Elena Petrovna Samokysh-Sudkovskaya, née Besnard (russian: Елена Петровна Самокиш-Судковская; 1863,

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 ...

– 1924,

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

), was a Russian painter and illustrator.

Biography

left, 275px, The Tsar and His Family (1902) Her father was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...

of French ancestry and she received her secondary education at the , a school for young girls of the nobility. Then, she studied drawing in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

and took private classes in the workshop of V. P. Vereshchagin.Brief biography
@ Yandex. In 1883, she married the painter Rufin Sudkovsky, but he died of

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

only two years later.Brief biography
@ Лаборатория Фантастики. To help her cope with her grief, she moved to Paris and took more lessons at the private academy of

Jules Bastien-Lepage Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement. His most famous work is his lan ...

. In 1889, she married another painter, Nikolay Samokish, and returned to Russia, where she worked as an illustrator for '' Niva'', the most popular magazine in the Russian Empire at that time. She was especially known for her color illustrations in the Christmas and Easter additions and the annual calendar. She also created posters, advertisements and theater programs. She became a member of the "First Lady's Artistic Circle" (which existed from 1882 to 1918) and exhibited alongside some of the most prominent painters of that time, including

Ivan Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Ши́шкин; 25 January 1832 – 20 March 1898) was a Russian landscape painter closely associated with the Peredvizhniki movement. Biography Shishkin was born to a Russian m ...

and Ilya Repin. Her designs for Tsar Nicholas II's Coronation Album received an award of excellence, with a medal and blue ribbon. Although she painted numerous portraits and

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

scenes, she is probably best remembered for her book illustrations; notably the ones for ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...

'' by

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, which were done in 1911, and those for ''The Little Humpbacked Horse'' by Yershov. Occasionally, she collaborated with her husband, producing illustrations for '' Dead Souls'' by

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

(published by

Adolf Marks Adolf Fyodorovich Marx (russian: Адо́льф Фёдорович Маркс; 2 February 1838 – ), last name also spelled Marcks and recently Marks, known as A. F. Marx, was an influential 19th-century German publisher in Russia best known fo ...

in 1901) and murals for Tsarskoye Selo railway station, depicting the history of the

Tsarskoye Selo Railway The Tsarskoye Selo Railway (russian: Царскосе́льская желе́зная доро́га) was the first public railway line in the Russian Empire.

. She fled to

during the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, then left her husband and lived in Paris during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. It is generally believed that she stayed in Paris after the war was over, and died there, although some sources indicate that she returned to Vyborg.

Illustrations from ''Eugene Onegin''

Eugene Onegin (Samokish-Sudkovskaya) 11.jpg, Title Page Eugene Onegin illustration.jpg, Onegin in His Study TatyanaEvgOneginSamokishSudkovskRishar1899.jpg, Tatiana Onegin and Tatyana.jpg, Onegin and Tatiana

References

External links

Album of photographs and illustrations
from the library of

Saratov State University Saratov Chernyshevsky State University (russian: Саратовский государственный университет имени Н. Г. Чернышевского, СГУ, transcribed as SGU) is a major higher education and research inst ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Samokysh-Sudkovskaya, Elena 1863 births 1924 deaths Illustrators from the Russian Empire Russian women illustrators Painters from Saint Petersburg 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian painters 20th-century Russian women artists Women painters from the Russian Empire 20th-century women painters