Valentin Serov: Paintings, Graphic Works, Stage Designs

New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1982. Hardcover. VG+ / VG+. Brown cloth boards with gilt lettering on front and spine, dark blue dust jacket with color illustration and white spine lettering, cardboard slipcase. 379 pp., 426 illustrations including 133 color plates. White silk ribbon page marker included. From the DJ: Valentin Serov (1865-1911) was an artistic pacesetter, and his creative principles became the cornerstone of much that is best in Russian twentieth-century art. A teacher at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, he directed his prodigious activities to graphics, book illustrations, landscape and historical paintings, and stage designs-including important works for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Serov was above all a remarkable portrait painter, capturing the emotions and likenesses of his sitters, who included members of the nobility, artists, composers, singers, actors and actresses, and society belles; his portraits of children are especially charming. For the first time in this book we have a complete catalogue, lavishly illustrated, of the work of this famous painter, whose art was an organic blend of tradition and innovation. Includes bibliographical references (pages 372-375) and index.