Siri Rathsman

Siri Lovisa Rathsman (July 28, 1895 – July 30, 1974) was a Swedish surrealist artist, printmaker, painter, ceramicist, and journalist who spent much of her life in Paris. She was born in Sundsvall, Sweden and died in the Brännkyrka parish of Stockholm.

Early life and education Siri Rathsman was the daughter of Richard Christoffer Rathsman and Kristina (Kerstin) Lovisa Jacobson.

She received a formal painting from 1913 to 1915 education at the Wilhelmson painting school under the tutelage of Carl Wilhelmson where she befriended artists such as Kurt Jungstedt. She continued her studies at the Valand Academy of the Arts, which was then known as University of Gothenburg's drawing and painting school. Her oeuvre, however, evolved to feature non-figurative art. At the Académie Moderne in Paris, she studied for Othon Friesz and Raoul Duffy. There, she worked in the graphic studio alongside other artists such as Nina Negri and Dalla Husband. In 1936, she signed the Dimensionist Manifesto, which was published by Charles Sirato. This manifesto encouraged artists to engage with mathematical and scientific discoveries, including Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.

Journalist Rathsman also worked as a journalist. She spent some time writing for the Swedish newspaper Sundsvallposten. The first chapter of the book is entitled Life in the Residential City During the First Year and contains her observations of 1940, including the influx of refugees from Belgium, the Netherlands and from Nazi occupied France. She was expelled from France and returned to Sweden, where she published her account of Vichy. In 1951, the Swedish-French art gallery held a retrospective exhibition of her work. She is said to have exhibited there more than once. In 1952, she was exhibited in Gothenburg at the Lorensberg art gallery.

Personal life Rathsman never married. She may have been in a relationship with Georges Bidault in the 1930s. She is remembered for wearing her hair short. Her pseudonym, Comtesse Belloni, comes from the location of her studio on rue Belloni.