Natalia Nordman

Nordman was born in Helsinki in 1863. Her father was a Finnish admiral in the Russian Navy Bernhard (Boris) Nordman and her mother was Russian noblewoman Maria Arbusova, who was the widow of Colonel Ehlert.

Nordman was a suffragette and a champion of vegetarianism. In 1900 she met the married artist Ilya Repin who was on a trip to Paris. Repin was captivated by her and they went to live in her home, Penaty, in Kuokkala, which was still part of Finland at that time. The couple invited notable artists from Russia every Wednesday as their new home was a train ride from St Petersburg.[1] The Wednesday gatherings enabled Repin to put together an "album" for Nordman. He created portraits of notable visitors, each painting labelled with their name, profession and occasionally their autograph. Nordman's hospitality was well known and visitors included the writers Maxim Gorky and Aleksandr Kuprin; artists Vasily Polenov, Isaak Brodsky, Filipp Malyavin and Nicolai Fechin as well as poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, philosopher Vasily Rozanov and scientist Vladimir Bekhterev. Nordman was the keeper of this album as it was readied for display at World Exhibition in Italy in 1911.[2] Repin was to describe Nordman as the "love of his life".[1]

In 1911 she travelled with Repin to the World Exhibition in Italy, where Repin's portraits were displayed in their own separate room.

• «Intimnyi︠a︡ stranit︠s︡y»; by N. B. Severova (1910)[3]

In 1914, Nordman died in Orselina, Switzerland, where Repin visited her. Nordman left her home to the St Petersburg Academy, which could not take possession immediately, as Repin lived there for 16 more years. Repin's portraits in Nordman's "album" were scattered, but were reassembled for an exhibition in 2009.[2]