Daphne Mabel Maugham later Daphne Maugham-Casorati (1897–1982) was a British painter, who emigrated to

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy.

Family

Daphne was born in either London, England or perhaps at the British embassy in Paris, and registered in London, Her father Charles Maugham, born to a family of lawyers, was a barrister who had moved to Paris. Her family was a remarkable assembly. Her mother, Mabel, known as 'Beldy', Hardy made fabric genre scenes that were displayed at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London and Jeu de Paume in Paris. Mable was the daughter of Heywood Hardy, an English painter noted for his hunting scenes. Heywood's maternal grandfather was Sir

William Beechey Sir William Beechey (12 December 175328 January 1839) was a British portraitist during the golden age of British painting. Early life Beechey was born at Burford, Oxfordshire, on 12 December 1753, the son of William Beechey, a solicitor, and ...

, a noted portrait artist, and father to no less than three painters. Daphne's sister Clarisse was also a painter. Her sister Cynthia was a dancer traveling with

Alexander Sakharoff Alexander Sakharoff (, also spelled Sakharov and Sacharoff, 13 May 1886 – 25 September 1963) was a Russian dancer, teacher, and choreographer who immigrated to France. Life Sakharoff was born Alexander Zuckermann to a Jewish family in Mar ...

. Charles Maugham was also the brother of both the exiled British writer,

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

and Frederic Maugham, who served as Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1939.

Life in England and France

Daphne Maugham initially studied painting in Paris, attending the ''Academie Rason'', directed by

Nabis Nabis may refer to: * Nabis of Sparta, reigned 207–192 BCE * Nabis (art), a Parisian post-Impressionist artistic group * ''Nabis'' (bug), a genus of insects * NABIS, National Ballistics Intelligence Service, a British government agency See a ...

artists

Paul Sérusier Paul Sérusier (; 9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism. Education Sérusier was born in Paris. He studie ...

and

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with '' Les Nabis'', symbolism, ...

. She then studied from 1918 to 1921 at the Accademie Notre-Dame des Champs with Cubist painter Andre Lhote. There she met the painter Mela Munter and

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; 14 January 1841 – 2 March 1895) was a French painter, printmaker and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the ...

. In 1914, she exhibited at the Galerie Druet of Paris, and in 1921, she was accepted at the Salon d’Automne. After this, she graduated in 1922 from the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London. Daphne's sister had begun dancing in Italy, and traveled to Turin in 1925 where she was performing at the Teatro Gualino, patronized by the industrialist Ricardo Gualino. This led to encounter with

Felice Casorati Felice Casorati (4 December 1883 – 1 March 1963) was an Italian painter, sculptor, and printmaker. The paintings for which he is most noted include figure compositions, portraits and still lifes, which are often distinguished by unusual ...

, with whom he began taking classes. They would marry by 1931 and have one son, Francesco. Among the other women in Casorati's orbit were Paola Levi Montalicini, Giorgina Lattes and Nella Marchesini. In 1926, she exhibited at the Esposizione delle vedute of Turin organized by the Società di Belle Arti Antonio Fontanesi. In 1928, she exhibited at the Promotrice of Turin. Over the next decade she would participate in numerous exhibitions, including at the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, at the Quadriennali di Roma, and at the Biennale of Venice starting in 1928. With her husband, they fostered diverse intellectual salons in Turin, attended by

Lionello Venturi Lionello Venturi (25 April 1885 – 14 August 1961) was an Italian historian and critic of art. He edited the first catalogue raisonné of Paul Cézanne. His son was the historian Franco Venturi. Life Lionello Venturi was born in Modena in 1885 ...

Giacomo Debenedetti Giacomo Debenedetti (Biella, 25 June 1901 – Rome, 20 January 1967) was an Italian writer, essayist and literary critic. He was one of the greatest interpreters of literary criticism in Italy in the 20th century, one of the first to embrace the l ...

Carlo Levi Carlo Levi () (29 November 1902 – 4 January 1975) was an Italian painter, writer, activist, Independent Left (Italy), independent leftist politician, and doctor. He is best known for his book ''Christ Stopped at Eboli (novel), Cristo si è fe ...

Mario Soldati Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an Italian writer and film director. In 1954, he won the Strega Prize for ''Lettere da Capri.'' He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Italian actresses, s ...

, Giacomo Noventa, among others.Notes for exhibition of ''Solo Donna''
by Gianfranco Schialvino in the city of Bra in 2011, page 122.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maugham, Daphne Mabel 1897 births 1982 deaths Painters from London 20th-century British painters 20th-century Italian painters Italian women painters English emigrants to Italy Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art 20th-century Italian women 20th-century British women painters Hardy family