Maria Bashkirtseva

Maria Bashkirtseva was born in Gavrontsi, near Poltava, in 1858. She was from a wealthy noble family, but her parents separated when she was 12. She traveled with her mother throughout most of Europe, until they settled in Paris. She had an early musical talent, but lost her voice due to illness. She then decided to become an artist, and studied painting at the Robert-Fleury studio and the Académie Julian, where she met many female artists from different countries. She exhibited at the Paris Salon as early as 1880 and every year until her death, except 1883. She painted many portraits of the members of the royal family, the nobility, and the cultural figures, as well as religious and historical scenes. She also painted some cityscapes and landscapes, influenced by the Italian vedutisti. Her best-known works are The Meeting (now in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris) and In the Studio, a portrait of her fellow artists at work. She was also a prolific diarist, and wrote several articles for a feminist newspaper called La Citoyenne. She died of tuberculosis in 1884, at the age of 25. Her works are displayed in many museums and galleries in Russia and abroad. She is regarded as one of the most influential and innovative Russian painters of the 19th century and a pioneer of the cityscape genre in painting.