Émile Eisman-Semenowsky, born Emil Eismann (19 September 1853, St. Petersburg - 31 July 1918, Paris)Archives de Paris, acte de décès n°3296 dressé le 01/08/1918, vue 13 / 21 was a Russian-born, French-Polish painter, possibly Jewish, ancestry. He specialized in portraits of women; including many in the Orientalist style.Lynne Thornton, La Femme dans la peinture orientaliste, ACR, 1993 Online @ Google Books
Life and work There are few documented sources concerning his life and education, although it is known that he emigrated at an early age and arrived in Paris in the 1880s, where he began doing sentimentalized portraits of upper class women, tailored to bourgeois tastes.
He also worked as an assistant to the Belgian painter, Jan van Beers; serving as a witness in a case involving two critics who accused Van Beers of copying from photographs.The Low Countries. Arts and Society in Flanders and The Netherlands, Yearbook, Vol. 16, Stichting Ons Erfdeel, Flemish-Netherlands Foundation, 2008. pg.229
In addition to portraits, he did some nudes and genre scenes. He often worked in Algeria, beginning in 1890; depicting women in traditional costume, as well as their daily dress. Many of his paintings are in private collections in the United States.
Gallery
References
External links