Schmidtová, Natálie

At the end of the nineteenth century the Schmidtova family travel by horse and cart to Siberia to cultivate land. After ten years of hard labour father Schmidtova dies. Natalie, then fourteen years of age, travels back to her native region, together with her mother and the other children. She never gets the chance to go to school, and thus remains illiterate. She has the happiest time of her life as a nanny in a rich family at the Black Sea. In 1918 she marries Austrian captive Rudolf Schmidt and the couple move to Czechoslovakia, where Natalie works on the land. She starts painting in 1944. Recurring themes are her happy stay at the Black Sea and her longing for exotic places.

In 1947 Dora Maar und Pablo Picasso organised the first exhibit abroad, in Paris.

Exhibits: 1946 Prague; 1947 Paris; 1963/64 Prague, Brünn, Bratislava; 1964 Salzburg, Graz, Linz; 1973 Iisalmi, Helsinki, München; 1974 Darmstadt; 1974/75 München, Zürich; 1981 Bielefeld, Hamburg; 1987 Itzehoe; 1996 Reggio Emilia; 2000 Bratislava; 2002 Recklinghausen; 2004 Bratislava; 2006 Helsinki.

Natálie Schmidtová
1895 Dobriňka, Russia - 1981 Bystřice, Czech Republic