Liudmyla Drahomanova
Liudmyla Mykhailivna Drahomanova, née Kuchynska (3 May 1842, Hadiach, Poltava region — 16 May 1918, Kyiv), was a Ukrainian public figure, translator and painter, wife of the historian and publicist Mykhailo Drahomanov, and aunt of Lesya Ukrainka. She was born into the family of the artillery professor Mykhailo Kuchynskyi. She received her early education at a private boarding school for noble girls in Kyiv directed by A. Nelhovska. In her youth she performed as an amateur actress and was a skilled pianist. On 20 August 1864 she married Mykhailo Drahomanov, with whom she had three children: Lidia Shyshmanova (1865), Ariadna (Rada) Trush (1877) and Svitozar (1884). She co-authored a scholarly study on folk dialects published in 'Vestnik Evropy' (1874). In the early 1870s she founded in Kyiv the Society of Day Shelter-Schools for the children of working-class families. In 1876, following the political persecution of her husband, she emigrated with the family abroad, first to Vienna, then to Geneva, and from 1889 to Sofia. After 1895 she took up painting and exhibited her works in Bulgaria and Lviv. She translated the works of Vasyl Stefanyk into russian and corresponded with Ivan Franko and her niece Lesya Ukrainka. She is buried at the Baikove Cemetery.Collection1