Home > Marie Vassilieff

She was born in Smolensk, Russia to a prosperous family who encouraged her to study medicine. However, her natural instincts were for the arts and in 1903 she switched to the study of art at the Academy in St. Petersburg. 1905 she visited the artistic capital of the world, Paris, France. Two years later, she moved to Paris, taking a job as a correspondent for several Russian newspapers while studying painting under Henri Matisse and attending classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

In 1908 she founded the Académie Russe (Russian Academy), which was renamed the following year as the Académie Vassilieff. In 1912 she opened her own atelier in Montparnasse that became the haunt for those at the cutting-edge of art at the time when Erik Satie, Henri Matisse, Nina Hamnett, Amedeo Modigliani, Ossip ZadkineOssip Zadkine (1890-1967) artist Born on July 14, 1890 in Smolensk, Russia of Jewish extraction, he is primarily known as a sculptor but also produced paintings and lithographs. After attending art school in London, England, Zadkine settled in Paris about, Juan GrisJose Victoriano Carmelo Carlos Gonzalez-Perez ( March 23, 1887 May 11, 1927), better known as Juan Gris was a Spanish painter who lived and worked in France almost all his life. His works are closely connected to the emergence of an innovative artistic ge and Chaim SoutineChaim Soutine ( 1894 August 8, 1944) was an expressionist painter. Born in Smilovichi, Belarus, he immigrated to Paris in 1911 with his friends Pinchus Kremegne and Michel Kikoine where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He soon developed a highly pe started dropping by in the evenings for conversation and occasionally to draw. Before long the walls of Marie Vassilieff’s atelier held a collection of paintings by Marc ChagallMarc Chagall ( July 7, 1887 March 28, 1985) was a Belarusian painter of Jewish origin. Biography He was born Moishe Zakharovich Shagalov (Moishe Segal) in Vitsebsk, Russian Empire (now in Belarus) the eldest of eight children. His mother's name was Felga- and Modigliani, drawings by PicassoPablo Picasso formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso ( October 25, 1881 April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art. Overview His name in full was Pablo (or Pablito) Diego Jose Santiago Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispin Crispiniano and Fernand Leger, and in a corner sat a sculpture by Zadkine. By 1913, her place was so widely known that Fernand Leger gave two lectures there on the topic of Modern artModern Art is a general term, used for most of the artistic production from the late 19th century until approximately the 1970s. Recent art production is more often called contemporary art). Modern art refers to a new approach to art where it was no longe.

However, what Marie Vassilieff is most remembered for is her cantine. During World War I, she volunteered as a nurse in the French Red Cross and at the same time saw how things had gotten worse financially for many of the already struggling artists of Paris. Because many of her artist acquaintances frequently had little or nothing to eat, in 1915 she opened a cantine, that really amounted to a soup kitchen, offering a full meal and a glass of wine for only a few centimes.

While her cantine provided a valuable service, during the War it became a popular hangout for the artistic community. During wartime a government curfew was in place and the restaurants and cafés of Paris were all obliged to close early. However, Marie Vassilieff’s place was licensed as a private club and not subject to the curfew. As a result, very quickly her place was jam-packed and the nights were filled with music and dancing.

In the 1915 photograph seen here is (left to right): Manuel Ortiz de Zárate, Henri-Pierre Roché (in uniform), Marie Vassilieff, Max Jacob and Pablo Picasso.

In January of 1917, Georges Braque, who had been wounded fighting the war, was released from military service. Marie Vassilieff and Max Jacob decided to organize a dinner for Braque and his wife, Marcelle. Among the guests was Alfredo Pina with his new companion Beatrice Hastings who had recently ended her two-year relationship with Amedeo Modigliani. Knowing Modigliani’s penchant for causing a disturbance when he drank, and he drank often, Marie Vassilieff did not invite Modigliani to Braque's party. However, the art community was small and word of the get-together soon reached Modigliani and the uninvited and very drunk Modigliani showed up, looking for a fight. A scuffle ensued, a pistol appeared, and Marie Vassilieff, all 5 feet of her, pushed Modigliani downstairs while Pablo Picasso and Manuel Ortiz de Zarate locked the door. Marie Vassilieff made what is now a very famous drawing depicting the events of the evening.

Her own artwork was primarily in the Cubist style, her most interesting paintings were those of portraits of dancers as well as those of her friends Jean Cocteau, Picasso and Matisse. Known too for her decorative furniture pieces and her doll-portraits, Vassilieff’s works are still very popular. Although they never gained the lofty stature or astounding prices of some of her renowned contemporaries, today they can be found in museums and private collections worldwide.

As artist and friend, Marie Vassilieff was an integral part of the great creative community of Montparnasse where today one can still see her ornamental panels made in 1927 for the pillars in the dining room of the La Coupole. After several exhibitions in London, England in 1928 and 1930, and in 1929 in Italy, she opened the Vassilieff Museum. Friends with Alfred Jarry, she organized a homage to him.

Marie Vassilieff died at a home for elderly artists in Nogent-sur-Marne , Île-de-France, France.

In 1998, the Musée du Montparnasse was opened in Marie Vassilieff’s old studio.