Maud Nelke Explained

Maud Julia Augusta Russell
Birth Name:Maud Julia Augusta Nelke
Birth Place:Chelsea, London, England
Birth Date:7 November 1891

Maud Julia Augusta Russell (; 7 November 189127 May 1982) was a British socialite and art patron, who aided Jewish relatives in their escape from Nazi Germany during the 1930s.[1]

Family

The daughter of Maria and Paul Nelke, German Jewish immigrants, Maud grew up in London in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1917, she married Gilbert Byng Alwyne Russell, a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards. Maud's father, Paul Nelke, later helped Gilbert create the merchant banking firm Cull & Company. They had two sons; Martin Basil Paul Russell, eccentric banker, collector and a patron of Sri Lankan Cubism[2] (1918-2003)[3] and Raymond Anthony Russell. When Gilbert died in 1942 she wrote in her diary: "The main, the fullest, the richest and the most feeling part of life ended with him"

War diaries

Maud was an avid reader and maintained a beautifully written diary throughout her life. Her diaries, recently uncovered and published, provide a rare record of the development of the war from Maud's perspective.

"She was unfortunate enough to live through both World Wars, suffering from anti-German sentiment during the Great War and helping her Jewish relations to escape Germany in the 1930s. From 1943-1945 she worked on secret propaganda activities at the Admiralty"

Art and architecture

Maud remains one of the foremost English collectors of modern French art,[4] and enjoyed a friendship with artists such as Boris Anrep of whom she was patron[5] and eventually executrix of his will.[6] Maud was one of the patrons for Boris Anrep's Modern Virtues, a collection of colourful mosaics which decorate the imposing staircase built by Sir John Taylor in 1887 for the entrance hall of the National Gallery, her name and portrait are expressed as the personification of Folly. Rex Whistler was another, who painted the namesake Whistler Drawing Room at Mottisfont in his famous trompe-l'œil style.[7] She also shared a particularly close relationship with Ian Fleming,[8] to whom she notably gave a gunmetal-finished, gold cigarette case which is thought to have been the inspiration for Red Grant's "oval gold cigarette case" in From Russia with Love.[9] [10] Fleming had also worked at Cull & Company.[11]

Maud and Gilbert bought Mottisfont Abbey in 1934,[12] and remodelled it from a building in ruin to a modern estate with the help of her artist friends. In 1957, she gifted the house and grounds to the National Trust but continued to live at Mottisfont until 1972.[13] It was nominated a Grade I listed building in 1957,[14] with the 1938-9 Rex Whistler drawing room a named feature of the listing.

Portraits


Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Book: Russell, Maud, 1891-1982. A constant heart : the war diaries of Maud Russell, 1938-1945. Russell, Emily. 2017. 978-0-9929151-8-6. Wimborne Minster, Dorset. 986449447.
  2. News: Martin Russell. The Times. 2020-03-21. en. 0140-0460.
  3. News: Martin Russell Obituary. Daily Telegraph. 2004-03-09. 2020-03-21. en-GB. 0307-1235.
  4. Web site: My long lost Jewish relatives . www.thejc.com. 2020-03-21 .
  5. Web site: Mrs Gilbert Russell, Sitting in Bed Anrep, Boris V&A Search the Collections. 2020-03-21. V and A Collections. en. 2020-03-21.
  6. Web site: 'Varvara Theodossieva', Boris Anrep, 1906. Tate. Tate. en-GB. 2020-03-21.
  7. Web site: The Whistler Room, Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire. National Trust Prints. en. 2020-03-21.
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/20170317125212/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/spies-affairs-james-bond-secret-diary-ian-flemings-wartime-mistress/ Spies, affairs and James Bond... The secret diary of Ian Fleming's wartime mistress
  9. Web site: Interview with Emily Russell, editor of 'A Constant Heart: The War Diaries of Maud Russell' . Artistic Licence Renewed . 18 April 2017 . 24 April 2021.
  10. Web site: The Love of a Constant Heart. 2017-06-02. Ian Fleming. en-GB. 2020-03-21.
  11. James Bond Comes to New York. Hellman. Geoffrey T.. The New Yorker. 13 April 1962. en. 2020-03-21.
  12. Web site: Maud Russell at Mottisfont. National Trust. en. 2020-03-21.
  13. Web site: Meet the Russells at Mottisfont. National Trust.
  14. Web site: MOTTISFONT ABBEY HOUSE, Mottisfont - 1093730 Historic England. historicengland.org.uk. en. 2020-03-21.
  15. Web site: Miss Maude Nelke (d.1982) Art UK. www.artuk.org. en. 2020-03-21.
  16. Web site: Boris Anrep mosaics at the National Gallery, London. www.thejoyofshards.co.uk. 2020-03-21.
  17. Web site: Maud Russell (1891 - 1982) . National Trust Collections . 1 May 2020.

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