Elisabeth Boehm

Who was Elisabeth Boehm?

Elisabeth Boehm or Böhm, or Elisaveta Merkuryevna Bem was a Russian painter, the most successful prominent author of postcards in 19th century Russia.

Elisabeth was born in Saint Petersburg to a noble Russian family of Endaurov that had a Tatar origin. She spent her childhood in the estate of her parents: village Schiptsy, Poshekhonsky uezd, Yaroslavl Governorate. At the age of 14 she entered the School of Painting at the Society for Promotion of Artists there she studied under Ivan Kramskoi and Pavel Chistyakov. In 1865 she graduated from the school with the Large Silver Medal. She took private lessons from Kramskoi and studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts there she was awarded a Large Encouragement Medal for her animal paintings.

Elisabeth married a prominent Russian-Hungarian violinist Ludwig Boehm, professor of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Elisabeth painted many watercolors, illustrated children books of the Folk Library series there she was introduced by Leo Tolstoy. She also experimented with glass and ceramics. For her Silhouettes, Etchings and works of glass she received medals of the World Fairs in Chicago of 1893, Paris of 1900, Munich of 1902 and Milan of 1906.