Marie Vassilieff (Russian 1884-1957)
Vassilieff studied at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, before she left her homeland, Russia and settled in France. On her arrival in Paris in 1905 she enrolled at Matisse's Academy where she became acquainted with many artists and writers who where considered to be the intellectual elite of Paris.
In 1909 she founded her own Académie Vassilieff, which became a popular rendez-vous for the most progressive literary and artistic personages in the city. Léger was a regular lecturer and Braque, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Salmon and Jacob were all habitués.
During the years of the Great War, Vassilieff used her Académie as a base for a canteen, which she set up for all the academics and painters in Paris who found themselves in financial difficulties. Her extensive tours to Spain, Romania, Poland and Scandinavia offered inspiration for many of her works. Marie Vassilieff was most successful during the period when Cubism reached its peak. In the late 1920's she held a one-man show in London, Italy and the the South of France, where she then lived. In Paris she showed her work frequently at the Salon des Indépendants, Salon d'Automne and Salon des Tuileries. In 1979 her work was included in a Paris Moscow exhibition held at the Centre George Pompidou, Paris.
Public collections include
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris
Musée des Archives de la Dance, Paris
Musée, La Rochelle
Museum of Art, Chicago
Most important exhibitions include
St. Petersburg, 1908
Kharbine, New York, 1915
Exposition des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, 1925
Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1937
London, 1920, 1925, 1928 and 1930
Bibliography
Marie Vassilieff, 1884-1957, Eine Russische Kunstlerin in Paris, Das Verborgene Museum, Traum & Raum, Berlin, 1995.