Elena
Konstantinovna Luksh-Makovskaya

Elena Konstantinovna Luksh-Makovskaya (November 13, 1878, St. Petersburg - November 25, 1967, Hamburg) Russian and German artist, sculptor, graphic artist. Artist's daughter Konstantin Makovsky.

Features of the artist Elena Luksh-Makovskaya: The talents of Lukch-Makovskaya were extremely versatile. She was an excellent portrait painter and landscape painter, wrote beautiful still lifes and genre scenes — a large school that Elena passed through Ilya Repin. Luksh-Makovskaya together with her husband participated in the work of the Vienna workshops, where she created sketches for industrial design, postcards, mosaics and enamels. Her sculptural reliefs decorated the facade of the Vienna Burgtheater, and the interiors were decorated with paintings and portraits, also made by the artist.

Famous works of Elena Luksh-Makovskaya: "Adolescence" (on display in the exhibition pavilion of the Vienna Secession, along with the works of Klimt), the sculpture "The Fate of a Woman", a series of postcards Russian Proverbs in Illustrations.

Just one year after the birth of his son Sergei, in the family of the famous Russian artist Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky and his second wife, young Yulia Pavlovna Letkova, daughter Elena was born. A pretty girl repeatedly served as a model to her eminent father, posing for him with her mother and brother (1, 2, 3, 4). Lenochka's childhood passed in St. Petersburg; she also had to go abroad, accompanying her often-ill mother. Makovsky provided Yulia Pavlovna with the best treatment: Biarritz and Nice, Swiss resorts, Parisian doctors ... Infrequent meetings pushed Konstantin Makovsky to love adventures. Angry Julia demanded a divorce, and her ex-husband married for the third time - on his passion Maria Matavtina. Since then, the children - and by that time Sergey and Elena had a younger brother, Vladimir - they had little contact with their father.

At the age of 15, Lenochka Makovskaya began studying drawing and painting at the Art and Industrial School of Princess Tenisheva at the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and a year later she entered the private studio of Ilya Repin. In the autumn of 1896, on the advice of her beloved teacher, she became a free listener at the Imperial Academy of Arts and continued her studies in the workshop of Repin. Participates in exhibitions, travels along the Volga, from where brings a lot of sketches and sketches. In 1897, a banker and philanthropist Ivan Bloch bought one of the paintings by Makovsky; he also provided the young artist with the opportunity to receive a foreign education, by giving her a scholarship. Elena chose Munich and the school of Anton Azhbe, and later she entered the School of Painting, organized by sculptor Matias Gasteiger and artist Julius Exter.

With her future husband, sculptor Richard Lukše, she met at the Gasteiger School, in Deutenhofen. However, before marriage, she still managed to create her own studio in St. Petersburg, while continuing to study with Ilya Repin, as well as in the workshop of the rector of the Academy of Arts, sculptor Vladimir Beklemisheva... Acquaintance with Igor Grabar led Elena Makovskaya into the circle of artists of society "World of Art". In 1899, the artist fulfills the order of his benefactor, Ivan Bloch - creates a relief that adorned the Russian pavilion at the World Exhibition in 1900, held in Paris. Makovskaya becomes the first female artist admitted to the Vienna Secession, and takes part in the VIII exhibition of this association.

On May 20, 1900, Elena Makovskaya marries Richard Luksch (January 23, 1872, Vienna - April 21, 1936, Hamburg), an Austrian sculptor and ceramist. The family settled in Vienna, where in May 1901 the firstborn of Richard and Helen was born - the son of Peter, who would later continue the dynasty and become an artist. The replenishment of the family did not prevent Elena's creative plans: she continued to participate in exhibitions of the Vienna Secession, and in the spring of 1902 she took part in the exhibition of the World of Art society and became its member.

In 1903, Elena Luksh-Makovskaya publishes a series of graphic paintings “Ver Sacrum”, and at the XVII exhibition of the Vienna Secession, where the whole room was given to the couple for the exhibition, presents a picture to the public "Adolescentia" (Adolescence). This picture a year later, the Union of Russian Artists did not accept to participate in its Moscow exhibition, considering it immoral.

Elena tries her hand at book illustrations — these are drawings for Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais, illustrations for German Farces by Frishlin, and the project Lubki (Russian Proverbs). In 1907, the family moved to Hamburg; Helen accepts German citizenship. In 1909, Luksh-Makovskaya participated in the Moscow Salon, organized by her elder brother Sergey Makovsky, editor of the magazine "Apollo". A year later, the exhibition in Hamburg shows the sculpture "The fate of women", which made her famous; in 1926, the sculpture was installed in the Hamburg city park.

1915 becomes difficult for the Luksh-Makovsky family: Elena's father, Konstantin Makovsky, tragically dies. A revolution is coming - Elena is worried about her close ones; she later learns that the mother and brothers still managed to leave for Paris. On top of that, the relationship between Elena and Richard is heating up; Spouse for a long time goes to the hospital ... Marriage is bursting at the seams, and in 1921 finally falls apart.

Creativity saved Elena from family storms and world turmoil. She works as a designer, writes portraits to order, develops emblems. In the 1920s the turn of the old "Volga" sketches of the times of the Academy of Arts came - Elena transforms them into paintings. Her works are willing to buy, give orders ... After Hitler came to power, Elena Luksh-Makovskaya joined the National Socialist Union of German artists and graphic artists (later this would make her name highly undesirable for mention in the history of Russian art). Relying on government orders was not justified; the artist returned to a private clientele. During the war, Elena lived in Germany, in Hamburg; her middle son, Andreas, emigrated to the USA. Peter and the younger son Dimitri fought on the Eastern Front. The works of the artist during the bombings of Hamburg survived, as well as the work of her ex-husband Richard Luksch.

After the war, Elena Luksh-Makovskaya collaborated with the architect and icon painter Anatoly Neratov, who opened the Russian Icon Painting School in Hamburg, where Elena worked as a teacher. In 1948, the municipality ordered the triptych artist “Old Hamburg”. Elena Konstantinovna continues creative studies, periodically participates in exhibitions, carries out sculptural works to order.

A number of tragic deaths of her loved ones undermined the health of Elena Luksh-Makovskaya. She was gone August 15, 1967.

Author: Rita Lozinskaya