Donia Nachshen

{{Infobox artist

| name = Donia Nachshen

| birth_name = Donia Esther Nachshen

| birth_date = {{birth date|1903|1|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Zhitomir, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)

| death_date = {{Death year and age|1987|1903}}

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| field = Illustration and poster art

| training = Slade School of Fine Art

}}

Donia Esther Nachshen (22 January 1903 – 1987) was a Ukrainian-born British book illustrator and poster artist who is now best known for the posters she produced for the British government during World War Two.{{cite book|author=Richard Slocombe|publisher=Imperial War Museum|year=2014|title=British Posters of the Second World War |isbn=978-1-904897-92-7}}

Biography

File:Telegraph Less Art.IWMPST4041.jpg

Nachshen was born in the city of Zhitomir, which was then part of Russia and is now in Ukraine. Nachshen was born into a Jewish family and after an anti-Jewish pogrom in the city in 1905, the family fled Zhitomir and eventually settled in London. Nachshen did well at school in London and enrolled in the Slade School of Art. By the 1920s she had established herself as a successful book designer.{{cite book|author=Simon Houfe|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1996|title=The Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators |isbn=1-85149-1937}} She illustrated translations of works by Arthur Schnitzler and the Nobel Prize winner Anatole France in a style based on Russian folk art and art deco elements.{{cite web |author= |date= |title=She has taken great pains in honor of her husband's memory, who was said to loved Italian art |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/363903 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711105712/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/363903 |archive-date=11 July 2017 |accessdate=17 February 2016 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art |publisher=}}{{cite web |author= |date= |title=While he was talking of every-day matters, her mind was in a reverie far away |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/363901? |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711095815/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/363901 |archive-date=11 July 2017 |accessdate=18 February 2016 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art |publisher=}} Nachshen illustrated a version of the Jewish text the Haggadah in 1934 and also illustrated editions of works by Oscar Wilde and Samuel Butler.{{cite web |author=Lewis |first=Bex |date=24 January 2010 |title=Donia Nachshen |url=http://drbexl.co.uk/2010/01/24/donia-nachshen/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706063354/https://drbexl.co.uk/2010/01/24/donia-nachshen/ |archive-date=6 July 2022 |accessdate=17 February 2016 |website=drbexl.co.uk |publisher=}} She also produced illustrations for the Radio Times.{{cite journal |date=18 December 1931 |title=Christmas Eve |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/aa476837d22b409dae79388432fb7a9d?page=17 |url-status=live |journal=Radio Times |edition=Southern |issue=429 |page=916 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013200604/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/aa476837d22b409dae79388432fb7a9d?page=17 |archive-date=13 October 2023 |via=BBC Genome Project}}

During World War Two, Nachshen produced poster designs for a number of high-profile campaigns, notably the Make Do and Mend campaign run by the Board of Trade and also Telegraph Less for the General Post Office. She continued with her book illustration work during the War, producing designs for versions of "Diary of a Madman" by Nikolai Gogol and a 1945 collection of short stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky as well as books by Enid Blyton.{{cite book|author=Alan Horne|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1994|title=The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators |isbn=1-85149-1082}} After the War, Nachshen lived in London and continued to illustrate Russian novels and poetry, mainly for the publishers Constable & Co and also for the Lindsay Drummond company. For the Russian novels, Nachshen used scraperboard to create dramatic illustrations that resembled a style of eastern European woodcuts, while for the children's book that she illustrated she used much lighter pen drawings.