May Slessinger (May 4, 1872 – October 25, 1954) was an American artist specializing in miniatures, based in San Francisco, California.
Early life
May Slessinger was born on May 4, 1872, in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, the daughter of Lewis (or Louis) Slessinger and Caroline Price Slessinger. Her Bavarian-born father, a shoemaker by training, was an
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
veteran, and one of the city's first businessmen. The Slessinger family was Jewish.
Career
Slessinger was a painter who specialized in painting miniature portraits. She was a member of the
San Francisco Art Association The San Francisco Art Association (SFAA) was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established the first art school west of Chicago. The SFAA – which, by 1961, completed a long sequence ...
. Of her work at one of the Association's shows in 1903, one report commented that "Miss May Slessinger's work is of a high order of merit, for it shows the fire of the true artist and the technique of a careful worker. One of her miniatures is the size of a dime and every detail of the subject is carefully wrought."
Slessinger made miniature portraits of several prominent San Francisco citizens, including artist
William Keith, businesswoman
Mary Ann Magnin
Mary Ann Magnin (1850–1943) was a Dutch-American businesswoman. She was the co-founder of I. Magnin, an upscale "specialty store" in San Francisco, California.
Early life
Mary Ann Cohen was born in 1850 in Scheveningen, The Hague, the Netherlan ...
and her son Grover Magnin, and Elizabeth Meyerfeld Roos, the daughter of theatrical entrepreneur
Morris Meyerfeld Jr. In 1920,
Queen Marie of Romania
Marie (born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938) was the last Queen of Romania as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania, King Ferdinand I.
Marie was born into the British royal family. Her parent ...
named Slessinger her court miniaturist, in appreciation of Slessinger's portrait of the queen; dancer
Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller (born Marie Louise Fuller; January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American actress and dancer who was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.
Career
Born ...
, working with the Red Cross in Rumania during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, suggested Slessinger for the portrait commission.
Personal life
Slessinger married oil executive David S. Bachman in 1922, on his deathbed and inherited half his fortune. She lived for many years at the
Fairmont Hotel and died on October 25, 1954, in San Francisco.
She was 82. Slessinger left a large estate to benefit her relatives and research at the
Mount Zion Hospital.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slessinger, May
1872 births
1954 deaths
Portrait miniaturists
19th-century American painters
19th-century American women painters
20th-century American painters
20th-century American women painters
Painters from San Francisco
American portrait painters
American people of German-Jewish descent