Maria Raube-Gorchilina

Painter, graphic artist, applied artist, designer, teacher. Born in Moscow to a Polish mother and a Lithuanian silviculturist called Vaclavas von Raube (1900). Grew up in the villages of Tarkhany in Simbirsk Province and Nikologory in Vladimir Province, where her father worked for the crown estates (1900–08). Educated at the pensionnat of Countess Julia Maria Ledóchowska in Finland (1908–15) and the French school of St Peter and St Paul in Moscow (1915–17). Studied under Sergei Malyutin, Vasily Yakovlev, Dmitry Kardovsky and Vadim Falileyev at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture/State Free Art Studios/VKhUTEMAS (1917–23). Married sculptor and fellow student L. I. Gorchilin (1920). Worked at home (until 1928), designed exhibition layouts and textiles (from 1928). Painted fabrics for Vsekhudozhnik at 11 Kuznetsky Most (from 1930), designed sets and costumes for the Children’s Film Studios and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions Theatre (from 1935), worked as a folklore specialist at the All-Union Exhibition of Agriculture (1939–41). Member of the Municipal Committee of Designers (1941). Camouflaged military buildings in Moscow during the Second World War (1941–45). Returned to the All-Union Exhibition of Agriculture (1945–47), designed costumes at Mosfilm Studios (1947–53) and worked for the Institute of Glass (1953–57), where she designed doors for GUM Department Store on Red Square and the ceiling of the banqueting hall of the Prague Restaurant on Arbat Square. Painted watercolour pictures (1955–57), took up monotype and abstract art (early 1960s) and felt-tip pen drawing (1972). Popularly known as “Madame” and patroness of a salon for nonconformist artists in her communal apartment near Petrovka Street in Moscow (1950s–70s). Died in Moscow (1979). Contributed to Abstraction in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02).