Lydia Mei (2 July 1896 – 14 September 1965) was an Estonian artist who specialized in watercolors. Born on the Estonian island of

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa (, ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located withi ...

, Lydia Mei was the middle child of the three daughters of a ship's captain. All three sisters would become artists, with Lydia Mei and

Natalie Mei Natalie Johanna Mei (10 January 1900 – 29 July 1975) was an Estonian painter and graphic artist. Born on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa, Natalie Mei was one of three daughters of a ship's captain. All three sisters would become artists, with ...

achieving public prominence during the

Neue Sachlichkeit The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, w ...

(New Objectivity) period of Estonian art of the 1920s and sister Kristine Mei becoming a sculptor. Mei studied architecture at the

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Women's Polytechnic Institute until 1918. But she became famous as a watercolorist in late 1920s. She married sculptor

Anton Starkopf Anton Starkop (22 April 1889 Röa, Rapla County – 30 December 1966 Tartu) was Estonian sculptor. 1911-1912 he studied at Anton Ažbe Art School in Munich and 1912–1913 at Académie Russe and Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Duri ...

and is occasionally credited with the name Lydia Mei-Starkopf. She died in 1965 in the capital city of

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

References

*Pihlak, Elvi: "''Lydia Mei - Natüürmortide ja lillemaalide meister''" in: ''Kunst'' Vol. 1962,1 pgs 16–20. Tallinn.

External links

Self Portrait (1931)
retrieved May 3, 2007

retrieved May 3, 2007 1896 births 1965 deaths Estonian women painters People from Hiiumaa Parish 20th-century Estonian painters 20th-century Estonian women artists Sibling artists {{Estonia-artist-stub