Portrait of Ida Rubinstein, Valentin Alexandrovich Serov: description of the painting

Paris. There is a 1910 year. The whole French capital is crazy about the Diaghilev seasons. The impulsive Parisians have already heard Russian operas, with our brilliant singers, with amazing scenery. It was the turn of the ballets. Parisian conquer the productions of Mikhail Fokin, so innovative, they are shaken by the costumes and scenery created by our best artists, but most striking are A. Pavlov and V. Nizhinsky, T. Karsavina and I. Rubinstein. Soon, the great V. Serov will create an unforgettable poster with A. Pavlova and write a portrait of Ida Rubinstein.

Brief information about the family

Ida Lvovna Rubinstein (1885-1960) was born in the richest family in Kharkov. Not one generation of the Rubinshteins lived in it. Many, including her father, were honorary citizens of this city. Grandfather founded a banking house. Her father and her uncle owned three sugar refineries, wholesaling them. At their brewery Novaya Bavaria beer was brewed and sold throughout the country. In four banks owned by them, large-scale monetary transactions were carried out. Having huge incomes, they did not forget about charity.

The brothers regularly issued money to support the Jewish community and the synagogue. They were engaged in patronage and created the "Russian Music Society" in Kharkov. Their house loved to visit KS. Stanislavsky, originating himself from a wealthy family of Russian industrialists. But no one knew which portrait of Ida Rubinstein would be written.

short biography

When the little Ide was five years old, Ernestina Isaakovna, her mother, died. Two years later she became an orphan, because her father, Lev Ruvimovich, also died. The child fell a huge fortune. Her guardian was a native uncle. But he did not live long. Just two years, he survived his brother.

A nine-year-old girl was taken to her elder cousin to her place in St. Petersburg. It was also a very wealthy family. They liked and spoiled the orphan, but they did not forget that she should be taught. Later Ida Lvovna owned four languages. In St. Petersburg, Ida graduated from high school. She grew up with a bright unusual appearance, was tall and thin. Ida just asked for photos, but later Ida Rubinstein's portrait will be written. Ida herself dreamed about the career of an actress and made an attempt to perform in the main role in the play "Antigone". But critics gave negative feedback about the beginning actress. Then she persuaded Michael Fokine to give her private lessons. He was skeptical about this, because it's so late in the ballet do not come. However, the perseverance of the girl broke all the barriers. So she came to the ballet. Yes, not in some, but in the most modern, which everyone says "going against the current." And the role she "knocked out" herself, shocked everyone. Fokine literally blended an incredible image from the debutante. She first appeared in public in "The Dance of the Seven Beds."

The first sensation

Not at all embarrassed dancer came out to the public only in beads and seven heavy brocade covers that hide her long narrow body from head to toe. Leon Bakst drew a sketch of a dress for her . Now we would call it a striptease. But then this word was not in sight. Fading spectators watched, as by sorcerous sweet movements, one after another the covers are dumped as one dance, and in the end only the rows of colored beads remain on the dancer. Fascinated movements full of passion. When Ida froze in the last pa, the hall was stunned. And then a storm of enthusiasm arose. They did not let her go for a long time. I had to repeat almost half of the dance. Her image, so seductive, will excite in the 21st century, and a sculptural portrait of Ida Rubinstein will appear. This eroticism, full of talent, will become her corporate style.

Paris with Diaghilev

The pupil of M. Fokine Sergey Diaghilev took to Paris. Even among the brilliant professionals, she was not lost. The choreographic data, guessed by Mikhail Fokin, revealed to the full, marveling at the sophisticated Parisian audience, which they had not seen. Shocked Debussy wrote for her "Martyrdom of St. Sebastian." A friend Romaine Brooks, an American artist, wrote several of her portraits in the image of St. Sebastian.

This lady was, as well as Ida, very wealthy and could afford life in the fashionable sixteenth arrondissement. Tearful at first, and then turning into a whirlwind of "Bolero" much later, in 1928, will write for Ida Maurice Ravel. Igor Stravinsky will present the incomparable ballet "Persephone", and Valentin Serov - a portrait of Ida Rubinstein.

The arrival of Valentin Serov in France

Valentin Alexandrovich came to Paris together with his eldest daughter Olga. And, of course, they went to the Grand Opera, where the ballets were given by Sergei Diaghilev's company. Under the charm of Ida Rubinstein, everyone who saw her in those years fell. She leaves no one indifferent. Ida was changeable and unpredictable. She could fill the dance with snake plastic or broken graphic lines. Their Mikhail Fokin found in the Egyptian images. In the bas-reliefs. He forced his dancers and dancers to study the art of Ancient Egypt, put the dances in such a way that the dancer repeated the drawings of the bas-reliefs, becoming sideways to the spectators. The dancer became flat, as if two-dimensional. The task was to bring the aroma of Egypt to "Cleopatra".

Ida, with Semitic features, with a large mouth, a nose with a hump, a matte skin without a blush, a halo of heavy dark hair on his head could not have been more like an inhabitant of Assyria or Babylon. The figure, perfected by the daily occupations at the machine, was modern, and the face was taken away to the extreme antiquity. Such it will be created in the picture. Portrait of Ida Rubinstein Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov will write in 1910.

Scheherazade

For the first time Valentin Serov saw Ida Rubinstein in Scheherazade by N. Rimsky-Korsakov. The genius Mikhail Fokin did not set oriental languid dances, but drama, where actions and feelings were expressed by movements. Shahriyar, leaving, leaves his harem and his beloved wife Zobeida. She is danced by Ida Rubinstein. She was angry at this departure. The ballerina expressed her anger with one mean gesture. She turned away sharply from her husband, who came to her for a kiss. And the next moment she trembles, waiting for her lover. How impatient and passionate she is! She painted the image with the most economical means, extremely laconically. One pose. Nervous turning of the head.

Ida thought through and felt every line. Upon returning, the Shah found out about treason and ordered that all his wives be killed. But he can not order to kill his beloved Zobeide. It rages passion and love, anger and despair: he was betrayed with a black slave by the main wife, the most beloved, Zobeida. A bloody massacre is taking place in her eyes. She is immovable. She is majestic. Death came close to her. But terror and fear are unknown to her. There is not a single movement. She froze, like a stone statue. She lifted herself to the top, where she is not subject to death. V.Serov saw this, with perfect movements, full of undercurrents. With excitement, Valentin Alexandrovich plunged into the magical world of the eastern fairy tale, where the fingers and toes glittered, decorated with rings, and the bright costumes of L. Bakst disturbed the imagination, as if suggesting that they could be removed. Of course, one must write this unusual young woman. Permission for a portrait of Ida Rubinstein Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov received quickly.

In the artist's studio

For work, Valentin Serov chose the home church of the Chatel of the Catholic Monastery on the Invalides Boulevard. There he rented his own home and also equipped a workshop there. All the tenants looked out of the windows, when Ida Rubinstein was walking along the yard for the sessions. The portrait of Serov, not yet written, has already attracted interest thanks to such a spectacular model.

She came with a maid who helped her undress. The artist was afraid that in the ancient stone room for his model will be cold. But the "mimosa" was not frightened. Ida Rubinstein was sitting for a session behind the session. Serov's portrait has already begun to revive. Having made sketches, the artist stopped and thought about taking oil or tempera. He stopped at the matte tempera, and the glitter, the bright splashes of the colored rings on his hands and feet, illuminated with oil.

Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov, painting: portrait of Ida Rubinstein

Putting on the stools placed drawing boards, Serov threw a blue cloth on them. He planted nature with his back to him. Support on the hands that form an isosceles triangle. And the longest legs are wrapped in a green scarf. If you look closely, you see another triangle in the composition. The legs and body are twisted, like in the yoga posture. But the ballerina is easy. Her flexible, slender body will take on any given posture that will show this amazing incorporeal flesh. So the artist began a portrait of Ida Rubinstein. He was afraid that she would not stand his eye, which penetrated into the very essence of nature. But Ida was dispassionate. Drawing a portrait of Ida Rubinstein, Valentin Serov (1910) refused from the usual academic techniques. He broke the prospect. He made a background and a body of one color. The model merges with the wall. This is the modernist style that appeared at the time. Only lush black curls are vividly distinguished. Perhaps this is a halo, as in the works of early Renaissance artists. But Serov's head was difficult to unfold into a half-profile.

Random and inevitable

The artist did not create a real image of a dancer. Between his model and himself lies an abyss. Portrait of Ida Rubinstein - a complex picture that combines reality and convention. Serov, working intuitively and consciously, using human qualities and appearance of Ida, stylized nature, so there is a feeling that the character of the ballerina is complicated. She is recognizable, the portrait remained a portrait.

This catchy appearance, expressiveness, her plasticity, her splendor - all reflected Serov. Portrait of Ida Rubinstein (1910) is simultaneously permeated with lyrics, subtle and sad. The model is essentially weak and defenseless. Yes, she is extraordinarily bizarre, extravagant, eccentric, but at the same time the artist has revealed her insecurity, inner drama. This was achieved, among other things, by the fact that Serov drew a nude model. In the search for a monumental style, Ida Rubinstein's portrait was painted. The picture showed a generalized image of a woman of the decadence era.

Mikhail Vrubel

The ingenious M. Vrubel died in 1910. But before that he was seriously ill. Blinded. His connection with the world was his beloved wife, her divine voice. Therefore, looking for a portrait of Ida Rubinstein Vrubel is useless. He never wrote it.

Where is the picture of Serov now?

The director of the Russian Museum immediately acquired this work of the late Serov, despite all the attacks of critics. He counted her, and, as time showed, correctly, a new word in art and, moreover, a masterpiece.