Vera Rockline

Vera Schlezinger Rockline was born in Moscow in 1896.

She was a student of Alexandra Exter in Kiev before moving to Paris.

 Rockline arrived in Paris shortly after WWI, and settled in the Montparnasse district. She began exhibiting in Paris in 1922 at the Salon des Indépendants. She also exhibited at the Salon d’Automne, and the Salon des Tuileries.

 Rockline’s early work shows the influence of Cubism, obviously influenced by her mentor Alexandra Exter, but her coloration was more subtle; more in the manner of Cezanne. She almost exclusively painted nudes and a few portraits. She incorporated her cubist tendencies into her unique postimpressionist style; with use of bold brush strokes and rich colors she created stunning works of modern beauty.

 In Montparnasse at this time there was a large Russian community with which Rockline was certainly familiar. She committed suicide at the age of 38 years, cutting short a brilliant career.

 Self Portrait

As with many women artists of her generation she is now finding her place in history, she was recently included the an exhibition at the Musée du Montparnasse called “Elles de Montparnasse.” Here her paintings were exhibited along side Tamara de Lempicka, Jacqueline Marval, Maria Blanchard, Natalia Gontcharova, Popova, and many more of her contemporaries.