Mary Meerson

Mary Meerson, née Marija Popowa, also known as Madame Langlois (12 November 1902, Sofia – 19 July 1993, Paris), was a French ballet dancer, model and archivist of the Cinémathèque Française. She was a companion and associate of Henri Langlois, the founder and director of the Cinémathèque Française.

Life Marija Popowa was born on 12 November 1902 in Sofia, Bulgaria. She left her country traveling through central Europe and joined the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev in Monte Carlo and then in Paris. Along with her friend Kiki, the muse of the Montparnasse, Popowa was painted by the best known artists. In the late 1920s, she was a model for Giorgio de Chirico and Reisling. In 1931, she posed as a model for the paintings of Oskar Kokoschka. She accompanied him to London where he suddenly died in 1938. After Langlois' death, Meerson continued his mission and considered that, Musée du Cinéma not only should become legal but also sponsored by the government. She called herself "Madame Langlois". Meerson spoke Russian, Bulgarian, French, English, Italian, German, Yiddish, Mandarin Chinese, and Sanskrit.