Donia Nachshen was born to Jewish parents in Zhitomir, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) in 1903. After an anti-Jewish pogrom her family fled to London in 1905 where she later studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. While a successful artist and book illustrator, Nachshen is mostly known for her Second World War posters.
Painter and illustrator Donia Nachshen was born to Jewish parents, Harris and Clara, in Zhitomir, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) on 22 January 1903. After an anti-Jewish pogrom in the city in 1905, her family fled Zhitomir and eventually settled in London. There Nachshen enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art, and in the 1920s established herself as a successful artist and book illustrator, living in Stamford Hill, London and then Hendon, Middlesex (now London), where she would live for the rest of her life.
In 1924 Nachshen showed an oil painting, Legend, at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, where she would later exhibit oils twice more in 1932 and 1933, the last of which, titled Indian Legend, was described in the Jewish Chronicle as ‘well composed and drawn and to have a charming rhythm’ (S., 1933). She illustrated many translated books around this time, including The Red Lily (1925) by Nobel Prize winning French poet Anatole France, and Fräulein Else (1929) by Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler. Other books which she illustrated included Out of Childhood by Irina Vladimirovna Odoevtseva (1930), The Works of Oscar Wilde (1931), and Cecil Roth’s English translation of The Haggadah (1934), an important Jewish religious text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. She also produced illustrations for the Radio Times. In 1938 Nachshen worked for the interior decorating firm, Reens Arta, to contribute decorative murals for the Flat for Five Hundred exhibition at 31 Bruton Street, London. The idea of the exhibition was to offer ‘a complete decorative scheme carried out in good taste with modern designs, and within the financial limits of those who can spend no more than that sum on their home’. Nachshen’s canvas murals, showcased alongside designs by M. R. Reens and by Hungarian émigré, Joseph Bato, were ‘movable and durable’ and had the ‘inestimable advantage for the housewife that they can be quickly sponged over when spring-cleaning is done’ (Jewish Chronicle, 1938).
During the Second World War, Nachshen produced widely-recognised poster designs for high-profile campaigns, including the Make Do and Mend campaign run by the Board of Trade and also Telegraph Less for the General Post Office. She continued to illustrate books at this time, such as Enid Blyton’s Nature Lover’s Book (1944) and Diary of a Madman (1945) by Russian-Ukranian writer Nikolai Gogol and translated by Beatrice Scott (it was originally published in Russian in 1835). In 1945 Nachshen married engineer Jessel Rosen; the marriage introduced him to art and music which added ‘much to the fullness of his few years of retirement’ before his death in 1963 (A Correspondent, The Times, 1963). After the war Nachshen continued to illustrate Russian novels and poetry for publishers Constable & Co and Lindsay Drummond, often using a scraperboard technique to create dramatic illustrations in an eastern European style (Horne, 1994). Between 1951 and 1978, her work was shown six times at Ben Uri, including at the Autumn Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings by Contemporary Jewish Artists (1951), the Annual Summer Exhibition (1975), and the Annual Mixed Exhibition (1978).
Donia Nachshen died in England in 1987. A memorial stone was consecrated at the Reform Synagogue Cemetery in Hoop Lane, Golders Green, London on Sunday 22 November 1987 (Jewish Chronicle, 1987). Her wartime posters are held in UK public collections including the Imperial War Museum and the Postal Museum.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Donia Nachshen]
Publications related to [Donia Nachshen] in the Ben Uri Library