Teresa Feoderovna Ries (1874-1956) was a Russian-born Jewish sculptor and painter from Vienna, Austria.
Teresa Ries attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. She was kicked out for talking back to a professor. She moved to Vienna at the age of 21 where her first sculptural exhibition included a seated nude cutting her toe-nails. Her work attracted the attention of the Kaiser Francis Joseph I and brought Ries overnight fame. The exhibition was also attended by Gustav Klimt, an active member of the Vienna Secession movement who asked her to exhibit with the Secessionists. She sought out Edmund Hellmer as a mentor who refused at first and told her that it was pointless to teach women since they married anyway. Hellmer eventually relented and helped her to exhibit her work and to gain commissions.[1][2]
In 1900 Ries sent work to the Paris World’s Fair and then to the 1911 World's Fair in Turin where she had been invited by both Russia and Austria. Prince Alois of Lichtenstein gave Ries a grand suite of rooms next to his picture gallery in which to create and exhibit her sculptures. Ries is perhaps best known for creating a bust of Mark Twain during the time he resided in Vienna. During his stay he was so friendly with local Jewish artists and other thinkers that he was referred to as "Mark Twain the Jew" in the anti-Semitic press.[3]
Ries was effective at self-promotion – the critic Karl Kraus complained that her exhibitions received too much publicity – and published a memoir in 1928. In 1938 she was evicted from the gallery and studio space after they underwent aryanization. She continued to work in Vienna until 1942, when she left for good.
- ^ http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/austria-jewish-women-artists
- ^ http://www.theartblog.org/2012/06/the-forgotten-women-artists-of-vienna-1900/
- ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=CTHZCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA31&ots=qPrQi9fMv4&dq=Theresa%20Federowna%20Ries&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q=Theresa%20Federowna%20Ries&f=false