Came from an old family. Her ancestors, the Tatars, had the surname Indigir, which meant "Indian rooster". By a diploma granted to the family by Ivan III, the surname was changed to the Endaurovs.
Elizaveta Merkuryevna was born in St. Petersburg, she spent her childhood in the Endaurov family estate in the village of Shchiptsy, Poshekhonsky district, Yaroslavl province.
Lisa drew everything she saw: nature, animals, her village friends. Together with letters to Liza's friends, paper dolls and animals were sent to St. Petersburg every time. This "draws the attention of people somewhat understanding."
Where the heart flies, there the eye looks!
Elizabeth Merkuryevna was very lucky in her life. Maybe because she clearly felt her calling in her. I was lucky with my parents, who listened to the advice of "understanding people" and sent their daughter to study at the St. Petersburg Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, where the girls were generally closed: it was the middle of the 19th century outside.
We'll buy ourselves a village, but we'll live a little.
We were lucky with the teachers: excellent masters taught at Liza's school, the favorite of which was Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoy, the creator of the famous Stranger. “If I understand at least a little in the drawing, then I owe it exclusively to Kramskoy,” the artist did not get tired of repeating.
Chicken Fedorka, yes rooster Egor, congratulations on the holiday, wish you happiness!
Elizabeth was also lucky with her husband: he became a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Ludwig Böhm, a Hungarian by nationality, an excellent violinist who inherited a Stradivarius violin and Beethoven's handwritten letter from his musician uncle. The man himself is creative, he reacted with understanding and approval to the activities of his wife. "I'm just resting on her drawings," he once said.
LN Tolstoy among Yasnaya Polyana children.
So Lisa passed the fate of most of her contemporaries, passionate about art: having married, leave pampering in order to devote herself entirely to raising children and household chores.
Loves! Does not love!
The creative life of Elizaveta Merkuryevna did not stop after her marriage: with the birth of her first child, she plunged into painting even more happily, and the world of children became her favorite topic from now on.
A small fish is better than a big cockroach.
She herself said about this: “I remember the words of our great writer L. N. Tolstoy, who said that whoever has a real vocation, then there will be time for this, how to find it in order to drink or eat. And this is the perfect truth I feel it from experience. Loving my occupation with all my heart, after getting married, and after giving birth to a child, I still, if not more, do what I love. "
You are welcome, to our hut!
She soon found her own style - watercolors and silhouettes. Until old age, Elizaveta Merkuryevna's favorite sitters remained children: as soon as she came to the village to study sketches, children shouting "Aunt Boemiha has arrived!" rushed to meet her, knowing that a kind lady with an unpronounceable name generously pays for posing with toys and sweets.
Darlings scold only amuse
Elisabeth Böhm's watercolor works attracted attention not only with funny characters, but also with signatures that became the trademark of her creations. The artist used unpretentious short poems, riddles, jokes, proverbs, talking with the people in their language. "And where do you dig them up from?" - It happened that Vladimir Stasov himself, the famous critic and researcher of Russian antiquity, was amazed.
A lot to choose - not to be married
Elizaveta Merkuryevna revived the silhouette genre, which had been forgotten by that time. “And what perfection these silhouettes were!” wrote Kramskoy. “Even the expression on the faces of little blackies could be guessed in them.” And Ilya Repin admitted that he loves her “black ones” more than many, many “white ones”.
Wash yourself white, the guests are close!
The first "adult" silhouette of the artist was a portrait of Anton Rubinstein, accidentally drawn at a concert in the Nobility Assembly on the back of the program, "with the whole figure and the piano - absolute perfection, striking in expression."
Wash yourself white, the holiday is near!
The composer himself told Elizaveta Merkuryevna that this was the best of all his portraits. Subsequently, she made many silhouette compositions to order - including for the highest persons. Yes, it's just shadows. But the shadows of real people who once made up Russian life...
Elizaveta Merkurievna willingly designed children's magazines, illustrated folk tales, fables by I. A. Krylov, N. A. Nekrasov's poem "Frost Red Nose", stories of contemporary writers. Two silhouettes for I. S. Turgenev's story "Mumu" became classics of book graphics.
The frost is not great, but it does not order to stand!
She also had an excellent command of arts and crafts: fans and prayer books painted by her, designs for embroidery and lace, kokoshniks embroidered with colored beads, clay roosters and wooden ladles, as well as glass works: blue, green, burgundy glasses, shtofs, bowls. .. Truly, a talented person is talented in everything!
Moscow is getting married
Among the sincere admirers of Elizaveta Boehm's work were Repin, Shishkin and Aivazovsky, Vasnetsov and Vrubel, Turgenev and Maikov, Goncharov, Leskov and Korolenko, Wanderers and artists from the World of Art, populist writers and grand dukes admired her works.
Moscow is getting married
The Boehm family was on good terms with Leo Tolstoy and gave him great moral support when the writer was excommunicated.
The first glass is a stake, the second is a falcon!
There is a legend that it was Elizaveta Merkuryevna at the glass factory, where her brother was the director, who made a glass plate with the inscription: “You shared the fate of great people who are ahead of their time, revered Lev Nikolayevich. And before they were burned at the stake, rotted in prisons and links". Now this plate is stored in the museum in Yasnaya Polyana.
I don’t drink, and I don’t pour past! The cup is large, and the wine is good!
Time took its course. Elizabeth Merkuryevna has already had grandchildren. According to family tradition, on the patronal feast of Christmas, the whole family gathered in the large Boehm house on Vasilyevsky Island. The Christmas tree was usually set up in the artist's studio, among paintings, easels, cans of paints and brushes.
Aleshenka Popovich envious eyes
The holiday was always fun: forfeits were played, grandchildren-gymnasium students guessed grandmother's riddles, of which she knew a great many. And the piano certainly sounded, the violin sang, romances were performed.
Architect.
Our Miroshka builds a little for himself, lives in kindness and eats on silver!
At the beginning of the First World War, in the 71st year of her life, already widowed, seeing off her grandchildren to the front, Elizaveta Merkuryevna wrote: the force of necessity, but very loving my work... I thank God for the pleasure bestowed on me through vocation. And how many wonderful people it brought me, how many dear, friendly relations it gave me ... "
Grandma Arina ate and praised.
In the same 1914, the artist quietly and imperceptibly passed away. But for a long time, thousands of her postcards with cute faces of little characters continued to wander around Russia, bringing kindness and a smile to every home. They finally returned to us.
Watch out where the mermaids are!
God help!
Dobrynushka took a bowstring bow, he took heroic arrows!
If there was honey, there would be a lot of flies!
There was a post, there will be a holiday! There was a twist, there will be joy!
Was visiting a friend, drank water there, sweeter than honey!
On weekdays we will work - on a holiday we will take a walk!
In the winter cold everyone is young
In the new year there will be one hundred suitors, and one will fall in love!
A fairy tale for you, and a bunch of bagels for me!
Vasilisa and not Melentievna!
Fun is better than wealth
He looks - that he will scorch with fire, he says a word - he will give a ruble!
Fight you on the stove with a cockroach!
“Here, over the ears in a blue wreath, a black head quickly flashed ...
You see where the cheat ran in "... N. Nekrasov
Seasons. Spring is coming, bringing warmth.
Seasons. WINTER. Away well...
Seasons. SUMMER. TO THE OWNER OF BREAD VOROSHOK...
Seasons. AUTUMN. WHERE THE MUSHROOMS ARE, HERE WE ARE!
Every bride will be born for her groom!
You always spoiled us and gave us caresses ...
Choose your wife not in a round dance, but in a garden.
Exhibition "Children's World". Portraits of L. Tolstoy, A. Pushkin, A. Rubinstein, V. Vereshchagin
Where is Easter cake and dough, here is our place.
Where there is work, it is dense, but in a lazy house it is empty.
Literates
A girl with a tuesk. 1903
Grandpa Elizar licked all his fingers
Business time, fun hour!
For a sweet friend and an earring from an ear
For the first meeting, gambling speeches!
Good hostess and fatty cabbage soup - look no other good!
God bless the good deed!
Dobrynya Nikitich, 1893 Watercolor from an exhibition in Chicago
Dear custom on the Great Day!
Friends are more valuable than money!
Think, godfather, don't lose your mind!
Well done Duma members, do not rush with your tongue, hurry with your deeds!
I’m going, I’m going, I won’t whistle, but I’ll run over, I won’t let go!
I went to Thomas, but came to my godfather!
I went to Thomas, but I came to you!
I would like to please you, but I don’t know how to be!
Live do not grieve. The sun will come in your window!
Behind the mountains, behind the forests, we live far away. We remember you, congratulations and bows helmet!
For the health of the one who loves whom!
For health!
For bread, for salt, for cabbage soup with kvass, for noodles, for porridge, but thank you for your fairy tale!
And in Siberia people live and chew bread!
And Ilya grumbles angrily: Well, Vladimir, well ... I'll see, without Ilya then
how will you live!
And they looked at Churilushka, his beauties marveled so that his eyes were clouded!
And cold, and hungry, and far from home!
And I was at that feast, I drank honey, mash!
Ivan, but not formidable
From afar I keep the way, I carry three boxes of news!
From the books of Count S.D. Sheremetev
Great things come out of Malago!
Or a military man, or a merchant, or a good fellow
What is hello, so is the answer!
Who cares that I was sitting with a godfather!
Large pearls with a yacht, a good groom with a bride.
Who has not been to Moscow, has not seen beauty!
Who will beat whom.
Whoever bends whom, he will beat him!
Who about what, and we write about our own!
Who did not recognize the former Tanya, poor Tanya, in the princess now!
Who dared, he sat down!
Probably, not many people are interested in what happened before the revolution of 1917, that is, in the time when there was still tsarist Russia. But in vain! There are many interesting things to discover there. For example, such a trifle, as it seems, like illustrations for books or simple paper postcards, of which there were many. People sometimes forget about the beauty that was once and amazed the imagination. But the illustrations of Elisabeth Boehm flaunted on the shelves for a long time, even under Soviet rule. And then suddenly they disappeared. Although she herself did not live to see the revolution, she passed away in 1914, but she left behind such rarities that in the original now cost a lot of money.
And these are not only silhouettes, a fashionable hobby of the 18-19th centuries, these are illustrations for books by great authors and, of course, the famous ABC. Bright, colorful, but it was scary to give such an alphabet to children. She was just so pretty to look at.
And what kind of artist did illustrations for encyclopedias. Find a rare edition of the "Encyclopedias" of the end of the century before last and I'm almost sure there will be excellent quality illustrations by Elisabeth Boehm. She especially liked to draw plants and mushrooms. When you see them, you just want to touch them, pick them up. She was so realistic in depicting plants and animals that it seemed that this was not a drawing at all, but a photograph. With such photographic accuracy, she conveyed the image.
And this magnificent artist lived in the Yaroslavl region and it was in her estate that she created her masterpieces. Yes, yes, she was from the upper classes, if you can call it that. Just drawing was her hobby, and she did it with pleasure. Boehm's works were demonstrated at the First International Exhibitions in Europe, and she was appreciated in Russia as well. Especially when it was no longer there, when the empire was no more. Those who managed to move to Europe were happy to acquire her works later. It was a kind of nostalgia.
By the way, her works, and these are: sets of postcards for children, "ABC" and just illustrations for the books of Tolstoy and Turgenev, were printed in a very small edition, about 3,000 copies. She also collaborated with children's magazines, which is why she mostly has children in her pictures. The truth is in very frivolous texts. The most interesting thing is that today her drawings would be taken as propaganda of alcohol among minors and probably banned from printing. Although then it was just possible, and printed and even looked funny.
She worked in the silhouette technique. This is a rather complicated and painstaking work with scissors and paper. And most importantly, you need the keen eye of the artist, and for the time being she succeeded, but soon, around the 1880s, she began to rapidly lose her eyesight and, alas, she had to stop using this technique. Although she was a recognized genius in this direction.
Simple Pencil
And this is despite the fact that her works are stored in the vaults of all major Russian museums. 
Her work was recognized both at home and abroad, the works were acquired by the largest Russian collectors P.M. Tretyakov and I.E. Tsvetkov. Big admirers of her art were Alexander III and Nicholas II. Admirers of her talent were Ilya Repin, Shishkin, Aivazovsky, Vasnetsov and Vrubel, Turgenev and Maikov, Goncharov, Leskov and Korolenko, Wanderers and artists from the World of Art, populist writers and grand dukes admired her work, and her teacher was a great portrait painter Kramskoy. 
All my life I remember the old alphabet, which sometimes in the evenings my great-grandmother allowed me to look through under her supervision. Much later I learned whose illustrations so fascinated me as a child. 
Tatar blood flowed in her veins: Lisa's ancestors had the surname Indo-gur, which in translation meant "Indian rooster", but eventually became Russified, and by decree of Ivan III became the Endaurovs.
The childhood of the future artist took place in her father's family estate on the border of the Yaroslavl and Vologda provinces - among the Russian expanse, dense forests and flood meadows.
Lisa drew everything she saw: nature, animals, her village friends. Together with letters to Liza's friends, paper dolls and animals were sent to St. Petersburg every time. This "draws the attention of people somewhat understanding."
And from the age of 14, the girl began to study at the St. Petersburg Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, she graduated with a gold medal.
Elizabeth Merkuryevna was very lucky in her life. Maybe because she clearly felt her calling in her. I was lucky with my parents, who listened to the advice of "understanding people" and sent their daughter to study at the St. Petersburg Drawing School, where, in fact, the way for girls was closed, it was the middle of the 19th century in the yard.
I was lucky with the teachers, the favorite of whom was Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, the great Russian portrait painter, creator of the famous "Unknown". 
“If I understand at least a little in the drawing, then I owe this exclusively to Kramskoy,” the artist did not get tired of repeating. 
It was lucky that Ludwig Böhm, a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, a Hungarian by nationality, an excellent violinist, who inherited a Stradivarius violin and Beethoven's handwritten letter from his uncle, a musician, became her husband. The man himself is creative, he treated his wife's activities with understanding and approval. 
The creative life of Elizaveta Merkuryevna did not stop after her marriage: with the birth of her first child, she plunged into painting even more happily, and the world of children became her favorite topic from now on.
In recent years, interest in the work of a talented artist has again begun to grow. The images created by Elizaveta Böhm, her extensive use of the traditions of Russian national culture, the inclusion of folklore elements and ornaments in the fabric of works interested both art professionals and all art lovers 
The artist found her own style - watercolors and silhouettes. Children remained favorite sitters of Elizabeth Merkuryevna until old age.
“Elizabeth Böhm as a token of my deepest respect for her talent. I love her “black ones” more than many, many white ones. January 1898" - such an inscription was made by the hand of Ilya Repin on the back of one of the portraits of Elizabeth Bem. "Black" Ilya Efimovich called her silhouettes.
She also had an excellent command of arts and crafts: fans and prayer books painted by her, drawings for embroidery and lace, kokoshniks embroidered with colored beads, clay roosters and wooden ladles, as well as glass works: blue, green, burgundy glasses, shtofs, bowls ... Truly, a talented person is talented in everything!
Over twenty years of active creative activity, Elisabeth Böhm created 14 silhouette series, more than 300 subjects for postcards, designed many books and magazines Since 1893, Böhm became interested in making glassware. This happened after a trip to the Oryol province, where her brother Alexander was the director of the Dyatkovo crystal factory.
The works of Elizaveta Merkuryevna participated in international exhibitions - in Paris, Munich, Milan - and received medals everywhere.
Böhm's signature creations, whether they were watercolors or glassware, were signatures. The artist used unpretentious short poems, riddles, jokes, proverbs.
Hello, cups
What was it like?
I was expected.
Drink, drink - you will see the devils!, - says the inscription on one of the faces of the damask. 
The cups in the set are fakes. They are 2/3 filled with glass mass and do not hold much liquid. On each is a playful inscription-toast, warning against excessive enthusiasm for the "green serpent".
Such damask and cups were presented to Kramskoy and Tolstoy during the period of writing the famous portrait. 
The Boehm family, in general, was on friendly and good terms with Leo Tolstoy and gave him great moral support when the writer was excommunicated.
There is a legend that it was Elizaveta Merkuryevna at the glass factory, where her brother was the director, who made a glass plate with the inscription: “You shared the fate of great people walking ahead of their century, highly esteemed Lev Nikolaevich. And before they were burned at the stake, rotted in prisons and exile. Now this plate is stored in the museum in Yasnaya Polyana.
But the postcards brought Elisabeth Bem the greatest fame.
Thousands of postcards with cute faces of small characters of Elizaveta Bem wandered around Russia. Carrying kindness and a smile, they looked into every house to forever remain in the memory of Russian hearts.
In the glass collection of the Yegorievsk Historical and Art Museum, a complex of items unusual in decor and shape, created at the end of the 19th century at the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory, stands out.
The author of sketches and paintings of objects was Elizaveta Merkuryevna Boehm, a well-known Russian artist of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, whose interest in her bright and original work has increased again in recent years.
Elizaveta Merkuryevna is a woman of amazing destiny. She was born in 1843 in St. Petersburg. Tatar blood flowed in her veins: the artist's ancestors had the surname Indo-gur, but over time became Russified and became Endaur.
Already in childhood, Elizabeth showed a love and talent for drawing. But life in Russia in the second half of the 19th century did not particularly encourage a woman to do something else besides home, family and children. However, the parents of Elizaveta Merkuryevna turned out to be progressive people: from the age of 14, the girl studied at the St. Petersburg Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, studied with I. Kramskoy, and graduated with a gold medal.
After her marriage, Elizabeth Bem passed the fate of most of her contemporaries, passionate about art: to leave pampering in order to devote herself entirely to raising children and household chores. The artist's husband was a wonderful violinist, professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory Ludwig Böhm. The man himself is creative, he treated his wife's activities with understanding and approval.
Elizaveta Merkurievna said on this occasion: “I remember the words of our great writer L.N. Tolstoy, who said that whoever has a real vocation, then there will be time for this, how to find it in order to drink or eat. And this is the perfect truth I feel it from experience. Loving my occupation with all my heart, after getting married, and after giving birth to a child, I still, if not more, do what I love. "
Soon the artist found her own style - watercolors and silhouettes. Children remained favorite sitters of Elizabeth Merkuryevna until old age. Over twenty years of active creative work, Elizaveta Böhm created 14 silhouette series, more than 300 subjects for postcards, designed many books and magazines. Her work has been recognized both at home and abroad. Boehm's works were acquired by the largest Russian collectors P.M. Tretyakov and I.E. Tsvetkov. Emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II were great admirers of her art.
Since 1893, Böhm has been fascinated by the manufacture of glassware. This happened after a trip to the Oryol province, where her brother Alexander was the director of the Dyatkovo crystal factory. At that time, the glass with which Böhm began to work was rarely used for artistic purposes. Elizaveta Merkurievna can be considered the first who began to use glass in a new way, she was practically the only professional artist of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries who worked in the glass painting technique.
One of the brightest pages in the development of the Russian national style in glass is connected with the name of Elizaveta Boehm. She made forms for dishes, focusing on ancient items: brothers, feet, cups, ladles. Invented drawings for enamels. She herself painted the dishes and carefully observed if the paintings were done by someone else.
The works of Elizaveta Merkurievna participated in international exhibitions - in Paris (1900), Munich (1902), Milan (1906) - and received medals everywhere. In Milan, the artist received a gold medal, as well as at an exhibition in Chicago (1893), for "an excellent overall composition, a general typical character of ornamental details, a high artistry of the revival of the ancient Byzantine and national style."
The most popular author's work by E. Boehm, included in the price list of the Dyatkovo plant and produced in large quantities, was
set for wine, marked by folk humor. The artist deliberately chose the green color of the glass, the shape of the damask and the technique of enamel painting, typical of Russian glass of the 18th century.
The trademark of Boehm's creations, whether they were watercolors or glassware, were signatures. The artist used unpretentious short poems, riddles, jokes, proverbs, talking with the people in their language. So in this set, the playful depiction of drinking and fighting devils is explained by no less "strong" inscriptions on the topic of the consumption of strong drinks.
Hello, cups
What was it like?
I was expected.
Drink, drink - you will see the devils!, - says the inscription on one of the faces of the damask.
The cups in the set are fakes. They are 2/3 filled with glass mass and do not hold much liquid. Each has a playful inscription-toast, warning against excessive enthusiasm for the "green snake", and a serial number in the process of drinking the drink. And if the devils on the first cups call for a drink " for health", "for fun", "for enthusiasm", then on the following we read:" tea, coffee are not to my liking, there would be vodka in the morning”, “where I drank, I spent the night there”, “I drank for joy, I drank it down with grief”, “if you like - you don’t like it, but you need to drink!».
Along with the popular wine service, acquired for the collection by the founder of the museum, Mikhail Nikiforovich Bardygin, the collection also contains other items by E. Böhm, which exist in single copies.
The history of their acquisition is interesting. Several decades ago, meeting a group of tourists from Moscow, the former director of the museum, Esther Yakovlevna Ravina, spoke about the artist and her work. And suddenly it turned out that among the guests there was a relative of Elizaveta Boehm, a Muscovite Nina Evgenievna Schmidt. For many years, glass objects painted by E. Böhm were kept in her family. Touched by the reverent attitude towards the items stored in the collection, and the interest in the personality of their creator, Nina Evgenievna decided to donate the items to the Yegorievsk Museum.
Thus, a ladle and a bowl in the "Russian style" with enamel paintings in the form of birds and a jug of blue frosted glass, painted with orange enamel in the form of a frosty pattern, appeared in the museum's collection.
She was born in 1843 in St. Petersburg. Tatar blood flowed in her veins: Lisa's ancestors had the surname Indo-gur, which in translation meant "Indian chicken (rooster)", but eventually became Russified and, by decree of Ivan III, became the Endaurovs.
The childhood of the future artist took place in her father's family estate on the border of the Yaroslavl and Vologda provinces - among the Russian expanse, dense forests and flood meadows.
“I had a love for drawing from a very young age; I don’t remember myself otherwise, as drawing on all the pieces of paper that came into my hands,” she will say later.
Lisa drew everything she saw: nature, animals, her village friends. Together with letters to Liza's friends, paper dolls and animals were sent to St. Petersburg every time. This "draws the attention of people somewhat understanding."
Elizabeth Merkuryevna was very lucky in her life. Maybe because she clearly felt her calling in her. I was lucky with my parents, who listened to the advice of "understanding people" and sent their daughter to study at the St. Petersburg Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, where the girls were generally closed: it was the middle of the 19th century outside.
We were lucky with the teachers: excellent masters taught at Liza's school, the favorite of which was Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoy, the creator of the famous Stranger. “If I understand at least a little in the drawing, then I owe it exclusively to Kramskoy,” the artist did not get tired of repeating.
Elizabeth was also lucky with her husband: he became a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Ludwig Böhm, a Hungarian by nationality, an excellent violinist who inherited a Stradivarius violin and Beethoven's handwritten letter from his musician uncle. The man himself is creative, he reacted with understanding and approval to the activities of his wife. "I'm just resting on her drawings," he once said.
So Lisa passed the fate of most of her contemporaries, passionate about art: having married, leave pampering in order to devote herself entirely to raising children and household chores.
The creative life of Elizaveta Merkuryevna did not stop after her marriage: with the birth of her first child, she plunged into painting even more happily, and the world of children became her favorite topic from now on.
She herself said about this: “I remember the words of our great writer L.N. Tolstoy, who said that whoever has a real vocation, then there will be time for this, how to find it in order to drink or eat. And this is the perfect truth I feel it from experience. Loving my occupation with all my heart, after getting married, and after giving birth to a child, I still, if not more, do what I love. "
She soon found her own style - watercolors and silhouettes. Until old age, Elizaveta Merkuryevna's favorite sitters remained children: as soon as she came to the village to study sketches, children shouting "Aunt Boemiha has arrived!" rushed to meet her, knowing that a kind lady with an unpronounceable name generously pays for posing with toys and sweets.
Elizabeth's watercolor work Boehm attracted attention not only with funny characters, but also with signatures that became the trademark of her creations. The artist used unpretentious short poems, riddles, jokes, proverbs, talking with the people in their language. "And where do you dig them up from?" - It happened that Vladimir Stasov himself, the famous critic and researcher of Russian antiquity, was amazed.
Elizabeth Merkurievna revived the genre of the silhouette, forgotten by that time. “And what perfection these silhouettes were!” wrote Kramskoy. “Even the expression on the faces of little blackies could be guessed in them.” And Ilya Repin admitted that he loves her “black ones” more than many, many “white ones”.
The first "adult" silhouette of the artist was a portrait of Anton Rubinstein, accidentally drawn at a concert in the Nobility Assembly on the back of the program, "with the whole figure and the piano - absolute perfection, striking in expression."
The composer himself told Elizaveta Merkuryevna that this was the best of all his portraits. Subsequently, she made many silhouette compositions to order - including for the highest persons. Yes, it's just shadows. But the shadows of real people who once made up Russian life...
Elizabeth Merkurievna willingly designed children's magazines, illustrated folk tales, I.A. Krylov's fables, N.A. Nekrasov's poem "Frost Red Nose", stories of contemporary writers. Two silhouettes for I.S. Turgenev's story "Mumu" became classics of book graphics.
She also had an excellent command of arts and crafts: fans and prayer books painted by her, designs for embroidery and lace, kokoshniks embroidered with colored beads, clay roosters and wooden ladles, as well as glass works: blue, green, burgundy glasses, shtofs, bowls. .. Truly, a talented person is talented in everything!
Among the sincere admirers of Elizabeth's work Boehm there were Repin, Shishkin and Aivazovsky, Vasnetsov and Vrubel, Turgenev and Maikov, Goncharov, Leskov and Korolenko, her works were admired by Wanderers and artists from the World of Art, populist writers and grand dukes.
The Boehm family was on good terms with Leo Tolstoy and gave him great moral support when the writer was excommunicated.
There is a legend that Elizabeth Merkurievna at the glass factory, where her brother was the director, made a glass slab with the inscription: "You shared the fate of great people walking ahead of their century, highly esteemed Lev Nikolaevich. And before they were burned at the stake, rotted in prisons and exiles." Now this plate is stored in the museum in Yasnaya Polyana.
Time took its course. Elizabeth Merkuryevna has already had grandchildren. According to family tradition, on the patronal feast of Christmas, the whole family gathered in the large Boehm house on Vasilyevsky Island. The Christmas tree was usually set up in the artist's studio, among paintings, easels, cans of paints and brushes. The holiday was always fun: forfeits were played, grandchildren-gymnasium students guessed grandmother's riddles, of which she knew a great many. And the piano certainly sounded, the violin sang, romances were performed.
At the beginning of the First World War, at the age of 71, already widowed, escorting her grandchildren to the front, Elizabeth Merkuryevna wrote: “I still do not leave my studies, despite the weakness of my eyesight and the pain in my exhausted hands ... I work not because of necessity, but very much in love with my work ... I thank God for the pleasure bestowed on me through vocation. And how much wonderful people it brought me, how many dear, friendly relations it gave ... "
In the same 1914, the artist quietly and imperceptibly passed away. But for a long time, thousands of her postcards with cute faces of little characters continued to wander around Russia, bringing kindness and a smile to every home. They finally returned to us.
