Mela Muter

Mela Muter is the pseudonym used by Maria Melania Mutermilch (1876 –1967), the first professional Jewish painter in Poland. 

Mela Muter - Portrait of a man in a beret, before 1939

She lived most of her life in France. Muter's painting career began to flourish after she moved to Paris from Poland in 1901 at the age of twenty-five. Before World War I, Muter's painting practice aligned itself with the Naturalism movement; her signature works containing vivid hues and strong brush strokes. Muter gained swift popularity in Paris and within five years of her residency in the city, had already begun showing her works. Muter received French citizenship in 1927. After the breakout of WWII Muter fled to Avignon for safety during the Nazi occupation. After the war, Muter returned to Paris where she worked and resided until her death in 1967.