Natalie d'Arbeloff born 1929 in Paris of a French mother and Russian father is a British American artist, known for her work as painter, printmaker,

book artist Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a ...

, cartoonist, and writer.

Biography

She lived in France, Paraguay, Brazil, Italy and the

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. From 1948 to 1949 d'Arbeloff studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, followed by art study in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Instituto Allende The Instituto Allende is a visual arts school in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The institute provides a range of courses, and offers a BA in Visual Arts and an MA in Fine arts in association with the Universidad de Guanajuato. Its courses and deg ...

from 1956 to 1957 and

Central School of Art The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cra ...

(printmaking) in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

from 1964 to 1966. She resides in London since 1963. Painter by profession, d'Arbeloff is also a printmaker, cartoonist and maker of artist's books. Her paintings, constructions, comics and

artist's book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a ...

s have been exhibited internationally, and are in private and public collections including the

Museum Meermanno Museum Meermanno – House of the Book ( nl, Huis van het boek), formerly called Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, is a museum named after Willem Hendrik Jacob van Westreenen van Tiellandt on the Prinsessegracht 30 in The Hague. It is remarkable fo ...

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, the National Art Library at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

, the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

and many other rare book collections in universities and public institutions. A retrospective exhibition of d'Arbeloff's book-art and graphic work was held in 1992 in The Hague at the Museum Meermanno. Her limited edition ''livres d' artiste'' were mainly produced by her own NdA Press from 1973 onwards but several more were printed and published in collaboration with the Old Stile Press. NdA Press also produced various

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

publications including a series of mini-comic books ''Small Packages'' from 1984-1988 featuring d'Arbeloff's fictional alter-ego character ''Augustine''. Developed through internet forms - the

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

and

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—in 2007 d'Arbeloff published one of her series of web-based strip cartoons ''The God Interviews'' as a full color paperback

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

Teaching

From the 1960s to the 1990s d'Arbeloff taught printmaking, drawing, painting and mixed-media at various adult education institutions in London, including Camden Arts Centre, City Lit and Stanhope Institutes. She was visiting artist/professor at Colorado College in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

in 1997 and 1994. She has given workshops and written articles on creativity for various publications and her three art and design teaching books (see Further reading) were published in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Awards

When living in Paraguay (1958-1962) d'Arbeloff was the winner of a government competition to design and execute a mural for a new modern building, the Hotel Guarani. Her abstract mural was inaugurated in 1962. She was joint recipient of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s 2007 inaugural

Mary Stott Mary Stott (born Charlotte Mary Waddington) (18 July 1907 – 16 September 2002) was a British feminist and journalist. She was editor of ''The Guardian'' newspaper's women's page between 1957 and 1972.'' Charlotte Mary Waddington was born in Lei ...

competition prize which included editing the newspaper's women's pages for one week in June 2008. d'Arbeloff won the 2019 Laydeez Do Comics Rosalind D. Penfold award. This award was for a graphic novel-in-progress (not a finished graphic novel) and was given to ''Double Entendre'' as the best entry from comics artists over 50 years old.

Publications

This is a partial list of some of d'Arbeloff's limited edition artist's books * ''The Word Accomplished'', A.B.Christopher (Alexander d'Arbeloff). Etchings, design, hand-printing by Natalie d'Arbeloff. Edition of 75. (NdA Press, 1974) * ''The Word Accomplished'', Paperback facsimile edition of the above. Printed by Tipografia P.U.G. in Rome (NdA Press, 1984) * ''Seuphor A Natalie'', Extracts of letters from Michel Seuphor to Natalie d'Arbeloff. Blind-embossings (gaufrages), design, production by Natalie d'Arbeloff. Edition of 45. (NdA Press, 1978) * ''Fungus and Curmudgeonly'', A play by Simon Meyerson. Etchings, collagraphs, design, production by Natalie d'Arbeloff. Edition of 50 (NdA Press, 1980) * ''For A Song'', Seven poems and etchings by Natalie d'Arbeloff. Edition of 15. (NdA Press, 1980) * ''The Piper of the Stars'', John Forest (Christopher d'Arbeloff). Drawings by Sarah d'Arbeloff etched and hand-printed by Natalie d'Arbeloff. Letterpress by Stanislas Gliwa. Edition of 25 (NdA Press, 1986) * ''Pater Noster'', Natalie d'Arbeloff. Book-object. Edition of 5 similar but not identical copies. (NdA Press, 1988) * ''Mozart, Matisse, Blanche et Moi'', Natalie d'Arbeloff. Drypoints with text handwritten in the plates. Edition of 6. (NdA Press, 1990) * ''Philosophy'', Natalie d'Arbeloff. Etchings with text handwritten in the plates. Part of NdA's ''Gabriel Books'' series. Edition of 16. (NdA Press, 1990) * ''Love'', Natalie d'Arbeloff. Etchings with text handwritten in the plates. Part of NdA's ''Gabriel Books'' series. Edition of 16. (NdA Press, 1992) * ''The Creation from the Book of Enoch: Five and a half hours in Paradise'', Natalie d'Arbeloff. Extracts from the Book of Enoch. Sugar-lift etchings and relief printing by Natalie d'Arbeloff. Edition of 12. (NdA Press, 1992) * ''The Revelation of Saint John the Divine'', visually interpreted by Natalie d'Arbeloff. Edition of 150. (Old Stile Press, 1999) * ''Trans-Siberian Prosody and Little Jeanne from France'' by Blaise Cendrars, translated by Dick Jones. Edition of 150. Relief prints by Natalie d’Arbeloff (Old Stile Press, 2015)

References

External links

Official website
* Article
‘There are no rules in age’: confession of an almost 90-year-old
The Guardian, January 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:d'Arbeloff, Natalie Living people French female comics artists American female comics artists Art Students League of New York alumni 1929 births Book artists French emigrants to the United States French expatriates in Brazil French expatriates in Paraguay French expatriates in Italy