How the revolution divided the family and changed the life of the artist Serov's dynasty

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Many famous Russian artists were not averse to founding their own dynasty. Others even succeeded. So, Valentin Serov, the "author" of only six children (other artists had more), became the ancestor of a family closely associated with art. True, after the revolution, their life developed in different ways.

Son of the first professional composer

Valentin Serov himself was from a very interesting, but absolutely non-artistic family - his parents were the music critic and songwriter Alexander Serov and the first professional female composer of Russia, Valentin Bergman, a baptized Jew. The second circumstance forced Serov to treat Jews with unchanging sympathy, and he strongly supported Isaac Levitan, who was constantly put on the look - how, they say, a Jewish artist dares to paint our Russian landscapes. Once Levitan was even expelled from Moscow - during the next attack of the struggle against Jewry.

Valentin's parents jointly published the magazine "Music and Theater", which was almost the main publication about culture at that time. The advanced mother moved in the circle of nihilists, although more conservative gentlemen recognized her musical genius. She also, to put it mildly, did not burn with passion for a "mother's career" and did little to do with her son. From three to six years old, the boy Valya did not even live at home - with a relative.

At the age of six, he became an orphan - his father died, and his mother decided to immediately accustom the boy to some kind of craft. She sent him to study in the commune of artists. The commune soon collapsed, but Valentina Semyonovna found another teacher for the boy, and she was right. Ultimately Valentin Serov became a renowned painter.

To the surprise of many, he married an unremarkable girl, except perhaps of noble origin - an orphan who was raised out of mercy in a strange family. But Valentin Alexandrovich and Olga Fedorovna lived in perfect harmony. Olga was very carried away by her husband and his work, devoted all of herself to his support. When at forty-six he died of heart problems, her grief knew no bounds - but she had to raise four more children. At least the two elders are already more or less on their feet.

Alexander is the legend of Lebanon

The artist's son Alexander went to study at the shipbuilding faculty, but in the end he graduated from the first school of the air fleet, which trained officers. During the First World War, he served as an instructor - taught military pilots. The revolution, unlike Olga and Natalya, he did not accept, he left with his wife and young children, Anton, Dance and Lena, to Lebanon. There he had to take a job as an asphalt roller driver - it was well paid, but later he managed to make a career as an engineer in the land registry.

Alexander participated in the development of the water system of Lebanon - the entire country, as part of a project that was supposed to provide access to water for the entire population of this hot region. In order to be able to lay the irrigation pipes, Alexander himself undertook to design a machine for their production - and he did it. He also developed the road rules for the country and was the first to receive an official driver's license.

At home, to remember the Russian language, Alexander Serov read Chekhov aloud every day. Communicating with emigrants did not help - French speech reigned in this environment. He died in the middle of the last century. Now his son Gregory lives in Lebanon. French is native to him, as well as to other children of immigrants; he married a French woman named Florence Kupel. Grigory Alexandrovich is an architect. During his life, he built many buildings and country villas, moreover, not only in Lebanon, but also in other countries; it is believed that he largely defined the "face" of Beirut in the sixties and seventies. He also paints watercolors. It is known that he had three sons, and his grandson Valentine is growing up in Paris.

George - actor of French cinema

Another son of Serov, Georgy, also left Russia (the Serov family did not indulge in a variety of names). He replaced the Czech Republic and Germany in turn, settled on France. There he became an actor in silent films - under the influence of Mikhail Chekhov, he was always interested in acting. Even before emigration, he played at the Moscow Art Theater for three years. He continued to play in theaters and in all subsequent countries.

George starred in central roles in a series of screen adaptations of popular books such as The Dog of the Baskervilles (1929, Germany, the role of Dr. Watson) or Taras Bulba. Alas, Georgy Valentinovich died very early, at thirty-five years old - a heart attack happened during a theatrical rehearsal. He was buried near Paris.

Anton and Mikhail

Valentin Serov's two sons chose to stay at home - Anton and Mikhail. During the First World War, Mikhail served as an artilleryman at the front, returned home as a Knight of St. George and went to study as an architect. He married a young actress Varechka - later she, of course, became Varvara Nikolaevna. Their son Dmitry became a pianist, but Mikhail did not see him growing up - he died in the thirty-eighth year in Moscow.

Another son of the artist, Anton, remained in his native Petersburg and died during the war during the Blockade. Anton's son Georgy studied at VGIK, became a cameraman at the Central Documentary Film Studio, and lived until the early nineties. His own son became a priest, now he is Archpriest Anthony, but he also graduated from VGIK. Many hope for his children as the successors of the artist's line.

Female line

Of Serov's six children, two, the first and the last, were daughters. The eldest daughter was named Olga, in honor of her mother. She followed in her father's footsteps, since it was fashionable in his circles to encourage girls to paint professionally. However, she was more remembered not as an artist, but as the author of a book of memoirs about her father. She lived a short life, only fifty-six years. The exact cause of her death is unknown, but many of Serov's children had heart problems.

Olga's daughter, Olechka Khortyk (in fact, the diminutive form of the name became her common nickname), received a philological education and taught French all her life. For a long time, a young then Oleg Tabakov lived in her house - he was simply invited to live, without any conditions. He recalled that the Serov family was distinguished by scrupulous religiosity, and in the event of unforeseen injuries, they sold sketches and drawings of the famous ancestor - there were many of them in the house. Naturally, this was not done too often. For religious holidays, familiar gypsies were invited to the house, who also observed Easter and Christmas.

The youngest daughter of Valentin Serov, Natalia, lived a short life - forty-two years. She was three years old when the artist died, nine years old when the revolution happened. First, she went with her brother to Paris in the twenties, where she helped him build a career and mastered photography. In the early thirties, already an accomplished photo artist, she returned to her homeland and married the book illustrator and architect Dmitry Gorlov.

There are many prominent creative dynasties in Russia: How the famous circus dynasty of the Durovs appeared in Russia.