Vera Schlezinger Rockline Painter and graphic artist "75 years ago this month [April 2009] Vera Rockline committed suicide in Paris. She was a powerful personality who forged a notable career in the Montparnasse of the 1920s and 30s. Although very little is known of her brief existence, it was said that her life was 'full of aspirations and contrasts.' She was born Vera Schlezinger Rockline in Moscow in 1896 to a Russian father and a mother from Burgundy. She studied under Ilia Mashkov in Russia and Alexander Exter in Kiev before moving to Paris after the World War I where her style shifted from the abrasive gloom of her early works to the lighter, softer nudes and portraits of her mature period where she worked free of the cubist teachings of Exter. She was influenced by Matisse and particularly Cezanne but largely ignored the influence of the impressionists, instead looking towards the painters of Seville whom she copied as a method of learning. She was a popular figure among Russian expatriates living in Montparnasse and she enjoyed artistic success, showing her work at the Salon des Tuileries and the Salon d'Automne. One of her most passionate supporters was the fashion designer Paul Poiret, who bought 2 of her paintings and campaigned regularly on her behalf. Poiret, a knowledgeable art collector and enthusiast, wrote an encouraging preface to her first solo exhibition at Galerie Charles Vildrac in 1925. She continued to exhibit to great acclaim in numerous Paris galleries throughout the 1920s, including Galerie Bernheim, Galerie le Studio and Galerie Barreiro from 1930. The complexity of her personality and her somewhat exotic tastes are reflected in the original character of her canvasses - works such as "Le Guitariste" 1925, "Victuailles" 1925 and her series of nudes and portraits. In these she admires the voluptuousness and modernity of her models with a feminine eye - hese works were ..." (http://www.artinconnu.com/2009/04/vera-rockline-1896-1934.html) undefined

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