Roussadana Mdiwani

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Isabelle Roussadana Mdivani (* July 7, 1905 , † December 16, 1938 ) was a Georgian member of the lower nobility and wife of the famous Spanish painter José Maria Sert . She carried the title of princess from 1921 after her flight from Georgia.

Life

Roussadana or Roussie, as it was commonly called, came from a family of the lower Georgian nobility. The father, Zacharias Mdivani, had been a general in the tsarist army. A photograph of him and the tsar should confirm to all later skeptics that the Mdivani family belonged to the Georgian nobility. However, Roussie and her four siblings Alexis , Nina, Serge and David only acquired the title “Prince” or “Princess” after they fled Georgia in 1921. This gave them the entrance to fine society and was able to find rich spouses. In society, the five siblings were known only as the "married Mdivanis".

After her family fled Georgia , Roussanda began working as a sculptor in Paris. Her works include portraits of the Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa , the Ukrainian dancer Sergei Michailowitsch Lifar and the industrialist August Heckscher . In addition, she designed the Harmon-Trophy , an award for aviators that has been awarded in the USA since 1925.

Roussie, a graceful blonde beauty, was described by contemporaries as extremely charming, but also as manipulative. She succeeded in breaking the painter Josep Maria Sert and his wife Misia Sert apart and at the same time maintaining Misia's friendship. In 1927 she married Sert, who was almost 30 years her senior. Allegedly, she is said to have had a hand in the marriage of her brothers. When she invited Barbara Hutton to her holiday home “Mas Juny” on the Spanish coast in the summer of 1932, her brother Alexis and his wife, Louise Astor van Alen, were also present. There were intimacies between Alexis Mdivani and Barbara Hutton, whereupon Louise van Alen filed for divorce.

Her close friends included Coco Chanel and José Maria Sert's student Salvador Dalí . In his memories he called her one of the most interesting women he had ever met.

Roussadana's life was not a lucky one. After her favorite brother Alexis was divorced from Barbara Hutton , he died in a car accident in 1935. In March 1936, her brother Serge Mdivani was killed in a polo game. Roussie could not cope with these accidents. She became a drug addict and died on December 16, 1938 at the age of 33.

literature

  • Susanne Buck: murderer, fashion, dowry hunter. Jonas Verlag, Weimar 2019, ISBN 978-3894455682
  • Arthur Gold, Robert Fizdale: Misia. Muse, patroness, model. The unusual life of Misia Sert. German by Jürgen Abel. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-596-10361-4 ( Fischer-Taschenbucher 10361)
  • Misia Sert: Parisian memories. Translated from the French by Hedwig Andertann. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-518-01681-4 (Volume 681 of the Suhrkamp Library )
  • Denise Tual: Au cœur du temps. Paris 1987.
  • Clemens D. Heymann: Poor little rich girl. Life and Legends of Barbara Hutton. Goldmann, Munich 1989. Clemens D. Heymann also wrote the screenplay for the 1978 TV mini-series Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story with Farah Fawcett in the title role. Roussadana Mdivani was played by Carmen Du Sautoy , Nicholas Clay played Alexis Mdivani.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Memorial to Fliers . In: THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER . October 21, 1925, p. 21 .
  2. ↑ C. David Heymann: Poor, little rich girl. The life and legend of Barbara Hutton . Goldmann, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-442-09552-2 , p. 94 ff .
  3. ↑ Salvador Dali: The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí . Dover 1993, p. 339 .
  4. ↑ Prince Serge Mdivani Is Hurt Fatally When Kicked by Polo Pony in Florida . In: The Utica Observer Dispatch . March 16, 1936, p. 7 .
  5. ↑ Mme. Sert dies at Lausanne . In: The New York Sun . December 17, 1938, p. 17 .
personal data
SURNAME Mdiwani, Roussadana
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mdiwani, Roussie (nickname); Mdiwani, Isabelle Roussadana (full name); Sert, Isabelle Roussadana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Georgian princess and wife of the Spanish painter José Maria Sert
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1905
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1938