrait of the Artist Vasily Surikov, Late 1890s
Portrait of the Composer Alexander Glazunov, 1899	Portrait of the Composer Alexander Serov, 1888-89	Portrait of the Composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, 1898
Portrait of the Composer Pavel Blaramberg, 1888	Portrait of the Italian Singer Angelo Masini, 1890	Portrait of the Italian Singer Francesco Tamagno, 1891
Portrait of the Poet Konstantin Balmont, 1905	Portrait of the Writer Leonid Andreev, 1907	Portrait of the Writer Maxim Gorky, 1905
Portrait of Vera Repin, 1881	Portrait of Vladimir Girshman, 1911	Portrait of Yekaterina Chokolova, 1887
Portrait of Yelena Balina, 1911	Portrait of Yelena Oliv, 1909	Portrait of Yevdokia Loseva, 1903
Portrait of Yevdokia Morozova, 1908	Portrait of Margarita Morozova
Sasha Serov, 1897	Sergey Diaghilev	Summertime Portrait of Olga Serova, 1895
Terrace in Vvedensk, 1880s	The Children Sasha and Yura Serov, 1899	The Overgrown Pond, Domotcanovo, 1888
The Rape of Europe, 1910	The White Sea, 1894	Tundra - Travelling by Deer, 1896
Coronaton of Tsar St Nikolai Aleksandrovich, 1894	Portrait of Tsar St Nikolai Aleksandrovich, 1900	Village, 1898
Watermill in Finland, 1902