Emily Shanks

Emily Shanks, also known as Emiliya Yakovlevna Shanks (Russian: Эми́лия Я́ковлевна Шанкс; 1 August 1857, in Moscow – 13 January 1936, in London), was a British painter living in Moscow. She was the first woman to be elected to the Russian Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions or Peredvizhniki.

Emily Shanks was born in Moscow, the second daughter of James Steuart Shanks and Mary Louisa Schilling. James arrived in Moscow in 1852 where he went into partnership with Swede Henrik Conrad Bolin to found the ‘Shanks & Bolin, Magasin Anglais’ (The English Shop). The shop was financially successful and the Shanks family led a comfortable life allowing the daughters the time and means to engage with the Moscow intelligentsia.

Emily’s older sister Louise Shanks married Aylmer Maude and translated Tolstoy’s novels into English, these translations were published by the Oxford University Press and were considered the best translations of their day. Emily’s younger sister Mary was a friend of Tolstoy’s oldest daughter Tatyana, the visitor book records that both Emily and Mary were visitors to the Tolstoy family home.

Emily commenced her studies at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture around 1882 where she was instructed by prominent members of the Peredvizhniki: Vasily Polenov, Vladimir Makovsky and Illarion Pryanishnikov. In 1890 Emily is awarded a ‘large silver medal' by the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture for her painting ‘Reading a letter’. She graduated that year with the rank of ‘artist’.

Emily Shanks formed a friendship with the Russian painter and designer Yelena Polenova and her brother Vasily Polenov. Emily and her sister Mary would regularly paint together with the Polenovs, this is particularly well documented in the Polenov letters from the winter of 1891-1892. In 1891 Emily’s painting ‘Older Brother’ (Старший брат) was accepted by the Peredvizhniki for exhibition. On March 7, 1891 Vasily Polenov wrote to his wife Natalia Polenov that this painting had caught the attention of the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna who expressed interest.

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