Mariette Ronsberger Lydis (1887 - 1970)

Biography

Mariette Lydis (1887–1970) was an Austrian-Argentine painter. Lydis was born in Vienna, Austria on August 24, 1887, under the name Marietta Ronsperger. She was the third child of Jewish merchants, Franz Ronsperger and Eugenia Fischer, and the sister of Richard and Edith Ronsperger, creator of Opera books who later died by suicide. Mariette first married Julius Koloman Pachoffer-Karñy in 1910. She eventually divorced Julius and married Jean Lydis in 1918 to whom she remained married until 1925. In 1928 she married Giuseppe Govone, an art publisher, and formally remained married to him until his death in 1948. However, at the end of the 30s she escaped Paris and the ensuing Nazi roundup of Jews to be briefly in England and from 1940 in Argentina. From 1940 until her death in 1970 she lived in Argentina, with her partner Erica Marx. Lydis lived openly as bisexual. She is best known for her book illustrations and paintings. Mariette died on April 26, 1970, and rests in the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.