Identity:

Mariya Konstaninovna Bashkirtseva ('Marie Bashkirtseff') was a Ukrainian born painter and author.

Life:

Of unusually good education for her sex (she was an accomplished musician and linguist), Bashkirtseff settled in Paris in 1877. There she studied at the Académie Julian under Tony Robert-Fleury and Jules Bastien-Lepage. In 1880 she made her debut at the Paris Salon with a portrait of a woman. He career was short-lived but her work was regarded as showing much promise. She continued to exhibit until her death in 1884 from tuberculosis. A catalogue of her work was published in 1885, shortly after her death and her reputation increased in the 1890s. In 1884 Bashkirtseff exhibited The Meeting (1884; Paris, Musée d'Orsay) and it was later purchased by the French government. However a number of her other works were destroyed during World War II.

JW was very dismissive of her work and highly successful diaries (#02094, #10782), first published in English in 1889.

Bibliography:

Encylopedia Britannica, on-line 1911 edition, http://24.1911encyclopedia.org (accessed 13 July 2004); Howard, Jeremy, 'Mariya Konstaninovna Bashkirtseva,' Grove Dictionary of Art Online, http://www.groveart.com, (accessed 13 July 2004); Bashkirtseff, Marie, Catalogue des oeuvres de Mlle. Bashkirtseff, Paris 1885; Bashkirtseff, Marie, Journal de Marie Bashkirtzeff, Paris, 1888; Bashkirtseff, Marie, Lettres de Marie Bashkirtseff, avec quatre portraits, des autographes et une préface par François Coppée, Paris 1891; Blind, Mathilde, A Study of Marie Bashkirtseff London, 1892; Weisberg, Gabriel P. and Becker, Jane R., Overcoming all obstacles: the women of the Académie Julian, New York & New Jersey, 1999.