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Portrait of the writer Zinaida Nikolaevna Gippius

Lev (Leon) Bakst • Painting, 1906, 54×44 cm
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About the artwork
Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Portrait
Style of art: Art Nouveau
Technique: Chalk, Pencil
Materials: Paper, Cardboard, Sanguine
Date of creation: 1906
Size: 54×44 cm
Artwork in selections: 47 selections

Description of the artwork «Portrait of the writer Zinaida Nikolaevna Gippius»

Portrait By Zinaida Gippius made glued on the sheet of paper. The artist did the sketch, he surprisingly managed, Bakst wished it to turn in the final version, and he had to glue the sheet, because then girls can experience an acute attack of envy), otherwise there could likely to represent an infinitely long and infinitely beautiful legs Zinaida Gippius.

And what a costume! Today it is difficult to understand what a scandalous and indecent was it was a men's fitted suit. Yes, and the provocative pose, well, those endless legs... by the Way, the famous dekadentka the Silver age was a very beautiful woman. Green eyes, a MOP of light red hair, a graceful, lithe figure. Princess of Dreams with the smile of the Mona Lisa it was called Alexander Benois, the Green-eyed Naiad – Block, White devil – Merezhkovsky, and Igor Severyanin – Zlatolicje scandal. At the same time she Gippius liked to sign his articles and poems male names.

As a rule, Bakst quickly finished portraits (with the exception of portrait of Diaghilev over which the artist worked for two years). It seemed, he immediately catches the essence of the model. In this portrait of his psychological insight and skill of the physiognomist manifested fully. The aesthete, "crazy proud" child of his era Zinaida Gippius in this picture appears to us harsh, sarcastic, opinionated, anxious. Pavel Florensky spoke about Gippius, she "far better than it seems" and considered it a key quality of sincerity and the fear to dissemble. This internal voltage is read from the portrait of Bakst, not less explicitly than external confidence. The poet shows not in motion, but it seems very fast – as if she bakstovsky line. In General, the line can be considered a basis for many of his portraits.

Bakst allowed himself to sign autographs anywhere in the pattern, not following the usual request to sign work in right bottom corner. In this case, it is his signature we see in the upper left corner.
The Tretyakov gallery "Portrait of Zinaida Gippius" was in 1920-m to year – in the framework of the transformation of the private in folk. Previously, he belonged to the famous Moscow collector Sergei Kusevitsky, who emigrated soon after the revolution.

Author: Alain Esaulova
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