Marie Louise Catherine Breslau

Louise Catherine Breslau (born Maria Luise Katharina Brelau) was a Swiss painter of German ancestry who was born in 1856. When she was two years old her family immigrated to Zurich. As a young child, after the untimely death of her father, she was sent to a convent near Lake Constance in the hopes that the climate would be beneficial for her chronic asthma. While there she began to draw and eventually took art lessons from a local Swiss artist, Eduard Pfyffer. As Maria’s talent developed, she became aware of the fact that she would have to leave Switzerland to seriously study art. Breslau selected Academié Julian in Paris as it was one of the few places where women were allowed to study and to draw from nude models.

Breslau was highly regarded by her instructors. She was the only student from the Academié Julian women’s atelier to show at the Paris Salon in 1879.  Shortly after her success at the Salon she dropped “Maria” and began calling herself Louise Catherine. 

Upon completion of her training, Breslau opened her own atelier and became a regular contributor and winner at the prestigious annual Salon. She was able to make a living by teaching and painting commissions for wealthy Parisians. Louise painted people in her life, primarily women, including her lifelong partner, Madeleine Zillardt, an artist.

Louise Catherine joined the Salon de la Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts and served on the jury. She eventually became the third woman artist to be bestowed France’s Legion of Honor award. 

Works by Breslau are held in numerous public collections including: Musée du Louvre; Musée d’Orsay; National Gallery of Ireland, The Bennett Collection of Women Figurative Realists and the Dallas Museum of Art.

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