Seraphima Blonskaya

Seraphima Ioasonovna Blonskaya (Leontovskaya) ( _ru. Блонская, Серафима Иасоновна, 1870-1947) was a Russian artist and art teacher.

Seraphima Blonskaya was born on October 3, 1870 in Verkhnedneprovsk of Yekaterinovslav Government. In 1875 her family moved to Taganrog. In 1887 Blonskaya graduated with a golden medal from the Taganrog Empress Maria Girls Gymnasium (Таганрогская мариинская гимназия) and entered the Art School of Mykola Burachek in Kiev that she finished in 1891. In 1892-1900, she studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. In 1900 Blonskaya was honored with the title of the artist for her degree work painting "The Girls" ("Palm Sunday").

In 1909 Blonskaya returned to Taganrog with her husband artist Leontovski, and in 1910 they founded an art school. After the death of her husband in 1928, the school was closed. In 1930s Seraphima Blonskaya worked at the art union "Vsekohudozhnik", since 1944 - at the Taganrog department of the Art Fund of RSFSR. Most paintings of Blonskaya are exhibited at the Taganrog Museum of Art.

Seraphima Blonskaya died in Taganrog on August 9, 1947. In 1990s one of the children's art schools in Taganrog was named after Blonskaya.

References

* "The Encyclopedia of Taganrog", 2nd edition, Taganrog, 2003.