Completed Continental European after 1800, Portraits: British 20th C, Sculpture, South East England: Artists and Subjects 156 What more could be established about the Russian sculptor Yelizaveta Cheremisinova?

HMP_WHCL_AS32-001
Topic: Artist

Montague Rendall gifted this bust to Winchester College in 1939, recorded in a letter from their archives as by Vera Elizabeth Tcheremissinoff, an anglicised form of the sculptor’s name, Yelizaveta Cheremisinova, born in 1874 https://bit.ly/3DI6sT2. It is recorded on the College’s online record https://bit.ly/3rTRS8I as being no. 1416 in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1938 https://bit.ly/31KZ8cv. What more could we establish about this sculptor and her association with Montague Rendall? [Group leader: Katharine Eustace]

Marion Richards, Art Detective Manager, Entry reviewed by Art UK

Completed, Outcome

This discussion is now closed. It produced a very full account of the life and work of the Russian sculptor Elizaveta Petrovna Cheremisinova, from which a biography of the artist has been written for Art UK.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the discussion. To anyone viewing this discussion for the first time, please see below for all the comments that led to this conclusion.

155 comments

Jacinto Regalado,

The RA catalogue has this bust as being lead, not bronze.

Jacinto Regalado,

She also exhibited at the RA in 1937 (Nos. 819 and 1412), a portrait of a Count P. Kinsky in tempera and a sculpted bust portrait of an unspecified sitter. Her address was given as 7 Nevern-road S.W.5 (which changed to 11 Nevern-road in the 1938 RA catalogue).

Martin Forrest,

An entry for her appears in:
Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin-, Gem-, and Seal Engravers, Mint Masters, &c Ancient and Modern with References to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900
Compiled by L. Forrer
Volume VI, London, Spink & Son Ltd, 1916

as follows:
TCHEREMISSINOFF, Mlle VERA ELIZABETH {Russ.). Contemporary
Sculptor and Medallist, born at St. Petersburg; pupil of Strasser, Gauquie, and Roland.

At the Paris Salon, 1909, she exhibited a Portrait-medallion of
Prof. Dr. Robert Gaupp.

(I take it that the 'Mlle.' address above refers to her entry in the Paris Salon catalogue.)

Interestingly, this bust in illustrated in Royal Academy Illustrated 1938, at page 105. A little unusual to get this recognition as the artist exhibited three works only at the RA (two in 1937 and this one in 1938). Her address is given in 1937 as 7 Nevern Road, SW5 and in 1938 as 11 Nevern Road. One of the 1937 exhibits was a portrait of Count P. Kinsky in tempera. The other 1937 exhibit was a portrait bust, sitter not named.

Jacinto Regalado,

In the 1938 RA catalogue, she is listed as Miss rather than Mrs.

Martin Hopkinson,

There is a dissident Moscow artist of this name in Toronto , first name Tatiana , who moved to Canada tatianagraphic.com

It is just possible that she is a relative of a younger generation


The sculptor's first names are those of an early 18th century Empress of Russia, who reigned 1709-62

Kieran Owens,

Her probate entry reads:

"Tcheremissinof of Tscheremissinoff Elizabeth of 9 Porchester Square London W.2. spinster died 8th February 1963 Probate London 15 May to Ekaterina Petroff spinster. Effects €298/12/0."

Marcie Doran,

Here she is in the 1939 England and Wales Register (entry for “Elizabeth Tcheremissinot”) in London. Her birth date is shown as November 9, 1879.

Marcie Doran,

There is some kind of glitch. Here (hopefully) is the download from Ancestry.

Osmund Bullock,

According to Johnson & Greutzner she also showed three works at the Royal Miniature Society at the same period as her RA exhibits.

Marcie Doran,

Thank you for your help, Osmund.

As “Elizabeth Tcheremissinoff”, she had numerous exhibits in the Universal Exposition, St. Louis, U.S.A., in 1904. Here is a link to page 293 of the catalogue. https://tinyurl.com/37h2xj2a

Kieran Owens,

Thank you, Osmund. The "of" instead of "or" was a slip of a keystroke.

Osmund Bullock,

Indeed - I was just concerned lest one of our less experienced contributors misinterpreted it as an ancient territorial name/title like, say, Lennox of Lennoch (which I've just invented, though there are real examples that I can't remember!).

The 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis (or ‘World’s Fair’) was held from the end of April until December; however Elisabeth Tcheremissinof had already shown her leatherwork the previous winter at an exhibition at the k. k. Österreichischen Museum für Kunst und Industrie in Vienna, and to some acclaim. A review in the July 1904 edition of their monthly magazine noted, “...in a Russian woman, Elisabeth v. Tscheremissinoff, we discover a strong, well-educated talent. The lady beats, presses, etches and appliqués the most charming bindings in leather, and she also understands the binding itself; she does everything with the greatest accuracy, and what she does is good, and full of taste, imagination and a sense of colour.” (translated from https://bit.ly/3yiNVvO)

Marion pointed out to me Rendall's ODNB entry (for those of you with Library card access https://bit.ly/3IGnVze) which made me wonder about the story leading to Cheremisinova and realising this sculpture of Rendall. He obviously had a strong interest in the arts. His robes worn here, what aspect of his life would they relate to?

David, thank you. I cannot access the ODNB but have read his comprehensive entry in Who's Who for 1940. There is no mention of an interest in painting or sculpture. It does refer to him being one of the first governors of the BBC (1927-32) and of his continuing association with education after retirement. What puzzles me a little is that Rendall retired from Winchester College in 1924, aged 60, yet he didn't pursue the commissioning of the bust until the late 1930s. I haven't yet found any link between him and the sculptor Elizabeth Tcheremissinof (or Tscheremissinoff) apart from the existence of the bust.

Winchester College,

Thank you all for your comments on this bust. I can confirm that it is made of lead (I think we must have carried over the error from an earlier catalogue).

In the College Archives is a letter in which Rendall makes reference to this commission. I'll see if I can dig it out.

Rendall certainly had a great interest in art - he collected Old Master and modern works (including an important painting by CRW Nevinson). Some examples are online here: http://winchestercollections.co.uk/?s=rendall
He also lectured on Art History to pupils (see Kenneth Clark, Another Part of the Wood, pp. 60-62), and oversaw the creation of a gallery of casts and photographs of Renaissance art in the school museum.

Winchester College,

From a letter from Rendall to the Warden of Winchester College, 29th Jan 1939:

‘I am told that a ‘lead’ bust of me, the work of a very talented and sincere Russian lady, Miss Tcheremiscrioff, which was mentioned with strong approval by the press & received an excellent place in last year’s Academy, has been accepted by the Warden & Fellows –
May I, in the first place, thank you and them warmly for finding a home for it somewhere in ‘Win: Coll:’. It is an honour which I did not expect.

Secondly, may I say that the making of the bust did not spring from any suggestion of mine. I was reluctantly induced to sit to Miss Tcheremissinoff at Madam Wockoff’s repeated request. Madame Wockoff has a son in College, whom the W. & F. accepted during Lord Selborne’s Wardenship. The two ladies have lately shared a studio in Kensington. They were & are sorely in need of financial help: that was why I came across them.

Madame Tcheremissinoff has made good friends with C. Wheeler R.A., the sculptor: also Herbert Baker has been very good to her.’

Marcie's second attachment, 10/12/21, referenced exhibiting in the Renaissance Galleries in 1938. Where were they and is there anything more about what she exhibited there?

I think the information kindly supplied by Winchester College (as above) provides the answer to the sculptor's association with Montague Rendall unless Katharine wishes us to explore this further. The main issue now is putting together a reasonably accurate biography of Elizabeth Tcheremissinof(f) and in this respect Martin's post of 10th December is very helpful. Assuming that the entry in the Dictionary of Medallists is accurate, we know that the artist was born in St Petersburg (in 1874). It is stated that she studied under Strasser, Gauguie and Roland and I think the tutors referred to would be Arthur Strasser (1854-1927) (who was born in what is now Slovenia and worked mainly in Vienna); Henri Desire Gauguie (1858-1927) (a French sculptor working in Paris); and possibly Roland Mathieu-Meusnier (1824-1896) (also a French sculptor but he would have been quite elderly at that time). It is known from research undertaken by Kieran that our artist was working in Vienna, which is perhaps the link to Strasser. It is most probable that she studied in Paris too given the identity of two of her tutors.

From what we know so far I think it probable that she was a Russian born citizen who moved to western Europe to study or to further her career or both. It appears that she had strong connections with influential clients in Austria, e.g. the Kinsky family and she contributed to exhibitions internationally. At present we cannot find evidence of her living in England before 1937. As those times were very troubling in central Europe it seems plausible that circa 1935/37 she moved to London permanently, which is where she died in 1963. She does not appear in The Year's Art volumes covering 1942 to 1947, which lists all artists exhibiting at the main societies and a lot of the smaller ones too. I couldn't find any other UK exhibition record for her but see David's post above re the Renaissance Galleries.

If we can 'flesh' this out with additional information it should get us some way to addressing the principal subject of the discussion. I'll check my records on Sir Charles Wheeler to see if she is mentioned there.

Marcie Doran,

Here are links to two of her busts at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg under the name “Черемисинова, Елизавета Петровна. 1874-?” (Cheremisinova, Elizaveta Petrovna 1874-?).

1. ‘Portrait of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (junior)’ https://tinyurl.com/22jk5sk5

2. ‘Nikolai Nikolaevich the Younger, head slightly turned to the right shoulder’ https://tinyurl.com/ywsnprd9

All translations are by Google.

Osmund Bullock,

Marcie, if you look carefully at the detail (especially of the uniform and medals) you'll see that those two busts at the Hermitage are the same sculpture - see attached. The bronze version was in fact linked to (though not explicitly mentioned) in Marions's introduction; but it's nevertheless useful to see the plaster one, as the plinth with its imperial (Cyrillic)'NN' monogram for Nicholas Nikolaevich (see https://bit.ly/31Shrwl for example) suggests it was probably a fully realized and likely commissioned portrait rather than something done on spec.

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Marcie Doran,

Thank you, Osmund. I missed Marion’s link. The composite is useful, too.

I think there might be other references online to her by searching her name in Russian. I noticed, on the 1939 England and Wales Register record that you posted, that a tiny “9 Feb 79” is written above her birth date of “9 Nov 79”. Do you think this is her family tree? https://www.geni.com/people/Елизавета-Tcheremisinov/6000000073802591049. It does mention her sculpture at the State Hermitage Museum in the section below all the family members. I’m not very familiar with that website.

Kieran Owens,

Елизавета Петровна Черемисинова (Elizabeth Petrovna Cheremisinova) was the daughter of Пётр Николаевич Черемисинов (Peter Nicholas Cheremisinova) (1838-c.1917) and Анна Васильевна Трувеллер (Anna Vasilievna Truveller/Trewheller) (1842 - 1908), of St. Petersburg. Her father was a jurist and Privy Councilor, as well as being the head of international communications on Russian railways:

https://bit.ly/31Io9VV

In 1915, a special congress on international communications was held, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the railway service. The copy of "Соперничество торговых интересов на Востоке / Rivalry of Trade Interests in the East" (1903) by M. P. Fedorov, was presented to him by the author, in honour of his 65th birthday.

Regarding our subject, the 1939 Register entry, which Osmund has supplied above, records, as Marcie has pointed out since I composed this paragraph) that she was born on the 9th November (apparently altered to February) 1879, and not 1874. By contrast, an entry on http://www.geni.com puts the year at 1877:

https://www.geni.com/people/Елизавета-Tcheremisinov/6000000073802591049

Her family connections, to parents and siblings, can be see at the above link.

The artist could be the same person as the similarly-named member-employee, from its inception in 1904, of the РХПО (the Russian Art-Industrial Association (or Society) / Русское художественно-промышленное общество):

https://bit.ly/3pQZNB4

"RUSSIAN ART-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY (1904-1917). The society was founded in 1904 in St. Petersburg. The initiators were graduates and teachers of the Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron A. L. Stieglitz and was under the patronage of the Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich. The main goal of the society was to contribute to the development and prosperity of the art industry. This was supposed to be achieved "through the dissemination of artistic taste and understanding among the population, as well as theoretical and practical information in the field of applied art." "

Translating from a Russian text, there is an additional reference to (perhaps) her:

"In addition, the Society of St. Olga at the same time continued to be concerned about the construction of a monument to the saint in Pskov. The City Duma allocated a place for it on the square near the coastal fortress wall, and the architect Elizaveta Petrovna Cheremisinova (Елизавета Петровна Черемисинова) drew up its project and made a model. In August 1914, the project received the highest approval, but the laying of the monument did not take place."

If this is our subject, the use of the Russian word "архитектор" (architect) and not "скульптор" (sculptor) to describe her is interesting.

Also in 1914, the artist submitted a model of a figure for the monument to Empress Maria Feodorovna, images of which can be seen here:

https://institutspb.ru/articles/proekty-pamyatnika-imperatrice-marii-fedorovne

A translation of the relevant sections reads:

"A more successful competition for a monument to Empress Maria Feodorovna took place in 1911. The monument was supposed to be erected "in the Adlerberg Square", just opposite the centre of the main building of the Smolny Institute. "The character of the entire monument must be consistent with the style of the Institute building, built by Quarenghi."

"On February 8, 1912, after examining 31 submitted projects, the jury awarded the first prize “for the model under the motto “Tai-ki ”to the sculptor Yu. N. Svirskaya and the architect N. Ye. Lancera; the second "for the model under the motto "Altair "- to the student of the Academy of Arts M. G. Manizer and the architect B. D. Tsinserling", the third "for the model under the motto "Benefits of the Empress Mary " to the architect L. A. Ilyin and the sculptor L. V . Sherwood "; "for a model under the motto "Circle" - to the sculptor V. V. Lishev and architect L. R. Sollogub" and the fifth......to E. P. Cheremisinova and the architect "E. A. Bernardazzi".

"Critic A. A. Rostislavov noted Svirskaya's project as “the most integral and harmonious: both figures are well connected with a simply processed and beautifully proportioned pedestal”, while he gave a more critical assessment to the work of E. P. Cheremisinova: “… the figure is somewhat disappears against the backdrop of a colonnade that is not particularly associated with it”.

"Meanwhile, it was the Cheremisinov project that was approved for staging. The work was to be completed by September 1, 1913. The life-size model was completed by Cheremisinova by May 1914. This information is especially important......., since the State Russian Museum's photo library contains three photographs of this model, shown from different angles. The sculptor's work has not survived, or, in any case, its location is unknown, therefore these images are of undoubted interest. A more famous photograph of the model L. V. Sherwood, who received, as already noted, the third prize. It was published, in particular, in the magazine "Ogonyok" in 1912.

"As for the further history of the monument, it was never installed in 1914. The delays were mainly associated with long bureaucratic correspondence regarding the redevelopment of the site of the monument at the Smolny Institute. The First World War, which prevented the completion of a number of monumental structures, put an end to the construction of a monument to Empress Maria Feodorovna in St. Petersburg."

In the book entitled "Nicholas and Alexandra: the court of the last Russian emperors" (Slavia-Interbook, 1994), the following biographical entry for the artist is included:

"ЧЕРЕМИСИНОВА , ЕЛИЗАВЕТА ПЕТРОВНА (CHEREMISINOVA, ELIZAVETA PETROVNA) - Second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Russian sculptor. Completed a full course of study in the workshop of Professor Strasse in Vienna, then worked at the Académie Colarossi in Paris." It goes on to say that she exhibited three works in the 1909 Paris Salon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Académie_Colarossi

There are some more details in the book, but they are not accessible to me on the web (Osmund, to the rescue?):

https://bit.ly/3dEwfBf

Her bust of Tsar Nicolas can be seen here:

https://art16.ru/gallery2/v/herm_photo/rusartrep/SANY0166.JPG.html

The artist's close connections to the ruling elite in Russia could explain her departure from there to Vienna and Paris during the political and social upheavals that culminated in the 1917 Russian revolution.

In the 2007 edition off the journal Страницы истории отечественного искусства XVI-ХХ века, Вып. ХIV (Pages of the History of Russian Art of the XVI-XX centuries. Issue XIV.) an essay by N. V. Logdacheva was printed under the following title:

К изучению скульптуры начала ХХ века: Ю. Н. Свирская и Е. П. Черемисинова (To the study of sculpture at the beginning of the twentieth century: Yu.N. Svirskaya and E.P. Cheremisinova)

Jacinto Regalado,

Kieran, the bust you link is the same as that previously linked (see especially Osmund's composite) of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich the Younger, who was related to Nicholas II but obviously not the tsar:

https://bit.ly/3yncjfx

Jacinto Regalado,

Also, there's a typo in the name of our sculptor's father, who would have been Cheremisinov, as only female Russian surnames end in an a, as in her case.

Kieran Owens,

Well spotted, Jacinto. My Russian is very rusty and it was very late!

Kieran Owens,

If the establishment is the same as the one referenced above, in the mid-to-late-1930s the Renaissance Galleries were located at 9 Lower Regent Street.

Osmund Bullock,

I have lots more information on the Renaissance Galleries, but I imagine Kieran (who seems to be flying on amphetamines) will get there first! That's a remarkable research result, notwithstanding the minor errors - I pondered trying a Russian (and Cyrillic) search as per Marcie's suggestion, but decided life was too short...you are clearly made of sterner stuff. Very well done.

There is no doubt whatever this is the right family - the original Hermitage webpage in Russian ( https://bit.ly/3DM2Yiv ) gives her patronymic middle name as Petrovna ('daughter of Peter/Pyotr'), but oddly omits it in the English language version. The Geni page has to be approached with caution, as like Ancestry Family Stories the information given comes from members, and can sometimes be quite mistaken. However I have examined this pedigree in some detail, and am very impressed by its quality and accuracy in things I can check - in the case of Elisabeth/Elizaveta (or whatever version we eventually decide on) her birth/baptism dates are accompanied by a link to an image from the register of the church of the Peterhof Palace: https://bit.ly/3EQN7jY. I followed this up, but you have to be a registered user, and pay to access the image. I wasn't too daunted by that, but when I tried to register, a message read (translated from Russian): "Registration of new users on the Portal is possible only when logging in through a confirmed account on State Services". I am nevertheless inclined to accept the 1877 birth year shown there over the 1879 given in the 1936 Register (presumably by the woman herself) and even the 1874 of the Hermitage, neither of which have prima facie any supporting evidence. Since the Hermitage stands to benefit from the correct information (and the many additions to it we are providing), I wonder if they can be prevailed upon to access the original document image - does anyone we know have contacts at the Museum?

Oh, and Elizaveta had an English grandfather: her mother's father was a Cornish engineer and surveyor trained in Russia. More of that later, but it's in the Geni pedigree ( https://bit.ly/3yhNqBS ), and see also this which relates to her younger sister Anna: https://bit.ly/31V61HO

Osmund Bullock,

Sorry, Anna (b. 1875) was her elder sister, not younger - Elizaveta was the youngest child.

Osmund Bullock,

And a typo: for '1936 Register', read '1939 ...' - i.e. the one taken in Britain at the outbreak of WWII.

Andrea Kollmann,

In the years 1910 (https://bit.ly/3dPlhsM), 1911 (https://bit.ly/3s0XoXr) and 1912 (https://bit.ly/31O7Vup), she is listed as a member of the “Vereinigung bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs” (as Neta v. Tscheremissinoff), which was founded in Vienna in 1910. Her studio address in all these years was Marokkanergasse 22, Vienna.
She is not named anymore as a member in the other member lists available online (1913, 1916, 1917).

This article (https://bit.ly/3dM98EH) from April 1911 (in which she is called Veta v. Tscheremissinoff) mentions that she had studied in Paris for two years and in Vienna for three years. The article is also illustrated with her portrait. I attach a translation.

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Kieran Owens,

In his 'Русское искусство в Эрмитаже: знаменитые и забытые мастера XIX-первой четверти XX века' (Russian Art in the Hermitage: famous and forgotten masters of the 19th and first quarter of the 20th century) (Славия (Slavia), 2007), Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovskiĭ records the following:

"Elizaveta Cheremisinova graduated from the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens in 1895 and soon went abroad. She studied sculpture at the Strasser workshop in Vienna, then at the famous Academy of F. Colarossi in (Paris)..." (the rest is not available online):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Noble_Maidens

Marcie Doran,

The 1963 probate entry for “Elisabeth Tcheremissinof” that Osmund linked to on 10/12/2021 17:57 mentioned Ekaterina Petroff. I received the probate records of Ekaterina Petroff earlier today.

Ekaterina Petroff (March 11, 1908 – December 16, 1992 London, England) must have left her estate to Martha von Rosen (June 10, 1904 Reval, Estonia – March 1, 2002 British Columbia, Canada) since one of the two documents that I received was Martha’s will.

Martha von Rosen had co-written the book that Osmund linked to on 12/12/2021 19:23 “A Baltic Odyssey: War and Survival” (1996)(Editor: Elvi Whittaker). Martha was the daughter of Anna Petrovna Kügelgen (née Tcheremissinof) and the niece of Elisabeth Petrovna Tcheremissinof.

Note the spelling of her first name was Elisabeth (not Elizabeth) in the 1939 England Wales Register and in the detailed probate entry from 1963.

Osmund Bullock,

Marcie, I am guessing you've ordered Elisabeth's Will as well...as I did about an hour before you posted (and was within a whisker of getting Ekaterina's also)! Probably best to warn us when you order a relevant Will or other pay document to avoid doubling up - I came on here just now mainly to let people know I'd done it.

Marcie Doran,

I did not order Elisabeth’s will. Yes, good idea. I will warn others next time.

Kieran Owens,

The attached extract, from the above-referenced 'A Baltic Odyssey: War and Survival' by Martha Von Rosen etc., gives some information regarding our artist's mother, Anna Vasilievna Truveller/Trewheller, and the family's high-society roots.

My only concern here is that in the book she is described as being Anna Petrovna and not Anna Vasilievna.

Kieran Owens,

Scratch that. I should, of course, be referring to our artist's sister being Anna Petrovna and her mother being Anna Vasilievna! These things get confusing.

Osmund Bullock,

Marcie, I was exaggerating a bit when I said I'd almost ordered Ekaterina's Will - I was indeed intending to order it, but couldn't see it listed from a quick search. I was about to go back for a more thorough one when I saw your post. Well done for finding it - I've just looked for it again and it took me ages to track down because of the very long delay (11 years) before probate was granted.

With the Covid resurgence on top of Xmas, Elisabeth's Will may not arrive till the end of the month; with such a small estate, though, I doubt there'll be anything very helpful there. My guess is that she left everything to Ekaterina, her sole executor, with whom she was apparently living when she died in 1963 - Ekaterina is listed in Electoral Rolls at the same address (9 Porchester Sq) from 1957-65. And in fact it looks like they may have lived together well before that: although Ekaterina is not recorded at 80 Warwick Gdns with Elisabeth in the (Sept) 1939 Register, she does appear at the same address in Kelly's PO Directory for the same year.

Pieter, that is a tremendous piece of work. The fact that our sculptor exhibited a portrait in tempera of Count P. Kinsky in 1937 suggests that at some stage in the period 1917-1937 she may have returned to Austria. Given her connections to the Russian nobility and the Royal Family, it is unlikely that the Soviet Government would have been sympathetic to her situation post the 1917 revolution.

Marcie Doran,

Yes, this piece is remarkable, Pieter. I noticed just one typo - the memoir was written by Martha von Rosen not Maria von Rosen in the section about Trewheller.

An article (extract attached) in the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ of May 1, 1937, includes a nice quote about the tempera of Count Kinsky.

The attached page from a lengthy article in the ‘Railway News’ of July 15, 1911, includes an image of Elisabeth’s father.

Thanks both: good point, Grant, re: the Kinsky portrait. Circa 1911/12 to 1937 would be a long gap for a portrait age-wise.

I'm inclined to think the reference to her as 'Vera' is perhaps an old misunderstanding of 'Veta' - one of the contractions of Elizaveta.
A check on her Trewheeler grandfather's birth and death dates would help. If b. 9.2.1877 then she died on the ever of her 86th b'day, not 89th. Will post final version depending on further additions/amends.

Kieran Owens,

Pieter, that is an excellent summary.

Marcie, well done on the super discoveries.

In regard to the post of 11th December by Winchester College I have checked the contents of 'High Relief' (the autobiography of Sir Charles Wheeler, PRA) and the more recent book 'The Sculpture of Charles Wheeler' by Sarah Crellin. Unfortunately I could find no reference in either book to our sculptor. As she and Charles Wheeler were both exhibiting at the Royal Academy in the years 1937 and 1938, it is quite possible that he offered her kind words of praise and encouragement during the course of those exhibitions.

Could someone with direct access to Ancestry check the dates of our sculptor's Cornish grandfather William Trewheeler/Truveller/ Trewheller for which we have two versions: 1808-59 or 1798-1860 as well as variant first names as William Frederick or Vasily Ivanovich (according to Kieran's first link of 15/12/21. The latter doesn't look like Russian for the former, or at least not the patronymic element (surely Ivan = John?).

Alison Golding,

Artnet has the following entry, sadly unillustrated -
"Artist:
Elizabeth Tcheremissinoff (Russian)
Title:
PORTRAIT OF RISALDAR MAJOR LALL SINGH MBE, 5TH PROBUN'S HORSE, KING EDWARDS VII'S OWN LANCERS, KING'S INDIAN... , 1937
Medium:
Pastel
Size:
42 x 31 in. (106.7 x 78.7 cm.)"

Kieran Owens,

One genealogical source gives the family lineage as follows:

William Frederick Trewheller (1808-1859) (Василий Иванович Трувеллер) was the son of John Simon Trewheller (1786-????) and Anna Dorothea Henriette Berg. The family were, reportedly, from Penryn in Cornwall.

One Russian source says of William that "Maria Vladimirovna's husband Vasily Ivanovich Truveller was a communications engineer. An Englishman by birth, after the Sevastopol company he took Russian citizenship and stayed to live in Russia."

If this is true, William's father, John Simon Trewheller would not have embraced the Russian tradition of including his first name as his son's middle name.



Kieran Owens,

Another site, with information from a direct descendant, gives the following tree:

"Richard Trewheller
His son John Trewheller
His son Richard Trewheller was born in 1785 in Penryn, Cornwall, England.

His sons:

1) William (Василий in Russian), my GGG father, was born in 1808 in Chatham, England, died in Russia in 1859.
2) John (Иван in Russian) born in 1810 in Woolwich. He was a mechanical engineer. He lived in Tula , Russia. I don’t know anything about his line.
3) Richard - a seaman. I know that he had daughter, Ekaterina, and a son, Vladimir who died in 1904 in the war with Japan.

All three brothers came to Russia in 1830. In 1856 they accepted Russian citizenship.

William ( Василий Иванович Трувеллер) – civil engineer built railway bridges in Russia. He came in Russia in 1833 with daughter Nadia. Her mother died in England.

His second wife was Anna Woolf. Has died in ? in 1835.

Hi third wife was Maria Kozlyninova. They has one son, Vladimir (1841-1909). His (Vladimir's) wife Amalia was from Finland. She was buried in Moscow in 1908.

Vladimir and Amelia had four children:

• Boris (1872-1925). Buried in Vladivostok.
• Lidia. Hhas no kids
• Uriy. Died then he was 18 years old
• Olga. Has 2 daughters: Lely and Nadia."

This tree suggests that John Simon Trewheller was not William Frederick's father but that a Richard Trewheller was.

Kieran Owens,

A little more on William can be gleaned from this extract from a longer article, which can be seen here:

http://www.gardenhistory.ru/page.php?pageid=211

THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF THE GARDEN ON OLGINO ISLAND

Engineer, captain of the corps of railways, the owner of the new island Wilhelm (Vasily Ivanovich) Truveller (1810 - circa 1870) built in Peterhof the sluices of the Paper Mill, a camp for military schools, drew up maps of the city, cut new streets, participated in the construction of the Nikolsky house. On the northern bank of the Okhotny bog in 1834, at his request, a vast area was allocated to him. Here Truveller built two stone houses and baths, later a bathhouse on the banks of the Ol'giniy Pond, and then the wooden building of the Samson Hotel.

The island on the Bolshoi (as it was at first called) pond became part of his rapidly growing estate. Truveller built a Swiss house on its southwest bank. The house had a complex cruciform shape in its plan. Its length was a little more than nine meters, width - almost eight meters, height - 5. The wooden structure on a stone foundation had a basement floor, into which four doors led, and the upper part was decorated with a lantern two meters high with colored glasses.

The owner was planning to build another house on the southwestern tip of the island, with stairs leading to the water. In 1845, the foundation was already made for it and the project was "highly approved". On the island, the owner built two wooden pier and arranged a garden: he planted fruit and "simple" bushes and trees, made gravel paths, arranged beds, 60 of them with strawberries and strawberries. The plan of the island, made by V. Truweller, gives an idea of ​​its layout, the location of all existing buildings and the location of the planned house.

In May 1845 V. Truweller expressed a desire to return the island to the treasury free of charge - he learned that the emperor wished to buy the island from the owner. Nicholas I did not accept the gift. The first commission to assess the island and everything that was on it, determined its value at 4005 rubles. The Emperor considered this price too high. The re-assessment was 2160 rubles. Ultimately, the owner was paid 3,000 rubles.

On June 23, 1845 (on the day of the purchase of the island), the architect A.I.Shtakenshneidr was ordered to "build a pavilion on a small island belonging to Mr. Truveller in Peterhof, considering architecturally the facade of such a pavilion on Tsaritsyno Island, but in a smaller size"

Three days later, the manager of the PDP, S.M. Likhardov, told the architect that the emperor would be pleased to have by July 11 "the idea of ​​the proposed pavilion." Likhardov asks the architect, "... if possible, deliver by that time at least the sketches of the project to present to the emperor." July 11 - the day of the namesake of the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892). The imperial couple was preparing a gift for their daughter.

On July 5, Likhardov once again asked the architect "to deliver his (new pavilion) plan of construction and the facade to it as quickly as possible and, if possible, by the evening, because the Emperor wishes to have such drawings with the return and delivery of the plan from the Drawing Board."

Kieran Owens,

Note from the above that William is referred to as William Ivanov and not William Frederick. It could well be that he was born in England as William Frederick but later adopted or adapted to the local usage of having his father's first name as his second. If so, it does suggest that his father was John and not Richard, as his descendent records above.

Kieran Owens,

It would appear that the Truveller/Trewheller family name originally was Trewhella, a name which appears with great regularity in the Penzance BMD records from the first official entry in 1837 onwards.

Accepting he 'Russianized' his first names and died in 1859, is there a Chatham birth/baptismal record to confirm 1808 as d.o.b. rather than the 1798 that appears in the von Rosen 'Baltic Odyssey' memoir?

Alison Golding,

The portrait of Rissaldar Major Lall Singh sold on Artnet would probably have been painted in April/May of 1937 in London: the Rissaldar Major is recorded as having arrived in London in April 1937 to take part in the Coronation -

https://bit.ly/3E8QMsd
https://bit.ly/3sjE4EX

Osmund Bullock,

That's very helpful, Alison.

Kieran, I think the tree you quote in your post of 18/12/2021 21:49 must come from here https://bit.ly/3FggnRy , and the details “from a direct descendant” are those posted by ‘Kirril’ (on Mar 4, 2009 at 1:43am). This is a very long thread – 15 pages over 14 years from 2007! – and the research grows more detailed and complicated as it progresses. Later contributions, especially by ‘Cornish Terrier’ who has researched the Trewheller family for many years, dispute some of what Kirril states, and rightly so. Some of his main assertions (also not all right!) are further down the same page 3, with a good short summary on page 11 (https://bit.ly/3EiUuzv - five from the bottom). Kirril is also the manager of Wm Fredk’s Geni profile (https://bit.ly/3ecIogO) , where I now know there are some notable errors, though it’s still useful. So to the actual ascertainable facts that concern us.

William Frederick was actually christened at Gillingham, though that's next door to Chatham. And in fact the son born to John and Ann Truewheelar [sic] on 23 June 1808 was baptised on 17 July as “Frederick William” rather than Wm Fredk. See attached. Nevertheless the relative rarity of the Cornish name or its many variants in the South East of England, the lack of any alternative candidates, and much other evidence to demonstrate that the family were living in Kent at the right time, all support the identification of him as the William Frederick we are seeking. That evidence includes the burials of both John Trewheller's sister Jane and his father Richard (bap. 1761 Kenwyn, Cornwall) at Canterbury in 1803; his (John's) marriage to Ann Wells at Frindsbury, Kent (just across the Medway from Chatham) in 1805; and the baptisms (and one burial) of several more of their children at Chatham or (from c.1810) Woolwich / Plumstead between 1806 & 1813. One of those other children, William's younger brother Richard (1810-1872), also settled in Russia. John himself had been baptised at St Gluvias, Penryn, Cornwall, in March 1786. These references do not just come from online pedigrees – they have all been checked against primary sources, most of them original register images (which I can supply if needed).

Kieran Owens,

Magnificently meticulous as ever, Osmund. Well done on sourcing those details.

If possible, I think we should try to establish a little more about our sculptor's life between the years 1917 and 1937. Does anyone have access to the German language dictionary of artists known as Thieme Becker? It has been published for decades and is especially strong on German, French, Austrian and other European artists. The complete set of volumes takes up an enormous amount of library space. I would be a little surprised if she is not listed there.

Osmund Bullock,

You're very kind, Kieran (also as ever!), and you, too, Pieter. Two typos, though: William Frederick was christened as Frederick William Truewheellar (double L), not Truewheelar. And his father John was baptised in Cornwall on 27 March 1785, not 1786.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that John (sometimes given as ‘John Simon’) Trewheller moved to Woolwich in around 1810. The Royal Arsenal must have been going at full tilt at the time, and doubtless took on hundreds of workers to cope. In May 1813 John was (according to the baptismal record of another son, John Coulter – attached) a wheelwright by trade...and field guns, limbers and caissons need wheels. I also think this must have been how he first had contact with the Russians, who may have bought armaments from Woolwich and certainly were greatly interested in their modern manufacturing methods – in Nov 1816 Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia (later Tsar Nicholas I) visited the works with Sir William Congreve.

My guess is that John had done very well in his five or so years at Woolwich, and this led to the invitation mentioned by descendants to go and work in Russia, presumably at the Imperial Arsenal in Tula. It was exactly at this time he moved there with his family – another son, Robert Snow Trewheller, is said to have been born in Russia in 1817 (though I cannot confirm that). As Kieran’s last, very illuminating newspaper find relates, John (known in Russia as Ivan Rodionov Truveller – the Rodionov is unexplained) had risen to a very senior position at the plant by 1842; and Russian directories up to 1854 show him still working there – see his entry https://bit.ly/32mnMju in the remarkable (but hard to interpret) Erik Amburger database of foreigners in pre-revolutionary Russia: https://bit.ly/3mfP1ne. Other family members are listed on this page: https://bit.ly/3JiI7Yj

Osmund Bullock,

I now have the Will of our artist Elisabeth Tcheremissinof (that's how she spelled it), which clarifies a few things vis-à-vis her relationship to her long-term companion, Ekaterina Petroff. I will write more, I hope in the next few days (I'm burned out now), of that and of Ekaterina, and perhaps make some *very* tentative suggestions as to where Elisabeth might have been between the Revolution and the late-1930s. I also have full details of the Renaissance Galleries and their distinctly dodgy founder / manager Michael Robert Boss – for reasons that will become apparent, their exhibition of Elisabeth's sculpture and paintings in May 1938 was their last, and may well have had to close early.

Finally (pro tem), here is the catalogue of the 1909 Paris Salon showing two works (or is it four?) exhibited by Elisabeth: https://bit.ly/3dDgAC3. The medallion of Dr Robert Gaupp (presumably the renowned German psychiatrist) mentioned in the 1916 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists ( https://bit.ly/337u3Qv ) does not appear: either medallists had a separate Salon catalogue (which seems unlikely), or it was a different year, or it was actually exhibited at one of the ‘alternative’ Paris Salons held during this period, the ‘Salon du Champ-de-Mars’ and the ‘Salon d'Automne’.

The 'Truvellers', in whatever spelling, sound an interesting lot albeit tangential to Elisabeth Tcheremissinof as an artist. Part of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich was certainly the Royal Carriage Works that manufactured gun carriages, including the cast-iron 'garrison' variety and ceremonial ones as well as the mobile wooden field carriages likely to have been her wheelwright great-grandfather's speciality. Interesting that the 1909 Salon listing brings back the 'V-E' inintial: perhaps she was Vera Elizabeth after all (i.e. Vera wasnt a misunderstanding from 'Veta').

Is there any more detail on the nature of her 'miniatures' (e.g. the three shown in 1937-8)? Simply from a practical viewpoint that would be a marketable specialisation she could have continued most easily into old age based on personal connection and recommendation.

Osmund Bullock,

A volume of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters catalogues 1936-39 is in the NAL collection at the V&A, and so is that of Elisabeth's exhibition at the Renaissance Galleries in May 1938.

Unfortunately the NAL, after a brief period of very limited access, is closed again until, they say, mid-January. This is to do with refurbishment, not Covid...though the latter will doubtless delay the former. Their original plan was to close for a year; and though they officially back-tracked on that last March under public pressure, that's pretty much what we'll have had by the time they re-open properly (assuming they do). They offer a copying service, but that gets expensive and can itself take weeks.

Osmund Bullock,

An interesting discovery. I was beginning to think that the “Madame Wockoff” [sic] our sitter Montague Rendall said (in his 1939 letter shared by Winchester) had bullied him into sitting for Elisabeth Tcheremissinof, and who had “lately shared a studio in Kensington” with her, might have been Ekaterina Petroff with a misremembered name. After all the two ladies certainly shared a studio (and home) in Kensington (80 Warwick Gardens) in the late 1930s, and as the 1939 Kelly’s Directory of Kensington previously mentioned shows, both were indeed artists – see attached. Furthermore Elisabeth’s 1961 Will (also attached) states that she leaves all her possessions to Ekaterina “... for we always had our things, tools and materials in common use and possession.” Though in fact single, Rendall’s ‘Madame’ might have been a respectful term for a francophone lady, if surprising for a woman of just 31; I was a bit concerned that she had a son at Winchester...but maybe he was a godson, and the long-retired Rendall mistaken about that too.

Well, in fact he probably wasn’t mistaken about any of it, but his letter seems to have been misread: her name was not Wockoff, but *Wolkoff*! Vera Nikolaevna Wolkoff (née Scalon) https://bit.ly/3qloKVP was the wife of Rear-Admiral Nicholas Alexandrovich Wolkoff https://bit.ly/3H0GtbC , the last Imperial Russian naval attaché at the London Embassy 1913-1919. His father was the Russian artist Alexander Nikolaevich Wolkoff-Mouromtzoff https://bit.ly/32o5LBu , who married an Englishwoman and ended up in Venice. Like the Tcheremissinofs, the Wolkoffs and the Scalons were St Petersburg families. I will come back later to Madame Wolkoff (who did indeed also share Kensington studios with Elisabeth in 1937-38), but first...

Osmund Bullock,

...a brief digression back to Ekaterina, as it’s possible she may hold the key to Elisabeth’s whereabouts 1917-37. The same Will describes her as Elisabeth’s niece, but I can’t see her in the extended Tcheremissinof genealogy. So it’s possible she was in fact a godchild or cousin (I have a young cousin I always call my niece)...but if anyone else can pin her down exactly, that would be most welcome. Her original full Russian name was Ekaterina Innokentievna Petrovna, and she came from Estonia – these details given in the London Gazette’s record of her June 1952 naturalisation (when she was already living at 9 Porchester Square). Attached. The Estonian origin is interesting, as that was where Elisabeth’s known niece, Martha von Rosen (the daughter of her sister Anna Petrovna Kügelgen née Tcheremissinof) was born. And as Marcie suggested (14/12/2021 18:13), Martha may have been the heir of Ekaterina.

Marcie, could you post Ekaterina’s Will for us – surely it must say if Martha was definitely her heir or not? And does it state their relationship, or anything else that might help clarify things? It seems very possible that Estonia was where Elisabeth herself ended up after the Revolution.

Osmund, you make some very interesting points. I had assumed in all probability that our sculptor's family property in Peterhof would have confiscated by the Soviets at some point not long after the October/November 1917 revolution and that the family may have been taken into custody, hence the large gap in the history from 1917 to 1937. What I had overlooked is that there was a war going on involving Estonia, the Germans and the Soviets until 1920, at which point the Russians accepted Estonian sovereignty over its own territory. It wasn't until 1940 that the Soviets annexed Estonia. In that turbulent period 1917 to 1920 it is quite possible that our sculptor and her relatives may have been able to flee Russia. Of course the border between the two countries isn't that far from St Petersburg. So Estonia may possibly loom large in piecing together the family history of those times.

On the second issue of the 1938 exhibition at the Renaissance Galleries I was aware from advertisements in The Year's Art that the gallery exhibited work they owned for sale but also 'rented out' some or all of the exhibition space to other dealers and to artists wishing to show their works at the galleries. That is what must have happened in regard to our sculptor's show. If you can obtain details in due course of her exhibits that would help in regard to, for example, the ratio of sculptures to miniatures and other paintings, the subject matter, and if recorded any dates given for creation of the exhibits. For her to rent the gallery space this show must surely be the largest gathering of her work in a single known exhibition and thus invaluable in the documentation of her life and work.

Some one with access to this, and Russian, would probably also help (previously cited by Kieran)

N. V. Logdacheva, К изучению скульптуры начала ХХ века: Ю. Н. Свирская и Е. П. Черемисинова (To the study of sculpture at the beginning of the twentieth century: Yu.N. Svirskaya and E.P. Cheremisinova), in [journal] Страницы истории отечественного искусства XVI-ХХ века, Вып. ХIV (Pages of the History of Russian Art of the XVI-XX centuries. Issue XIV, [2007].)

Marcie Doran,

Those are all very interesting discoveries, Osmund.

I have asked HM Courts & Tribunals Service for assistance regarding Ekaterina's will. I am hoping to get a copy of it rather than the will of Martha von Rosen (1904-2002) who must have been bequeathed Ekaterina's estate. While I have attached a redacted first page of the record, the rest of the document is the will of Martha von Rosen and it contains names and addresses that I don't think should be posted online for privacy reasons.

In 1920, Elisabeth must have been in Japan. On May 31, 2020, Dongho Chun published ‘Selling East Asia in Colour: Elizabeth Keith and Korea’. It is on ResearchGate https://tinyurl.com/2p8v4m4c.

The text reads as follows:

"This exhibition must have been the one held at Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo in May 1920 and it contained “WATERCOLORS of Japan, Korea and Hokkaido by Miss Elizabeth Keith, SCULPTURE by Miss E. Tcheremissinof, PRINTS by Mr. C. W. Bartlett.” [footnote 28] It was neither solely devoted to Keith’s work nor did her productions deal exclusively with Korea as her recollection might suggest, but among the exhibits only Keith’s Korean subjects were singled out for praise in a contemporary review: “‘Seoul-the South Gate’ is a beautiful example of what she can do with landscape, while ‘An old Korean Smoking’ is a masterpiece in characterization and artistic composition.” [footnote 29]"

Marcie, that is a marvellous discovery. Who would have thought that the trail could lead to Japan? Of the three artists mentioned, Elizabeth Keith and Charles William Bartlett (1869-1940) had known connections with Japan. Sticking with Bartlett for the present, he was an English born artist known for his colour prints in particular. He first visited Japan in 1915, leaving in 1917, following which he settled in Honolulu. On that first visit he met an Austrian artist in Tokyo called Fritz Capelari, who introduced him to the print shop of Watanabe Shozaburo. Bartlett also met Elizabeth Keith at that time. He returned to Japan again in 1919 but went back to Hawaii before 1920. Although his work was exhibited regularly in Japan after 1919 I can find no record that he attended the May 1920 exhibition at the Mitsukoshi department store. I imagine that it was handled by his agent in Tokyo possibly in conjunction with Elizabeth Keith. So the links are there for the participation of Bartlett and Keith in May 1920 exhibition but as yet there is no evidence that our sculptor visited Japan. Perhaps the Austrian artist Fritz Capelari (see above) acted as an introducer for her? It would have been extremely dangerous at that time for her to travel east across Russia to get to Japan. Or did she leave Russia via Estonia as may have been a possibility? The other issue I will raise is it is clear that both Elizabeth Keith and Charles William Bartlett pursued art in the Japanese taste, thus justifying their participation on commercial and artistic grounds, but did our artist do likewise? I don't know but think we should try to find out.

Osmund Bullock,

That's a brilliant find, Marcie. Funnily enough I was going to suggest that Japan was another, though (I thought) remote possibility. Somewhere in the 15-page Trewella discussion thread referenced several times above is something about one of the Tcheremissinof family being in Japan during or after the Bolshevik Revolution...ah, yes, here it is: https://bit.ly/3FoR9Am. Ekaterina Vladimirovna Cheremisinova was a niece of Elisabeth's, the daughter of her brother Vladimir, and seems to have been there c.1918, between longer stays in China & New Zealand (where a related branch of the Trewheeler family had settled many years earlier). See also https://bit.ly/3egackH (in Russian):

" Ekaterina Vladimirovna Cheremisinova was born on December 14, 1890 into a noble family. Educated in St. Petersburg. She was a linguist, knew five languages - Russian, French, German, Italian and later English. Immediately after graduating from high school, her desire to see the world and make a living as a teacher [and perhaps the deteriorating situation in Russia? OB] led her to Shanghai. After leaving the country in September 1916 through Vladivostok, for two years she was a home tutor and teacher in the family of the Consul General of Russia in Shanghai, Viktor Fedorovich Gross. Catherine never returned to Russia and continued her journey through Japan to New Zealand ...". Another source says she arrived in NZ in 1919. Some years later she moved to Europe, and planned to settle and further her education in England, but met her husband-to-be while visiting relations in Paris, and settled there instead.

Oh, and the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright lived in Tokyo for much of the period 1917-22, and there he became friends with a group of aristocratic Russians, including a “Princess Tscheremissinoff”: https://bit.ly/320c4vd. She certainly wasn’t a princess, but she was probably a genuine Cheremisinov – though exactly who she was is not stated.

Osmund Bullock,

Marcie, I am now very confused by where we are with the Will of Ekaterina Petroff. When you said (14/12/2021 18:13) you had already got the probate I assumed you'd ordered it online in the usual way and also got the Will that accompanies it. That's why I complimented you on finding the probate date which was many years after she died, and why I haven't ordered it since myself. And why do you need the assistance of HM Courts & Tribunals Service? It's a very straightforward online process once you've found the probate date, and costs just £1.50: https://bit.ly/3yVPRuu . If you're having trouble just let me know and I'll do it.

PS Don't worry too much about redacting names & addresses in Probate documents (though I admit I've done so in the past, but I think unnecessarily). In England & Wales all Wills & Probate details are in the public domain, and not subject to any official privacy constraints. In any case, if you just post the original pdf, the details are just images, and will not appear in internet searches unless typed out in the discussion - a person would have to know exactly who he was looking for, and could then get a copy of the document himself.

Marcie Doran,

Thanks, Osmund. I ordered the will of Ekaterina Petroff by the usual process. It arrived in two documents. The first document was called "Grant" and it was the typical document (Ekaterina Petroff's name, address, date of death, value of estate, etc.). The second document was called "will" and it was the will of Martha von Rosen dated July 10, 2000. If you look at the first page (that I posted)(the "Grant") there is a sentence that reads, in part, "as contained in a translation of the said deceased (a copy of which is annexed)". I contacted the administrator because I wish to know if I can obtain the will of Ekaterina Powell. I redacted the information since the will is very recent and shows names and addresses of beneficiaries. I received an acknowledgement of my message and I'll be sure to report the outcome.

I have been looking further at the other two artists who exhibited in Tokyo in 1920 with our artist. Elizabeth Keith arrived in Japan in 1915 and remained there until 1924. She returned to Japan again in 1932 and 1936. Her publisher was also Watanabe Shozaburo who had a business association with her through to the 1930s and he was clearly a very influential person in the Japanese art world in the period from at least 1915 until the start of World War II. Charles William Bartlett was also in a business relationship with Shozaburo and I think that Shozaburo had involvement with the May 1920 show at the Mitsukoshi department store (a business with origins dating back to 1673). Shozaburo advised Keith and Bartlett on how to make their work popular for the Japanese market and his workshop was involved in the production process. Both artists were very successful. So I think that largely explains how Keith and Bartlett came to exhibit in that May 1920 show.

I now have an idea of how the Austrian artist Friedrich (Fritz) Capelari (1884-1950) fits into this. He had been living in Asia since 1911. In 1915, the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (see above) visited an exhibition of Capelari watercolours at a department store gallery in Tokyo (possibly Mitsukoshi, but not confirmed). Watanabe had been seeking an artist trained in Western-style painting with whom he could work on a new type of color woodblock print, but rooted in the traditions of Japanese ukiyo-e. Capelari accepted an invitation from Watanabe to work together and shortly thereafter they began their collaboration on producing woodblock prints. Capelari introduced Bartlett to Watanabe and very probably Keith too, as there is little doubt that all three knew each other.

On the subject of Capelari an outstanding issue requiring clarification is whether he knew our artist from her days in Vienna. They were in that city at the same time. Along with Watanabe, Capelari could be a central figure in the organisation of the May 1920 exhibition of the work of Bartlett, Keith and Miss E. Tcheremissinof.

What is far less clear at present is how our artist either travelled to Japan or was an exhibitor in Tokyo in May 1920 without being there in person. By 1918 it was certainly very difficult to travel across Russia without the necessary permits. So perhaps she and her family did indeed leave Russia before the 1917 Revolution, perhaps travelling to Vladivostok and then to China or by ship to Japan?

The other issue that puzzles me is how our artist's sculpture was considered appropriate commercially for exhibition in the Japanese domestic market. Work similar to the Rendall bust of the late 1930s is likely to have been deemed unsuited. Could her style in the period say 1910 to 1920 have been more Modernist?

Marcie Doran,

This document in Japanese would likely shed light on the mystery of Elisabeth being in Japan if someone could access it.
'Kotaro Takamura and E.Tcheremissinof: The Iconology of Jinzo Naruse [in Japanese]'
https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110001839466

A biography of Jinzo Naruse (1858-1919) includes a photo of a sculpture by Kotaro Takamura on page 11.
https://tinyurl.com/3weadwvw

I realize that this is a digression but I just wanted to mention that a record (HO 405/40948) for “PETROVA, E I aka PETROV aka PETROFF Year of Birth 1908” on the website of the National Archives (UK) is closed until January 1, 2053. It shows the dates January 1, 1937, to December 31, 1952.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C13307265

In 2053, it might help to fill in the background of her friend Elisabeth.

The TNA file is that relating to Petroff's UK naturalisation but no-one party to this conversation is likely to see it. The implication of the Japanese article is that Tcheremissinoff may have done some form or portrait of Jinzo Naruse (d.1919), pioneer of modern Japanese womens' education and founder of the Women's University of Japan, presumably during his pre-1913 investigative travels in Europe in that connection. While it may not be impossible for her to have gone to Japan in 1920, it is inherently unlikely overland, given post-revolutionary conditions in Russia, and (in my view at least) would have been far too long and expensive by sea. Its also no more likely than her being in St Louis when her leatherwork appeared there in 1904 (and she would certainly have listed that in her travels recounted to the 1911 'Sport und Salon' interviewer if she had).

Some Art UK discussions (this being an example) reach a point of diminishing returns at the centre while spinning off into possible lines of other enquiry on the periphery. Both the Japanese article, and the Russian one that Kieran cited on 12 December would no doubt add something, but appear impenetrable to current contributors here.

With the outline biography of this lady now at over three sides of A4 single-spaced I suggest we have covered the basics as far as we can and thereby answered the initial query. I'm sure a fully referenced research paper on her by someone who can penetrate both the Russian and Japanese articles we know of, and other non-English sources that may exist, would be welcomed by an appropriate scholarly journal but how much further do we need to go here?

Osmund Bullock,

I think there are a few things still worth waiting for, Pieter. I would like to see her 'niece' Ekaterina Petroff's Will (if Marcie manages to get the correct one), as it may throw light on Elisabeth's movements before London (?Estonia). And the NAL is or was opening again on the 26th on a very limited basis, though I'm having difficulty in re-registering online as a reader (which you have to do...and no phone contact is possible) - that should provide more detail on her exhibiting at both the Renaissance Galleries & the Royal Soc of Miniature Painters.

Re my post of 21/12/2021 02:57, it would appear that medal engravers *did* have a separate catalogue (or none at all) at the Paris Salon (of the Société des Artistes français). Attached is a brief notice in the 'Journal des Artistes' of one of the sculptures proper that Elisabeth exhibited there in 1909 - 'Trois têtes d'enfants' was in fact a single work, the heads being of "... little girls elegantly assembled on the same marble by Mlle Tchérémissinoff". Later in the same piece the reviewer turns his attention to the medal-engraving section; several artists are noted, but their names & works don't appear in the main catalogue (https://bit.ly/3dDgAC3). So Elisabeth's medallion of Dr Robert Gaupp was probably there too, which with the two others catalogued makes the three works she exhibited according to the 'Nicholas & Alexandra ...' book found by Kieran.

I've managed to pin down further the Musée Rodin reference (Kieran again). It comes from a 2015 file or rough catalogue of their vast collection of letters to Rodin from more than 8,000 correspondents (https://bit.ly/3G8LC1q). There are two items listed against her name, both from 1909, but no further details are given - I would guess that they relate to her exhibiting at the Salon that year. Her entry on the list is attached.

Osmund Bullock,

I've managed to re-register for the National Art Library, though it took nine online attempts, 28 minutes on hold on the V&A's main helpline on Friday, and a 15-minute rant when I finally go to talk to a human being (actually a very sympathetic one). I also think I've just now successfully ordered up for the 26th Jan the two catalogues we need to see (qv above) - the NAL is only open on Wednesdays, and that's the first. However, I had to do it on my smartphone (their software has stopped working with my elderly laptop), and my confidence level is low - doing anything complex on its little screen makes my eyes stream and unable to focus properly, and the NAL's phone version of its catalogue search & order system is (to me) confusing and unhelpful.

It's weird how the old are constantly told they must keep their brains active, but everywhere you go barrier after barrier is erected to make it harder for us to do so - I suppose what they really mean is "please sit quietly in a corner and do your Sudoku". And I promise that's the last off-topic moan I'll do on this thread.

This comment refers to the post of Winchester College on 11th December 2021 in which it was noted 'Madame Tcheremissinoff has made good friends with C. Wheeler R.A., the sculptor: also Herbert Baker has been very good to her.’ I said I would follow this up. I have now referred in more detail to The Autobiography of Sir Charles Wheeler, PRA, titled 'High Relief' which was published in 1968. Although there is no mention of our sculptor, Sir Charles writes at some length about his long friendship with Montague Rendall and his association with Sir Herbert Baker FRIBA RA (1862-1946), an eminent architect. During the headship of MR, Wheeler and Baker were heavily involved with architectural work to Winchester College which included sculpture by Charles Wheeler. CW also noted 'When Monty retired he would visit me in my London studio'. Their friendship extended for more than twenty years and is covered in some detail in Chapter 4 of 'High Relief'.

In a letter of 1939, Montague Rendall states 'Madame Tcheremissinoff has made good friends with C. Wheeler R.A., the sculptor: also Herbert Baker has been very good to her.’ I imagine that Charles Wheeler gave Montague Rendall the 'nod' to proceed with the commission and that his connection with Madame Tcheremissinoff was solely as a consequence of his friendship with MR.

Thanks Grant. In the light of that information its also worth noting Rendall's rather oddly phrased opening para in his 1939 letter against the College provenance record that the bust was 'gift from Headmaster Montague Rendall', viz:

'I am told that a ‘lead’ bust of me, the work of a very talented and sincere Russian lady, Miss Tcheremisinoff.... has been accepted by the Warden & Fellows – May I, in the first place, thank you and them warmly for finding a home for it somewhere in ‘Win: Coll:’. It is an honour which I did not expect.'

If he in fact offered it himself why didn't he just say so? The slightly circuitous wording suggests that (having apparently been prevailed on to commission it to support 'Miss/Mme T.') he asked someone else to make the offer to the College, rather than embarrassing them by having to say 'no' directly to him should that have been their choice. From what you say, the obvious person to have asked them was probably Wheeler.

Winchester College,

I've recently come across some more correspondence in the College Archives relating to this commission. On 30th January 1939, the Warden of Winchester wrote to Rendall to inform him that a recent meeting of school's governing body (the Warden and Fellows): 'had before us the offer of your bust which was in the Academy last year. I write to tell you how grateful we are to the various donors & how glad we are to have so [?fond - handwriting unclear] a representation of yourself.'

So the sculpture must have been presented to the College by a group of subscribers (perhaps former pupils) - as were many of the painted portraits of Winchester's headmasters.

An account of the sculpture was published in the school magazine in June 1939 (The Wykehamist No. 857 - June 13th, 1939).

Thanks for that: it sounds an good alternative explanation though it would tie things up to know who actually made the offer pp. the donors. He could have done but it still sounds as if it was a third party.

I realize that: it's just that the phrasing about the offer is all rather odd. Rendall (apparently prompted by Wheeler) seems behind the commission but not necessarily directly making the offer to the College. If a letter turns up saying ' To help this Russian refugee artist I agreed to sit to her for a bust and persuaded a bunch of old pupils to help pay the bill so we could offer it to the College: will you accept it?' that solves the problem: but it doesn't sound like it was done that baldly. You usually have a bunch of subscribers, one of whom is 'secretary' for such purposes, but not usually the sitter.

Can I ask where we are on this? I think Osmund - gallantly fighting through the obstacles put in his way by online bureaucracy - was trying to clarify some details about the sculptor and could the College perhaps post a scan of the 'account of the sculpture... published in the school magazine in June 1939 (The Wykehamist No. 857 - June 13th, 1939)' ?

Marcie Doran,

Regarding Osmund’s comment of 09/01/2022 05:18, I haven’t heard back from HM Courts & Tribunals Service and do not expect to.

Pieter, I think that we have probably gone about as far as we can in this discussion. There has been some exceptional research undertaken by a number of contributors and I suspect that, given the passage of time, we will not be able to fill in the apparent gaps in our sculptor's history, especially for the majority of the 1920s and the early to mid 1930s. Personally I think the note you have prepared very much meets the objective posed in the title of the discussion.

It would be helpful if Katharine can kindly review as discussion group leader in order to ensure there are no gaps in our approach and to bring this discussion to a close.

Katharine Eustace, Sculpture,

Yelizaveta/Elizaveta Petrovna Cheremisinova (Elisabeth Tcheremissinof) (1877–1963)

Pieter van de Merwe has, in his usual exemplary fashion, collated the extensive information that this in-depth discussion has revealed. It has taken us from Pre-Great War Russia and Habsburg Vienna to Canada, New Zealand and Japan, and came to rest in London in the environs of Nevern Road, Earls Court, Warwick Gardens, Kensington, and Porchester Square, Bayswater, now expensive real estate. In the mid-twentieth century, however, they were all rundown, transient lodging addresses.

Tcheremissinof’s trajectory is very typical of Eastern European artists of the twentieth century, beginning in the avante garde world of the Vienna Secessionists, via the almost inevitable Académie Colarossi in Paris, to the aesthetic craftsmanship of Japan in the 1920s. The fateful effects of two World Wars, and the destabilization of European civil life on this career, as on so many, is plain to see.

We may surmise that the conjunction of the close friends, the architect Sir Herbert Baker RA, the sculptor Sir Charles Wheeler, PRA, and Montague Rendall the former headmaster of Winchester College, Hants, culminated in 1938 in this portrait head from Tcheremissinof. It no doubt stemmed in some altruistic form of artistic benevolence towards the exiled sculptor, needy of commissions. I contacted descendants of Sir Herbert Baker who do have archival material, but they had no record of our sculptor. Nor did the author of the monograph on Sir Charles Wheeler, PRA (Henry Moore Foundation/Lund Humphries 2012), Dr Sarah Crellin, whom I was also in touch with.

This has been a very tangled web, and, as some of you pointed out, in danger of derailing. However, the combined efforts of Art Detectives working across language, archives and art have produced a spectacular example of how Art Detective furthers knowledge and restores reputations and work to their creators. Thank you all.

Osmund Bullock,

It's scarcely necessary, given Katharine's hugely impressive summing-up, but on a visit to the NAL many weeks ago I did dig out the catalogues of both Elizabeth's one-woman show at the Renaissance Galleries in 1938, and also of the relevant Royal Miniature Society ones - I have images of all the pages. There are some interesting and pretty informative things there, but they don't radically alter anything (bar perhaps giving support to the idea that she actually went to Japan). In any case, at this late stage they may or may not be too welcome. Apologies for my usual tardiness either way.

Katharine has made some comments on the draft so if you wish to post any other documentation Osmund, and/or points that you think arise, please do, before readjustment as a further draft. However edited down from that the 'profile' that Art UK posts may be, the discussion stream remains the total of information found if anyone wishes to re-examine it all at some future time.

I'm currently without access to my work PC (taken away for updates) but I can soon resume linking the artist biographies back to the discussions that gave rise to them. So far only a handful are linked.

A good suggestion from Pieter is for Art UK to provide a running list of biographies derived from Art Detective. I will put it under the Art Detective Resources tab which I am re-writing, none of which is visible yet.

Marcie Doran,

Yesterday I received the will of Ekaterina Petroff. The staff of HM Courts & Tribunals Service did not let me down after all – many thanks to them for their efforts on my behalf.

Fortunately, Ekaterina filed an English translation of her German will. The translation states that she was born in Leningrad on March 11, 1908, and that her parents were "the married couple Inokenti Petroff and Marie, nee [sic] Tscheremissinoff."

She bequeathed her estate to her "cousin" "Martha Baronin ROSEN, nee [sic] Kügelgen" of British Columbia.

In her will she made a reference to property managed by her “cousin” “Mrs. Nathalie Lindenberg”. The book 'A Baltic Odyssey: War and Survival' indicates that "Nita" Lindenberg was Martha's sister.

Minako Sakakura,

Hello, I have her photograph taken with my great grandfather who was a sculptor in Japan in 1917. She came to his atelier and studied with him. I am writing a book about him now and trying to find some information about her. I am curious to know if she has written anything about him.

Welcome Minako Sakakura to the Art UK, Art Detective website and we very much appreciate your post, which has helped us considerably in understanding the connection Madame Tcheremissinoff (Yelizaveta Cheremisinova) had with the beautiful country of Japan.

Would you be so kind as to upload the photograph you mention of Madame Tcheremissinoff with your great grandfather? It would be of great help if you could let us know his name and the name and location of the atelier you mention. I imagine it was in Tokyo as we know that Madame Tcheremissinoff exhibited there. Is the photograph from 1917? We know that Madame Tcheremissinoff shared an exhibition in Tokyo in May 1920. Presumably she lived in Japan for several years but we do not currently know when and for how long.

I regret that we do not have any of Madame Tcheremissinoff's papers and prior to your helpful post, we did not know of the connection to your great grandfather.

If you will kindly look at my post above of 23rd December 2021, I referred to some of people apparently known to Madame Tcheremissinoff during her time in Japan, namely the artists Elizabeth Keith, Charles William Bartlett, and Friedrich (Fritz) Capelari and the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo. There was a connection to the gallery within the Mitsukoshi department store in Toyko. Perhaps you great grandfather had links with these artists too and possibly also with Watanabe Shozaburo who was an influential figure in the Japanese art world during that period?

Your help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Minako - thank you for that fascinating addition confirming that she did go to Japan, presumably about the time (or just after) the Russian Revolution of 1917. As you will probably have seen above, a selection of her sculpture was shown at Mitsukoshi in Tokyo in May 1920, with pictures by two other Western artists.

That suggests she may have been there as long as three years or more, but if you have better dates for the length of her stay and how long she studied with your father (and where) please let us have them: I asssume he was Kotaro Takamura (1883-1956) but if not please let us know.

The fact she was in Japan suggests she may have painted her portrait of Jinzo Naruse (1858–1919, pioneer of Japanese women’s education) there -right at the end of his life. But if she did it earlier during his travels in Europe, he may have been connected with her going to Japan in the first place.

This may be clarified in the following article (also listed above and online at https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110001839466) but since it is only in Japanese we have not been able to access it:

Masubuchi Soichi, ‘Kotaro Takamura and E.Tcheremissinof : The Iconology of Jinzo Naruse’ [in Japanese] in Memoirs of the Japan Women's University. Faculty of Literature, no. 33 (1983), pp. 77–101, 1983 (Naruse was founder of the University)

Unfortunately we so far know nothing more definite of her in this period (c.1917-c.1937), and have not yet found anything she wrote.

Apologies Minako - your 'great-grandfather', not 'father'(!!!)...so perhaps Takamura Kōun (高村 光雲, March 8, 1852 – October 10, 1934)
who taught at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts ?

Minako Sakakura,

Hello,

Here is the photograph from my great grandfather’s biography.
I am trying to locate the original photo by contacting my family members. The second from the right was Elizabeth Tcheressinoff.

My great grandfather is the man in the right with kimono.
We don’t know the lady next to my great grandfather.

The photo was taken in the garden of his atelier in Komagome, Tokyo.

I can translate the excerpt from this book in Japanese.

Minako Sakakura,

In 1917, the night of the first of January, my grandfather was invited to a restaurant Hamacho-Tokiwaya by Count Seiichiro Terashima.
The main guest of the evening was Elizabeth Tcheremissinof. The other invités were Seiki Kuroda, Mr. and Mrs. Ichiro Motono (foreign minister), Seiichiro Nakajo(architect).

Count Seiichiro Terashima was a member of the Japanese parliament. We don’t know how he came to know Elizabeth Tcheremissinof and why he organised the evening for her.

Seiichiro Nakajo studied architecture at Cambridge University.

On 27 January Ichiro Motono invited Tcheremissinoff at his house and served Russian dishes. The other guests were Baron Kuki, Tadao Kato, Nariaki Tomoi, Matsushima (Secretary) and Kozaburo Takeishi(my great grandfather)

Mr. Motono was Japanese Ambassador to Russia for five times during the period between 1904 (Russo Japanese war) and 1916.

Minako Sakakura,

Tcheremissinoff’s long stay was sponsored by Seiki Kuroda. She came to the atelier of Kozaburo in Komagome often to study with him…during her stay, Tcheremissinoff exhibited a statue of Ichiro Motono(in his hunting attire) at a cultural exhibition(Bunten) in 1917 and the following year at the 12th Bunten, a statue of Baron Mitsui. In 1920 at the second Teiten exhibition(formerly known as Bunten), she exhibited bust of Elizabeth.

Minako Sakakura,

Source: P. 153-154 “Takeishi Kozaburo Note”
Author: Yoshiro Sasaki
Publisher: Kitanihon Bijyutsu
Published on 25 February 1985

Minako Sakakura,

I believe you can find out more about her stay in Japan from Seiki Kuroda’s diary.

Minako Sakakura,

My great grandfather, Kozaburo TAKEISHI studied at Académie Royale de Beaux Arts à Bruxelles from 1902 to 1909 with Dillens, Charles Van der Stappen, and Jef Lambeaux. He also knew Constantin Meunier and Rodin.

He knew Kotaro TAKAMURA and many other Japanese artists of the epoch. I will try to find out if he knew the names you have mentioned in your comment above.

If you need help in reading Japanese, I am glad to be of your help.

Minako Sakakura,

I managed to upload the photo.
From the left, Kozaburo Takeishi(my great grandfather), unknown, Mariko(my great aunt), Elizabeth Tcheremissinoff, Shigeko (wife of my great grandfather from the second marriage, my great grandmother was already deceased back then)

We would like to know who the lady next to my great grandfather was.
Can you recognize her?

Minako Sakakura,

Actually in the book, it was written the evening for Tcheremissinoff was organised at the night of the 1 January, but in Kuroda’s diary, it was on the 6th of January.

Thank you again. From what you say, it is clear that Elizabeth T. arrived in Japan in 1916 and was probably there well into 1920.

1. We know she was well connected to Russian court and diplomatic circles. Her father was a lawyer and advisor to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and she had a personal artistic connection to the Tsar's mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Theodorovna. This would help explain Japanese diplomatic or political contacts made in Russia. The article mentioned above, by Masubuchi Soichi, may add further detail, including on her link with Kotaro Takamura and Jinzo Naruse, Perhaps you could find the journal in which it appeared in 1983 and let us know if that adds anything useful (including the date when she painted her portrait of Naruse: he was in Europe about 1913 but if she did it in 1916-19 then she must have done it in Japan).

2, In your photograph there is an obvious similarity between Elizabeth and the unidentified woman: while it may be entirely coincidental, it might be her (probably younger) sister or another family member with whom she was travelling.

3. I do not understand what this citation refers to:

'Source: P. 153-154 “Takeishi Kozaburo Note”
Author: Yoshiro Sasaki
Publisher: Kitanihon Bijyutsu
Published on 25 February 1985'

Is it the book your photograph is taken from, or something else?

Minako Sakakura,

Hello Pieter,

1. I will read the article and let you know.

2. and 3.

All the information I have given to you including the photo was taken from this book. My great grandfather’s biography.

According to Kuroda’s diary, he went to see Elizabeth Tcheremissinoff and her older sister on 21 June 1917. She rented a room in a building at Uchisaiwai-Cho 1-4 in Tokyo as her atelier. Kuroda stayed with them for one hour and went home around 5pm on that day.

The older sister for whom we have dates so far was Anna Petrovna Chereminisova (later Kügelgen), 1875–1967. She would have been 42 in 1917 and Elizabeth 40.

We do not (I think) yet have the dates of her other but probably younger sister Marie (Petroff) both were married and with children by 1917. I think there were just three sisters.

If Anna was none the less with Elizabeth in Japan, then the similarity of appearance makes her a likely candidate as the unknown woman: if she is not, then we have no basis so far for an alternative suggestion.

Thank you for pursuing the paper by Masubuchi Soichi.

Minako Sakakura,

Hello Pieter

1.I have found some articles written about Elizabeth Tcheremissinoff on internet.

I am not sure about the validity of the information since it is originated from a website, but the author seems to set up this blog to write many articles about Kotaro TAKAMURA and Naruse in detail.

There are many articles so that I couldn’t go through everything, but I found these two articles in Japanese which contain some information about her as well as photos of the works done by Tcheremissinoff. It was interesting for me as the articles also mentioned about Kozaburo Takeishi.

The articles said, she defected to Japan with the help of Ichiro Motono(former Japanese Ambassador to Russia, Foreign minister).

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/cheremi100/e/8bacd38628544d774989f8cc4f103020

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/cheremi100/e/3802819c21bb5aafeeb08c5036880087

2. Kotaro Takamura wrote a book called “Midori iro no taiyo”緑色の太陽. The book was published in 1920. In this book he introduced Tcheremissinoff along with other female artists.

Thanks again: I will go through that later. It is hard to see why she should have 'defected'. This was before the Russian Revolution and we have no evidence she was 'anti-Tsarist' (rather the opposite). The one thing so far unexplained is why she was mentioned in 1915 as being onnected with the ‘Psycho-Neurological Institute’ in St Petersburg in 1915, but if a patient perhaps distant travel with a sister was thought to be a good idea for her mental health.

There appears to be conflicting information on whether she was younger or older than her sister Marie. If Marie was older (ie, born in 1876) then she might also be candidate for the lady in the photo. Something else to be checked...

Minako Sakakura,

As it was an article written on the website, I am not 100% confident about the validity of the information. I gave you these references because it might as well give us some clues, indice and the source where the author of the site took the information from. Something to investigate on.

As for the the old sister of Elizabeth Tcheremissinoff, it was written in the diary of Seiki Kuroda. It was clearly written 姉 which means older sister in Japanese.

Minako - attached is a simplified list of the Cheremisinov family based on the Geni.com listing with a probably early photo of Anna.

She is the only 'older' sister of Elizabeth T. who was likely to have been in Japan in 1917 and is possibly the other European lady in your photo.

Maria was the oldest of the three sisters and born in 1865, so would have been 52 in 1917. The two women shown have a visual likeness and look close in age, but it is still only 'perhaps Anna' (then 42, with Elizabeth 40). If it is, then she must also have left children behind somewhere to go travelling with her sister.

1 attachment

If you also look (Minako) at this entry above - Osmund Bullock, 23/12/2021 03:03 - you will see that Elizabeth T.'s niece, Ekaterina Vladimirovna Chermisinovna - daughter of her brother Vladimir - may also have been in Japan when Elizabeth was. She was born in December 1890, so would have been 26 in mid 1917: again one would expect a degree of family likeness, so she is another possibility for the lady in the photo.

Minako Sakakura,

Thank you again Pieter.
So it seems that the lady in the photo is likely to be her family member. I was wondering if Tcheremissinoff has written something about my great grandfather, but after reading the thread, I understood, not much is known about the period she spent in Japan.
I am trying to access the Japanese article you mentioned. Please give me some time. As soon as I get the copy, I will share it here.

I expect that will be of some help: her 'Japanese period' looks as though it was at least late 1916 to 1920 but it is a long-shut door as far as anything we have found in English is concerned. She and her sister Anna (and their niece Ekaterina) presumably all went east on the Trans-Siberian Railway, which would have been particularly easy given Pyotr Cheremisinov's senior position in Russian railways

Anna is reported to have been a writer, including a biographer, and later (in Canada) a painter of religious icons of which examples are also reported to be in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. I cannot see anything referring to her on its collection website (icons or references in their archive), but the Geni.com site suggests there is still family in Canada and elsewhere

Minako Sakakura,

I consider exploring the publication by Anna. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. I know some people at UBC.

Minako Sakakura,

What was her sister Anna’s family name? I presume she got married to have a daughter. What happened to her husband ? Did he immigrate to Canada with her?

Yes it is: she is here (though with 1967 as her death date)

https://www.geni.com/people/Anna-Kügelgen/6000000011186260439

All we know at present is that she ended up in Canada, based on the little information included in the preface of a book based on the reminiscnces of her daughter, Martha von Rosen, and the journal of Martha's husband Jurgen von Rosen ('A Baltic Odyssey: War and Survival', ed. Elvi Whittaker; University of Calgary Press, 1996).

These sources are already in the discussion above.

Minako Sakakura,

Hello Pieter,
Thank you very much for the information.
My assistant is going to NDL to get the article this week, but for the copy right issue it is not wise to share the article itself in the public place. I can summarize the contents of the article in English perhaps. I can take out the passages mentioning Tcheremissinoff. What do you think?

Hello Minako,

Welcome, and thank you for adding so much to our discussion! At Pieter's request I have sent you his email address, in case it may be helpful to correspond on the biographical details to be added.

Best wishes,
Marion

Thanks both: all we need (Minako) are brief biographical points. For example, any clues on the following would be helpful:

-firmer dates that Elizabeth T. was in Japan
-any recorded reasons she went there
-what artistic work/ exhibiting she did there
- who she is known to have associated with as teachers or patrons other than your great-grandfather Takeishi Kozaburo (1877-1963)
- how/ when she left and where to

Some of this you have already provided from other sources, so things are beginning to clarify.

Osmund Bullock,

Here, finally, are the exhibition catalogues with works shown by Elisabeth Tcheremissinof that I extracted weeks ago in the NAL. These were (a) two of the annual exhibitions by the Royal Soc of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Engravers held in May-June 1937 & 1938, at which she exhibited a handful of small-scale sculptures; and (b) her one-woman show of 77 paintings and sculptures at Michael Robert Boss’s Renaissance Galleries in May 1938. The life and work of Mr Boss (1871-1960) is a story on its own, but suffice it to say that he went bankrupt at least three times, on the last occasion while running the Renaissance Galleries. My apologies for the quality of images in the two PDFs – the catalogues are very tightly bound, and as I was alone, had to photograph the pages with one hand while trying to hold them open with the other!

I will add some comments about specific exhibits at the Renaissance if I have time tomorrow; but I think one might conclude from the large number of (presumably) painted views of places in southern Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, along with some portraits of people who lived there, that she must have spent a considerable amount of time in that part of central Europe at some stage in the 1920s &30s;.

Osmund Bullock,

Sorry, the first page of the Renaissance catalogue is duplicated.

Thanks Osmund: 7 and 35 are obviously her niece (daughter of her eldest sister Maria Petroff) and later life cohabitee; 8, possibly the current bust (or aome other version/image of Rendall); 14, a version of the same sitter as the two small busts in the Hermitage {?}: 27 explains the role of the Indian soldier whose portarait we already know of; 33 (if a bust) may be the 'Elisabeth (Florentine style)' she showed in Tokyo in 1920; 63 is a relation - perhaps daughter - of her co-tenant Nikolaevna Wolkoff at 80 Warwick Gardens in 1939.

I agree your point on the likelihood of her whereabouts in the later 1920s/early 30s. At present January 1922 is the last clear date we have for her being in Japan (from January 1917). I'll post a Japanese timeline on receipt of minor clarifications requested from Minako on the Japanese sources. As far as I can see, however, there is no-one included there who might be 'Kojima San' or 'T. Kojima Son [San?] ', nos. 28 and 53.

Updated biography of our sculptor attached (using the anglicised version of her name, Elisabeth Tcheremissinof [ET] by which she was widest known), plus:

-a timeline for her Japanese connections extracted from the notes kindly provided by Minako Sakakura from the two articles (one an update of the other) of 1983/4 by Soichi Masubuchi. Abstracts by Minako of two Japanese interview pieces - one with ET in 1917 and one with Ichiro Motono in 1918 - are at the end.

- Minako's extracted list of photos of her and her work, plus the captions, from the Masubuchi's 1984 article

- drawn portrait of ET by the journalist who did the 1917 interview with her, when he sketched it.


I think that's as far as we -or at least I - can go biographically speaking, with particular thanks to Minako and Osmund for their help in the late stages.

... and images. In the group photo (image 15) the woman second from left (with Mrs Motono at far left) is ET's immediately elder sister Anna Kugelgen: the older woman to right of her may be their eldest sister Maria, with her husband Innokenti Petroff: this is solely based on likeness between her and ET at centre (with the cigarette in her hand). Anna appears in another online image buried on a genealogogy web-page somewhere above.

Two typo corrections in the Japan timeline: Motono's photo of ET working on her bust of Tozan Nakao was taken (as the photo list says) on 3 October 1915 (not 15 Oct) and her niece Ekaterina Vladimorovna Cheremisinov (see 27 January 1917) was born in 1890, not 1900. Sorry about that, just getting cross-eyed amid the dates and names.

Katharine Eustace, Sculpture,

Yelizaveta/Elizaveta Petrovna Cheremisinova (Elisabeth Tcheremissinof) (1877–1963)

Pieter van de Merwe has, in his usual exemplary fashion, collated the extensive information that this in-depth discussion has revealed. It has taken us from Pre-Great War Russia and Habsburg Vienna to Canada, New Zealand and Japan, and came to rest in London in the environs of Nevern Road, Earls Court, Warwick Gardens, Kensington, and Porchester Square, Bayswater, now expensive real estate. In the mid-twentieth century, however, they were all transient lodging addresses and very run down.

Tcheremissinof’s trajectory is very typical of Eastern European artists of the twentieth century, beginning in the avant garde world of the Vienna Secessionists, via the almost inevitable Académie Colarossi in Paris, to the aesthetic craftsmanship of Japan in the 1920s. The fateful effects of two World Wars, and the destabilization of European civil life on this career, as on so many, is plain to see.

We may surmise that the conjunction of the close friends, the architect Sir Herbert Baker RA, the sculptor Sir Charles Wheeler, PRA, and Montague Rendall the former headmaster of Winchester College, Hants, culminated in 1938 in this portrait head from Tcheremissinof. It no doubt stemmed in some altruistic form of artistic benevolence towards the exiled sculptor, needy of commissions. I contacted descendants of Sir Herbert Baker who do have archival material, but they had no record of our sculptor. Nor did the author of the monograph on Sir Charles Wheeler, PRA (Henry Moore Foundation/Lund Humphries 2012), Dr Sarah Crellin, whom I was also in touch with.

Most importantly, what has emerged is the time spent in Japan, where the sculptor developed a serious corpus of work. Pieter van der Merwe’s very full account is indebted to Minako Sakakura whose intervention in the discussion proved vital to reinstating the work and reputation of a hitherto ‘lost’ sculptor. Art UK is most grateful to her, and to Pieter for this exceptionally long and informative biography.

This has been a very tangled web, and, as some of you pointed out, in danger of derailing. However, the combined efforts of Art Detectives working across language, archives and art have produced a spectacular example of how Art Detective furthers knowledge and restores reputations and work to their creators. Thank you all.

The story is well worth telling, perhaps on the main Art UK website?