Eva Mudocci
{{Short description|English violinist and Edvard Munch's friend (1872–1953)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eva Mudocci
| image = Edvard Munch - The Brooch. Eva Mudocci - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption = Edvard Munch, The Brooch/Eva Mudocci, lithograph, 1903
| birth_name = Evangeline Hope Muddock
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1872}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death year and age|1953|1872}}
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| education =
| occupation = Violinist
| known for =
| spouse =
| partner = Bella Edwards, Edvard Munch
| children = Two
| parents = J. E. Preston Muddock
Lucy Mary Hann
| relatives = Dorothy Greenhough-Smith (sister)
}}
Eva Mudocci (1872–1953), born Evangeline Hope Muddock, was an English violinist, who toured Europe with the pianist Bella Edwards. She was the friend and probably lover of the artist Edvard Munch.
Early life
She was born Evangeline Hope Muddock{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/aug/27/munch-grandfather-surrey-born-nun|title=Edvard Munch was my grandfather, says Surrey-born nun|first1=Mark|last1=Brown|newspaper=The Guardian |date=27 August 2012|via=www.theguardian.com}} in 1872 in Brixton, London,[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2XHV-WBP Evangeline Hope Muddock England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837–2008.] Family Search. Retrieved 24 July 2019. the daughter of the British journalist and author J. E. Preston Muddock and his wife, Lucy Mary Hann, a violinist.[http://www.evamudocci.com/mudocci.html About Eva Mudocci] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717143114/http://www.evamudocci.com/mudocci.html |date=2019-07-17 }}, evamudocci.com Retrieved 24 July 2019.
Career
Mudocci first played the violin in public at the age of nine, as Miss Rose Lynton, which was how she was known for the first decade of her career. As a child, she performed both regionally and nationally within England. Her formal debut was at Prince's Hall on 23 May 1891 in a production that alternated between violin solos, songs, and a quartet by the composer Louis Spohr.{{cite book|last1=Hornby|first1=Emma|last2=Maw|first2=David Nicholas|title=Essays on the History of English Music in Honour of John Caldwell: Sources, Style, Performance, Historiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ERDFUoTmK0sC&pg=PA244|year=2010|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-1-84383-535-6|page=244}} Mudocci later met the pianist Bella Edwards, who she later lived with and performed with for five years. She toured Europe with Edwards which brought her critical acclaim.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collection/object/NG.K_H.B.00816|title=The Brooch. Eva Mudocci, 1903|website=www.nasjonalmuseet.no}}{{cite web |url=https://wp.stolaf.edu/president/2019/04/29/lady-with-a-brooch-violinist-eva-mudocci-a-biography-and-a-detective-story/ |title=Lady with a Brooch Violinist Eva Mudocci: a Biography and a Detective Story |last=Shore |first=Rima |date=April 29, 2019 |website=St. Olaf College |access-date=September 2, 2019}}
Personal life
File:Eva Mudocci and Bella Edwards.jpg
File:Violin Concert by Edvard Munch, 1903, lithograph.jpg
Mudocci and Edvard Munch met in 1903, when they were introduced in Paris by the composer Frederick Delius, a friend of Munch.{{Cite web|url=https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/munch-the-problem-with-women|title=Munch: The Problem With Women|first=MICHAEL|last=SPENS|website=Studio International – Visual Arts, Design and Architecture}} It is believed that Mudocci and Munch became lovers, and that this relationship continued until 1908/09, and they remained in contact until 1927. Mudocci and Bella Edwards were also lovers as well as having a professional musical partnership.{{cite book|author1=Sophie Fuller|author2=Lloyd Whitesell|title=Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rbd_11y-mXQC&pg=PA95|year=2002|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-02740-6|page=95}} Munch made three lithographs of Mudocci, one including Edwards. Mudocci was a muse to Henri Matisse, as well as Munch.[https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/does-a-minnesota-college-own-a-portrait-by-edvard-munch Does a Minnesota college own a portrait by Edvard Munch?] Ruth Lopez, The Art Newspaper, 16 April 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
In December 1908, Mudocci gave birth to twins, Isobel and Kai, in a private clinic in Nykøbing Falster, Denmark. It has been speculated that Munch, who was believed to have died childless, was the father of the twins, and in 2012, Mudocci's granddaughter, Janet Weber, was willing to undertake DNA testing to prove this.
Death and legacy
Mudocci died in 1953. An unfinished painting, Portrait of Eva Mudocci, in the collection of the Flaten Art Museum at St. Olaf College, Minnesota, in the United States, is generally agreed to be of Mudocci, and probably painted in about 1904–05, but opinion is divided on whether or not it is by Munch.{{Cite web|url=https://artscanvas.org/arts-culture/did-edvard-munch-paint-a-mystery-work-at-st-olaf-college-thats-up-for-debate|title=Did Edvard Munch paint a mystery work at St. Olaf College? That's up for debate.|date=May 14, 2019|website=CANVAS Arts}} In 1959, the painting was sold by the estate of the Danish illustrator Kay Nielsen, a close family friend of Mudocci.
In 1984, Andy Warhol created an acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas artwork, Eva Mudocci (after Munch).[http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.37.html/2014/contemporary-art-evening-auction-l14020 Andy Warhol EVA MUDOCCI (AFTER MUNCH).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717143549/http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.37.html/2014/contemporary-art-evening-auction-l14020 |date=17 July 2019 }} Sotheby's. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
References
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Category:British women classical violinists
Category:English LGBTQ musicians