Sonia Lewitska (Ukrainian, 1874-1937)

Sonia Lewitska was a Ukrainian painter, graphic artist, and illustrator that lived and worked in Paris throughout most of her artistic career. She began her education in fine art in 1894 at the Kazanovsky School in Zhytomyr. And in 1905 moved to Kyiv to continue her studies. Her tutor in Kyiv, the painter Sergey Svetoslavsky, encouraged her to move to Paris to continue pursuing art.

Sonia Lewitska settled in Paris in 1905 and enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts. There she met the cubist artist Jean Marchand, whom she later married.

In Paris, Lewitska was influenced by Cubism and Fauvism, but her style of painting is largely Post-Impressionist. Some of her most famous works carry a strong influence of Ukrainian folklore and traditional art. In Paris, she exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Indépendants, and the Salon des Tuileries. In 1912 she took part in an exhibition of the Section d'Or at Galerie La Boétie. The following year, 1913, she held her first personal show at Galerie Berthe Weill. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Sonia Lewitska continued to exhibit with solo exhibitions taking place at Galerie Berthe Weill (1925) and Galerie Arthur Sambon (1930). In 1928 two of her works were purchased by The Galerie Nationale de Jeu de Paume. She also partook in group exhibitions at Galerie Berthe Weill, Galerie Léon Marseille, the exhibition of Ukrainian graphic art in Berlin and Prague, the exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian graphic art in Lviv (1932), the association of independent Ukrainian artists in Lviv (1933), and the exhibition of Polish artists at Galerie de Beaux-Arts in Paris (1935).

In the 1930s Sonia Lewitska's mental state began deteriorating. In 1936 she for the last time took part at the Salon d'Automne. Sonia Lewitska died on September 20th 1937. Today her works are held in the collections of the Albertina Museum in Vienna and the Museé National d’Art Moderne in Paris.