SEREBRYAKOFF Alexander Borisovich

September 7, 1907 (Neskuchnoye, Belgorod uyezd, Kursk province) — January 10, 1995 (Paris)

Painter, graphic artist, designer, scene-designer

Alexander Serebryakoff was a son of the painter Z. E. Serebryakova. He spent his childhood in St. Petersburg and in the estate Neskuchnoye. He did not receive any art education, he studied on his own. In 1925 Serebryakoff emigrated abroad; after several removals, he settled with his mother in Paris.

In 1926 Serebryakoff painted a series of geographical maps as decorative design for temporary exhibitions in the Museum of Decorative Art in Paris.

In 1928 Serebryakoff made his successful début at the exhibition of Russian artists in the gallery of M. S. Lesnick in Paris. Later he took part in many group exhibitions in Paris galleries, exposed his works in Prague and Brussels.

In 1931, when the Colonial Exhibition in Paris ended, Serebryakoff painted a cycle of big decorative panels for Paris Colonial Museum. In 1934–1935 the artist together with his mother Z. E. Serebryakova was engaged in interior design of the estate of Baron de Brouwer near Brussels.

Serebryakoff painted watercolor landscapes of Paris; he also was engaged in scene design together with A. N. Benois and Ch. Berard. Serebryakoff worked as a scene-designer under the guidance of the artist P. N. Schildknecht for French cinematograph, designed and illustrated books for French, American and Belgian publishing houses — Our France. Album for children (1934); Venok. Poems by Lolly Lvov (1938); Twilight of the Gods (1938). He collaborated with different vogue magazines. In 1930s the artist traveled through France and Belgium, and painted landscapes.

In 1941 Serebryakoff together with architect Emilio Terry worked on decorative design of interiors and park pavilions of the Château de Groussay near Versailles, which belonged to the famous art collector and Cultural Attaché of Spain Carlos de Beistegui.

During the postwar years Serebryakoff was engaged in the projects of interior designs of the museums and rich mansions, which were under reconstruction. There he painted illusive wall paintings with bookcases and porcelain collections skillfully.

In 1946 the artist created scene design for the ballet La Sylphide by J. Schneitzhoeffer staged by V. Gzovsky for the Ballet des Champs Elysees. Serebryakoff together with A. N. Benois drew illustrations to the poem Grigory Orlov by A. A. Popov. In 1950 he designed the ballet Giselle by A. Adam (production was not realized).

In 1951 Serebryakoff drew a series of watercolors with scenes of grandiose costume ball, organized by Carlos de Beistegui in Palazzo Labia in Venice. In 1969 he created a series of works with scenes of the Oriental ball given by Baron Alexis de Redé in the Hôtel Lambert on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris.

Later Serebryakoff painted detailed interiors of famous private castles and palaces in France, England and Austria. In 1985 the retrospective common exhibition of A. B. Serebryakoff and his sister E. B. Serebryakova was organized in Paris. In 1987 retrospective exhibition of the artist was held in Didier Aaron Gallery in New York.

Alexander Serebryakoff followed the traditions of the art group Mir Iskusstva (“World of Art”). He created chamber artworks, which were characterized by diminutiveness, stylization, decorative colors and predominance of graphic elements over pictorial ones. As the artists of the group Mir Iskusstva, Serebryakoff painted mainly in watercolors.