Elena Samokish-Sudkovskaya

Painter, graphic artist, illustrator. Born Elena Benard in St Petersburg (1863). Graduated from the Pauline Institute for Women in St Petersburg. Studied at the Helsingfors School of Drawing and took private lessons from Vasily Vereschagin. Member of the first art circle for ladies (1882–1918). Married the painter Rufin Sudkovsky (1883). Moved to Paris after he died of typhoid and studied under Jules Bastien-Lepage (1885). Married Nikolai Samokish (1889). Illustrated the works of Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol and Pyotr Yershov. Decorated one of the halls in the Tsarskoe Selo (now Vitebsk) Railway Station in St Petersburg (1901–04). Worked for magazines and the Community of St Eugenia. Emigrated to France via Vyborg (after 1917) and died in Paris (1924). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1885).