Elisabeth Boehm or Böhm (née Endaurova, russian: Елизавета Меркурьевна Бём, Yelizaveta Merkuryevna Byom; 1843–1914) was a Russian painter, a popular designer of postcards.
"Антиквариат, предметы искусства и коллекционирования" № 1, 2002
by V. P. Tretyakov and A. A. Guterman "Клио" N 2 (14) за 2001 г.

Biography

She was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

to a noble Russian family of Endaurov (Эндауров) that had a Tatar origin. She spent her childhood in the estate of her parents: village Schiptsy, Poshekhonsky

uezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

Yaroslavl Governorate Yaroslavl Governorate (russian: Ярославская губерния, ''Yaroslavskaya guberniya'') was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, located in European Russia in the Upper Volga ...

. At the age of 14 she entered the ''School of Painting at the Society for Promotion of Artists'' (Школа Поощрения Художеств) there she studied under

Ivan Kramskoi Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (russian: Ива́н Никола́евич Крамско́й; June 8 (O.S. May 27), 1837, Ostrogozhsk – April 6 (O.S. March 24), 1887, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian painter and art critic. He was an intellectual l ...

and

Pavel Chistyakov Pavel Petrovich Chistyakov (russian: Павел Петрович Чистяков; 5 July 1832, Prudy, Vesyegonsky Uyezd, Tver Governorate — 11 November 1919, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian Imperial painter and art teacher; known for historical ...

.ЕЛИЗАВЕТА МЕРКУРЬЕВНА БЁМ. ЖИЗНЬ И ТВОРЧЕСТВО
by T.A.Kasyanenko In 1865 she graduated from the school with the Large Silver Medal. She took private lessons from Kramskoi and studied at the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...

there she was awarded a ''Large Encouragement Medal'' for her animal paintings. She married a prominent Russian-Hungarian violinist Ludwig Boehm, professor of the

Saint Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

. Elisabeth painted many watercolors, illustrated children books of the ''Folk Library'' (Народная библиотека) series there she was introduced by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

. She also experimented with glass and ceramics. For her

Silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

Etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

s and works of glass she received medals of the

World Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

s in Chicago of 1893, Paris of 1900,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

of 1902 and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

of 1906 (gold medal). Still she is mostly known as one of the most prominent Russian authors of postcards. She created more than 350 postcards. Most of her postcards were printed by the ''St. Eugenia Welfare Society'' (Благотоворительное Общество Святой Евгении). She created a recognisable style of postcards, that depict children's faces and silhouettes. According to the study of Tretyakov and Gutterman she was the most reprinted author of postcards in the Russian empire. Elisabeth Böhm died in 1914.

Selected postcards

Image:BemE PodnosilaKnyag.jpg, The princess brought

mead Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining character ...

Image:Postcards by Elizaveta Bem by Richard - 040.jpg, The Enemy was terrible but
God is merciful Image:Elizaveta Bem - PostCard-1.jpg, One who has not been to Moscow has not seen beauty Image:Postcards by Elizaveta Bem by Richard - 050.jpg, People stand for different things but I stand for my friend

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boehm, Elisabeth 1843 births 1914 deaths 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian painters Russian women painters Postcard artists Painters from Saint Petersburg 20th-century Russian women artists 19th-century women artists from the Russian Empire