Angelina Beloff (born Angelina Petrovna Belova; ; June 23, 1879 – December 30, 1969) was a Russian-born artist who did most of her work in Mexico. However, she is better known as Diego Rivera’s first wife, and her work has been overshadowed by his and that of his later wives. She studied art in Saint Petersburg and then went to begin her art career in Paris in 1909. This same year she met Rivera and married him. In 1921, Rivera returned to Mexico, leaving Beloff behind and divorcing her. She never remarried. In 1932, through her contacts with various Mexican artists, she was sponsored to live and work in the country. She worked as an art teacher, a marionette show creator and had a number of exhibits of her work in the 1950s. Most of her work was done in Mexico, using Mexican imagery, but her artistic style remained European. In 1978, writer Elena Poniatowska wrote a novel based on her life.
Life
Angelina Beloff was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia during the Tzarist period, and raised there by an intellectual family. She entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1905 as the city then was the center of Russian art. Beloff's professors encouraged her to move to France to continue studying, which she did after her parents died in 1909. She lived in Paris with support of the Russian government as well as a trust fund from her family, working first in the studio of Henri Matisse and later in the studio of Spanish painter Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa. During this time, her skills developed, as she learned the printmaking techniques of engraving in both wood and metal and earned recognition for her painting and drawing. She also worked as an art teacher.
She went because France was at the vanguard of new painting expression, which had not yet arrived to Russia, (nor Mexico). Thus Paris attracted artists from various countries. She met a number of Mexican artists in France and Belgium, meeting Diego Rivera during a trip with artist María Blanchard to Brussels. Rivera pursued her romantically and were married in Paris by the end of 1909. They had one child named Miguel Ángel, who died of lung complications when he was only fourteen months old. The couple's life in Paris was not easy, economically, especially during the First World War which produced shortages of basic necessities as well as artistic supplies. She worked various jobs, sacrificing her own creative development so that Rivera could paint. She left a diary of her life with Rivera which describes their private life, their exchanges of ideas as painters and collaborative projects, as well as interaction with other painters of their time. Diego was not faithful to her. In 1921, Rivera was called back to Mexico by José Vasconcelos to paint after the Mexican Revolution. Beloff did not accompany him as there was not enough money for both to travel. Rivera never returned to Europe nor decided to reunite with Beloff. He divorced her but continued to send money for her support afterwards. She became reclusive after Rivera married Guadalupe Marín.
The nearly twelve-year relationship created her link to Mexico and brought about her friendships with David Alfaro Siqueiros, Adolfo Best Maugard, Ángel Zárraga, Roberto Montenegro and others. She was invited to come to Mexico to live by Alfonso Reyes and Germán Cueto arriving to Mexico in 1932, when she was 53. While not part of Rivera's social and professional sphere, she had her own, even though that meant she was somewhat marginalized. She said that while she ran into Rivera often living in Mexico City, she never reproached him, only mocked him a little. She lived 37 years in Mexico, pursuing her art career and founding a number of public institutions devoted to the arts. She died in Mexico City on December 30, 1969, at the age of 90.
Career
She worked in oils, watercolors, etchings, photography, graphic arts, puppets, gouaches and drawing creating portraits, landscapes, educational and other illustrations, stages scenes and marionettes. Beloff produced most of her work in Mexico, which was mostly, painting, etching and puppet theater. As a painter her major work was in portraits and watercolors. Her etching and engraving work was mostly for the illustration of books in Europe. She was a master at drawing and created new techniques in etching.
In Europe until 1932, she regularly exhibited at the Tullerías, Independentes and other galleries. While in Paris she painted portraits of various famous Mexicans living there. In Mexico, she exhibited at the Sala de Arte of the Secretaría de Educación Pública, the Galería de Arte Mexicano and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana in the 1950s.