Zinaida Evgenievna Serebriakova

The sheet has been laid on board. There are thin fillets of wood which have been nailed to the paper and board along all four edges. The sheet is undulating very slightly. There are spots of foxing throughout the composition, particularly visible in the left arm, neck and face as well as in the background in the upper left quadrant. The work is otherwise in good condition with strong colours. Held in a wooden frame behind glass. Unexamined out of frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

After the death of her husband, Zinaida Serebriakova was left alone with four children and an elderly mother to provide for. In late August 1924 she left them behind in the Soviet Union and went to Paris in the hope of selling some pictures and sending some money home. In Paris Serebriakova was miserable, she knew very few people, missed her family dreadfully and lived a hand-to-mouth existence, moving from hotel to hotel. She found herself unable to work in these conditions and in spring 1925 moved to London in search of portrait commissions and spent a happy few months with her cousin, the artist Nadia Benois. This short break revitalised her flagging spirits and creativity and she returned to Paris with a renewed vigour.

The virtuoso pastel Girl with a Doll is a brilliant example of the very few portraits Serebriakova managed to complete in 1925. This bright, life-affirming work conceals the anguish which the artist felt about leaving her own children behind in Soviet Russia and is at heart a portrait of her own daughter.

We are grateful to Pavel Pavlinov for providing additional cataloguing information.