Born: 1908 St Petersburg, Russian Empire (now Russia)
Died: 1986 Surrey, England
Year of Migration to the UK: 1917
Other name/s: Daisy Knupfer
Biography
Artist Daisy Knupffer was born on 30 June 1908 in St. Petersburg, Russia. She fled her homeland with her family during the Revolution of 1917-18, narrowly escaping death on several occasions. The Knupffers were interned as prisoners of war in Germany before eventually resettling in England. Her father had served as an officer in the Russian Imperial Guards. In an interview published in the Daily Mirror on 28 May 1936, Knupffer spoke of the hardships faced by Russian émigrés in London and described her family’s perilous escape.
Working primarily in pastels and oils, Knupffer gained recognition as a notable portraitist in the London art world, as well as a landscape painter. According to a Daily Record review published on 2 August 1934, her portrait Eve was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and hailed as one of the successes of the previous year. She exhibited at the Royal Academy five times between 1932 and 1942, with various home addresses in northwest London. She primarily exhibited portraits of female sitters, including one of Baroness Elena Tornow, while her own self-portrait, offered at auction, shows Knupffer wearing a colourful Russian-style headscarf, knotted under her chin. Her name appeared among a significant number of Jewish artists exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1940, as noted in the Jewish Chronicle (‘Art Notes’, 10 May 1940).
Little is known of her life and career after the 1940s. Daisy Knupffer died in Surrey, England on 9 July 1986. Her work is not currently represented in UK public collections.
Related books
- H.K., ‘Art Notes’, Jewish Chronicle, 10 May 1940, p. 22
- ‘News About People’, Daily Mirror, 28 May 1936, p. 11
- ‘Miss Daisy Knupffer’, Daily Record, 2 August 1934, p. 28
Related web links
- Find a grave
- Painting attributed to Daisy Knupffer, Lawrences Auctioneers
- Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition catalogues
- Self portrait by Daisy Knupfer
Selected exhibitions
- Royal Academy of Art, London (1942, 1940, 1937, 1933, 1932)
Ben Uri archive
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Daisy Knupffer ]
Ben Uri library
Publications related to [Daisy Knupffer ] in the Ben Uri Library