Natalia Borisovna Nordman-Severova (russian: Наталья Борисовна Нордман-Северова; 14 December 1863 – 30 June 1914) was a Finnish–Russian author who was the partner of the artist

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin (russian: Илья Ефимович Репин, translit=Il'ya Yefimovich Repin, p=ˈrʲepʲɪn); fi, Ilja Jefimovitš Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is now Ukraine. He became one of the ...

Life

Nordman was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

in 1863. Her father was a Finnish admiral in the Russian Navy and her mother was Russian noblewoman Maria Arbusova, who was the widow of Colonel Ehlert. Nordman was a

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

and a champion of

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

. In 1900 she met the married artist

who was on a trip to Paris. Repin was captivated by her and they went to live in her home, Penaty, in Kuokkala, which was still part of Finland at that time. The couple invited notable artists from Russia every Wednesday as their new home was a train ride from St Petersburg. The Wednesday gatherings enabled Repin to put together an "album" for Nordman. He created portraits of notable visitors, each painting labelled with their name, profession and occasionally their autograph. Nordman's hospitality was well known and visitors included the writers

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

and

Aleksandr Kuprin Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (russian: link=no, Александр Иванович Куприн; – 25 August 1938) was a Russian literature, Russian writer best known for his novels The Duel (Kuprin novel), ''The Duel'' (1905)Kuprin sc ...

; artists

Vasily Polenov Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (Russian: Васи́лий Дми́триевич Поле́нов; 1 June 1844 – 18 July 1927) was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists. His contemporaries would ca ...

Isaak Brodsky Isaak Izrailevich Brodsky (russian: Исаак Израилевич Бродский; uk, Іса́к Ізраїльович Бро́дський, – 14 August 1939) was a Soviet painter whose work provided a blueprint for the art movem ...

, Filipp Malyavin and

Nicolai Fechin , birth_date = , birth_place = Kazan, Russia , death_date = , death_place = Santa Monica, California United States , spouse = , known_for = Painting , orientation = , training = Imperial Academy of Arts Kaz ...

as well as poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, philosopher Vasily Rozanov and scientist

Vladimir Bekhterev Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev ( rus, Влади́мир Миха́йлович Бе́хтерев, p=ˈbʲextʲɪrʲɪf; January 20, 1857 – December 24, 1927) was a Russian neurologist and the father of objective psychology. He is best know ...

. Nordman was the keeper of this album as it was readied for display at World Exhibition in Italy in 1911.Portraits from the ‘Album of Natalia Nordman-Severova’
Nimrah.ru, Retrieved 21 November 2016 Repin was to describe Nordman as the "love of his life". In 1911 she travelled with Repin to the World Exhibition in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, where Repin's portraits were displayed in their own separate room.

Works

* «Intimnyi︠a︡ stranit︠s︡y»; by N. B. Severova (1910)Intimnyi︠a︡ stranit︠s︡y
1910

Death and legacy

In 1914, Nordman died in Orselina, Switzerland, where Repin visited her. Nordman left her home to the St Petersburg Academy, which could not take possession immediately, as Repin lived there for 16 more years. Repin's portraits in Nordman's "album" were scattered, but were reassembled for an exhibition in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nordman, Natalia 1863 births 1914 deaths Writers from Helsinki 20th-century Russian writers 20th-century Russian women writers Russian people of Finnish descent Writers from the Russian Empire