Renée O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya

Renée O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya (; 1891–1981) ( O'Connell), was a Russian porcelain artist, painter and graphic artist.

Biography

O'Connell was born in 1891 in either Paris or St Petersburg to French expat and life insurance accountant Rodolphe Alfredovich O'Connell and Olga Metro. She was claimed but never proved to be from the family of Frédérique Émilie Auguste O'Connell, or the granddaughter of Daniel O'Connell. She studied further abroad in Italy, France, Germany and Hungary. Bilibin was 15 years her senior, and together they travelled around the Crimean peninsula to draw.

The relationship struggled due to Bilibin's drinking. The couple entered an agreement, witnessed by their friend musician Stepan Stepanovich Mitusov, that if Bilibin did not drink for a year, then O'Connell would stay with him. Bilibin did not keep his word, and O'Connell left Bilibin in September 1917, with Bilibin travelling to Crimea alone following the events of the Russian Revolution.

Mitusov wrote a comic poem about the breakdown of the couple's relationship.

In 1932, O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya had a brief relationship with Daniil Kharms.

In 1941, O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya's last exhibition took place, where her paintings on porcelain and ceramics were mainly presented.

Due to her foreign origin, O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya was exiled to Siberia until 1953. She left her teenage son in the care of one her friends in Leningrad. As soon as the opportunity arose, she sent for her son to live with her in exile. However, during one of the stops on the train on the way to meet his mother, he drowned while swimming in a river.

O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya's daughter died during the Siege of Leningrad, as did her former partner Bilibin.

While in exile, O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya married a German doctor.

In the late 1940s and early 1950, O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya worked at ZIK.

O'Connell-Mikhailovskaya died in 1981.