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<!-- EDIT BELOW THIS LINE Nikol Schattenstein (Russian: Aug. 10, 1875-Sept. 6, 1954) was one of the outstanding portrait artists of the twentieth century.

Schattenstein was born on the Potocki Estates in Russia where his father served as chief forester. After Nikol’s talent was discovered, he was sent to Vilna and later to Vienna to train as an artist. At the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he was the recipient of many prizes. He twice received the Prix de Rome, enabling him to live and study in Rome for three years.

Upon completion of his study in Rome, Schattenstein established a residence in Vienna and started to gain recognition as a portrait painter. After a sojourn in Paris, during which time he travelled to Brittany and Belgium, he returned to Vienna and became a member of the Vienna Kunstler House. He was awarded many prizes and gold medals while serving as both a juror and an exhibitor in international exhibitions.

In 1916 Emperor Franz Josef bestowed upon Mr. Schattenstein the Knight Cross of the Franz Josef Order in recognition of his artistic merit. The following year Schattenstein was commissioned by the Austro-Hungarian government as a delegate of the peace treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest to make a painting of the peace conferences and also portraits of its prominent members for the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Ministry. There, among the delegates, he painted Prince Leopold of Bavaria, Field Marshal Von Mackensen, Premier of Austria-Hungary, Count Ottokar von Czernin, and others, as well as more radical members of the conference, such as Trotsky, Karakhan and Radek.

In 1920 Mr. Schattenstein immigrated to the United States, where he made his introductory exhibit at the Kingore Galleries in New York. His talents were quickly recognized by the elite of society and business and by art critics alike. The renowned critic, Henry McBride, wrote in the New York Herald, “Nikol Schattenstein, the Russian, makes his debut this week in the Kingore Galleries as a portrait painter, and with success. He is one of the most completely equipped portraitists to come to these shores – he draws with finish and is still drawing even when most finished; he has a deep insight into character, and he is always sincere and unaffected.

We have no portrait painters among our native men to pit against him, with the possible exception of Mr. Hopkinson. The recent showing of war portraits at the Metropolitan Museum threw a disconcerting light upon our attainments in the portrait painting line. Mr. Schattenstein lacks the brush freedom at times that Mr. Hopkinson always has, but excels him in subtlety and line. It will give an idea of Mr. Schattenstein’s honesty to state that he is one of the few painters alive who draws hands. Since Sargent’s day most painters have lazily indicated them.

He paints men, women and children with equal interest, apparently, although the best portrait in the present collection is of a man, Mr. Vaughan Lee. Mr. Lee has been posed in a wicker chair out of doors, and smokes a pipe with great contentment. The drawing in this is very sure and the whole characterization is direct an unaffected. A portrait such as this would have made a sensation in Paris back in the days of Bastien-Lepage and Dagnan-Bouveret.

The feminine portraits of “Lillian,” “Mrs. Tonka L.” and “Pia Dore” exhibit the same certainty of line and placement and have much spontaneity of expression. The hands in the portrait of the “Countess Bianca Marenzi” will be considerable of a lesson to the local men.

Another point in which Mr. Schattenstein is different is the evident psychological response he makes to each sitter. No two of the portraits resemble each other in method. The difference is so marked that amateurs might be excused for taking some of them to be by different artists. It is, however, simply that Mr. Schattenstein is a sensitive workman who paints for and into the mood that is established. His career in America will be followed with interest.”

Christian Brinton was another admirer of Schattenstein’s works. He wrote “He possesses, to my mind, the two essential qualifications of good portraiture in any land, or of any period. They are, briefly stated, a sense of style, and the ability to achieve sound characterization.”

Once settled in New York, Schattenstein’s reputation spread among the elite of society and show business. He became a prolific portrait painter in those circles and others. His 1927 portrait of H.L. Mencken wearing red suspenders given Mencken by Rudolf Valentino hangs proudly in the Mencken Room of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. A portrait of Albert Einstein was on display at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem until the building was destroyed by bombs. Among his many subjects were Cornelia Vanderbilt(on display at Biltmore House, Asheville, NC), Cathleen Vanderbilt, Mrs. John Wanamaker, Mrs. Daniel Reid Topping, Gen. Charles P. Sumerall, Mrs. Emile Pfizer, George Jean Nathan, Boni de Castellane, Mrs. Marcus Daly, Marion Davies, Helen Hayes, Leslie Howard, Fanny Hurst, Eldridge R. Johnson, Lauritz Melchior and Harry Brandt.

Schattenstein was the recipient of many, many awards. They included the Prix de Rome, Great Gold Medal and State Gold Medal in international exhibitions in Vienna, the Silver Medal of the City of Salzburg, and the Knight Cross of the Order of Franz Josef by the emperor himself. Then a U.S. citizen, he won first prize during World War II in the War Poster contest.

Schattenstein died in Port Chester, New York in 1954.

List of Subjects (incomplete):

Miss Jeannette Allen       Prof. Heinrich von Angeli       Miss Elena Backman

Miss L. Belloc             Mr. W.H.W. Bicknell             Mrs. Paul Block

Miss Whitney Bourne        Harry Brandt                    Helen Brandt Lois Brandt                Richard Brandt                  Dr. Christian Brinton

Elizabet Burke             David Burliuk                   Mrs. F. Castelione

Boni de Castellane         Mrs. F. Castilogni              Ilka Chase

Ina Claire                 Mr. Colin Campbell Clements     Count Ferdinand Colloredo

Mr. & Mrs. Ely Culbertson  Harry Cushing III               Count Ottokar von Czernin

Mrs. Marcus Daly           Marion Davies                   Pia Dore

Marjorie Oelrichs Duchin   Albert Einstein                 Mrs. William H. Erhart

Marie Fontaine             Mrs. J. D. Franklin             Dr. Allan Fromme

Babette Fromme             Leah Fromme                     Pam Fromme

Steve Fromme               Mrs. W. W. Fuller               Arnold Genthe

Mrs. Julian Gerard         Morris Gest                     Miss Alicia DuPont Glendening

Mrs. Erskine Gwynne        Mr. Albert Halstead             Helen Hayes

George S. Hellman          Imre de Josika Herczeg          Leslie Howard

Simon Templeton Hunt       Fannie Hurst                    Maria Jeritza

Eldridge R. Johnson        Elvie Kalep                     Vaughan Lee

Lotte Lehmann              Prince Leopold of Bavaria       J. W. Lippincott

Pauline Lord               Field Marshal von Mackensen     Mlle. F. Marcette

Miss Bico Marcovicci       Countess Bianca Marenzi         Mr. Frederick McKay

Mrs. Frederick McKay       Mrs. Irene Castle McLaughli     Lauritz Melchior

H.L. Mencken               Gilbert Miller                  Dr. Hans Muller

George Jean Nathan         Miss Cathleen Owen              Mrs. Emile Pfizer

Karl Radek                 Mrs. Relgin                     Harrison Rhodes

George David Rosengarten   Countess Louise Maria Salm      Isabel Satenstein

Mr. and Mrs. Ned Satenstein Louis Schattenstein            Miss Edwina Shea

Mrs. A. Sherman            Mrs. H. Sielcken                Mrs. Basil Soldatenkoff

Gen. Charles P. Summerall  Mrs. Daniel Reid Topping        Cornelia Vanderbilt

Cathleen Vanderbilt        Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt        Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt

Mrs. Blair Walcott         Abraham Walkowitz               Mrs. John Wanamaker, Jr.

Walter Wanger              Mr. J. Wasserman                Louis Wiley

Mr. and Miss Von Worth    Harry N. Wright                  Adolph Zukor