Serov was an outstanding Russian portrait painter of the alternate period of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
And he was an important representative of Russian realism painting at the beginning of this century. Born into a family of music composers and activists in St. Petersburg, Serov has received a good art education. At the age of 9, Servos started following Repin to study painting. In 1880, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and received guidance from sketch artist Cisca Kopf. Then Serov followed Repin to ZAZ and learned how to observe pictures of life, and often went to the house of Abolamucaifu on which Russian progress and people of democratic culture settled. In 1885, Serov graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and began independent artistic creation.
Serov’s most famous works are Girls and Peach and Girls under the Sun. These two works fully demonstrate Serov’s talent and excellent presentation skills. The fresh style, bright colors and harmonious views between man and nature shock the world of painting today and even many people do not believe that these two works originated from a 20 year old youth. After entering the 90s, Serov rose to fame with portraits and there were many social celebrities who pursued painting. Serov has painted for the painter Korovin, Repin, Levitan, the historian Sabelin, the Italian singer Domallo, etc. At that time, Servos followed one instruction from Repin, “Color is our tool and it must reflect our thoughts. Color tone is not only a pretty color, it must reflect mental and emotional images, like musical chords, it must grab the audience.”
Efufo’s portrait shows a young Russian girl sitting back, with downy hair and face and body on the backlit surface, which increases the difficulty of performance for a painter. But Serov makes sophisticated processing for special lighting effects and makes the light and some high light figures in the stripe shine with good tones. Efufo, wearing a white coat with wide sleeves and a thick brown cloth skirt, sits on a piece of dark green mat. Apart from him, there was a flower basket with bright and pure colors, indicating a beautiful youth. Behind the girl, there was a bookshelf on the wall where several scattered books piled up. The strokes are bold, subtle, and full of rhythmic beauty. Because the large area of the face is against the light, the light is relatively weak. Serov adopts soft brush for painting and makes integrated generalizations after detailed drawing. In this portrait, Serov uses different strokes to bring out different textures of skin, hair, clothes and walls. In the hand description, the use of sheer colors, dark transparent colors and light care methods are united and concise. The distant walls are used in a thin painting method, which is far from the past.
Serov’s creation served as a link between the past and future and was a perfect representation.
At the initial stage of Serov’s creative activity, it was Peredvizhniki’s prosperity in a period of 80 years. At the end of Serov’s creation, it was after 1905 when various art schools appeared. Dramatic changes in the art world also influenced Serov’s creation. He has been actively participating in “art world” activities to explore new expression techniques. He once pursued bold endeavors in the art form. The process of developing Serov’s creation was very important in the development of Russian art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Serov’s paintings not only show further improvements of Russian art in content and technique, but also show a new shift in the oil painting experience of the early 20th century.
Serov’s creations cover a wide range of subjects including portraits, landscapes, historical painting, genre painting, illustration and even stage art. But his portrait paintings are the best. The portrait of Jude Bow was made after Serov became famous. In the 1890s and in the early 20th century, Servos received a series of portraits. Serov’s clients came from all over the world, including prominent figures such as the Duke. However, whether a court character or a wealthy official, Serov infuses his artistic outlook into his paintings.
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