View source for Blavatsky photographs and portraits

[[File:HPB collage.jpg|210px|right|thumb|Frontispiece of ''World Theosophy'', September, 1931]]

These are photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other depictions of '''[[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]]''', also known as Madame Blavatsky or '''HPB'''. They are presented chronologically by date of creation, as much as possible. Individual renderings and small groups are included, but not large group photos such as those taken at early Theosophical Society conventions. Cartoons and caricatures have been omitted.

This collection of photos was inspired by a display on the '''Theosophy Canada''' website in 2005, "A Pictorial Look at H. P. Blavatsky," which has more recently evolved into a slide show. Many thanks go to the '''Edmonton Theosophical Society''' for the website, and to [[Geoffrey Barborka]] for the research that went into its collection.
<ref>John Algeo turned "A Pictorial Look at H.P. Blavatsky" into a PDF file that he printed out. A copy is in the John Algeo Papers, Records Series 08.12, Theosophical Society in America Archives, and that was the impetus for this project. The URL was http://www.theosophycanada.com/bios/HPB_Bio.htm. It was printed on June 18, 2005. A backup is available on the [https://web.archive.org/web/20051105023559/http://www.theosophycanada.com/bios/HPB_Bio.htm Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive], for the date November 5, 2005.</ref><ref>Slide show called "HP Blavatsky - A Pictorial Biography" is available at [http://www.theosophycanada.com/hp-blavatsky-a-pictorial-biography.php Theosophy Canada], along with individual photographs. Accessed November 13, 2018.</ref><ref>Rogelle Pelletier email to Janet Kerschner. September 15, 2017. Rogelle wrote, "Further to your wondering about the slides and narrative, our understanding is that Geoffrey Barborka assembled them and wrote the descriptions. He had also written an introduction, which has been included in the presentation."</ref>

Images used here are from several sources, but most were scanned from the photo collection of the [[Theosophical Society in America]] and from printed publications. The digital photo collection of '''[http://blavatskyarchives.com/hpbphotos.htm Blavatsky Archives]''' was an important source. Other sources are identified where possible, with copyright data if applicable for the more recent works. Additions and corrections are welcome - especially information that might help pinpoint the dates and creators of these works. Contact the [https://theosophy.wiki/en/Help:Administrators wiki administrators] with suggestions. Higher-resolution versions are available for some photos from Theosophical Society in America Archives.

'''Please be certain to ask the creators for permission before making use of copyright-protected photographs and art.'''

'''>>> See also a [http://blavatskyarchives.com/hpbportraits1874-1891.htm gallery of closeups of HPB] compiled by Daniel H.  Caldwell and a [https://www.facebook.com/cees.slob/videos/3205231342872824/ video] provided by Cees Slob.'''

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;  width:98%;" 
|-
! Photograph or Art Work
! Year Created
! Artist
! Notes
|-
| [[File:H.Hahn and H.Blavatsky.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |Late 1840s
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Painting of young H. P. Blavatsky and her mother, Helena Andreyevna Hahn. It is at the '''[[H. P. Blavatsky House-Museum|H. P. B. museum in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine]]'''. The painter is unknown, but it may have been HPB herself.
|-
| [[File:Lovely Maiden portrait of HPB.jpg|200px]]
| 1840s
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | HPB painted as "The Lovely Maiden." 
<blockquote>
The reproduction was made by means of a special process from a printed copy which was first published in [[A. P. Sinnett|Sinnett's]] book "Incidents in the Life of Mme. Blavatsky." The print was from a medallion painting, which had been sent to Nadyejda de Fadeyev (as related when her photograph was shown.<ref>Description from Theosophy Canada website, 2005.</ref> 
</blockquote>

A print "copied by" the London studio of Elliott & Fry is in the photo album of HBP's sister Vera Jelihovsky, which is held by the State Archives of the Russian Federation. A scan of that print is available at the Ukrainian website [http://art-roerich.org.ua/ art-roerich.org.ua]. The portrait also appears in a collage as the frontispiece of [[World Theosophy (periodical)|''World Theosophy'']] in September 1931.

The image shown here was provided by the Blavatsky Archives website of Daniel H. Caldwell.
|-
| [[File:HPB medallion late 1840s.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |Late 1840s
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Medallion with young Helena's portrait and a curl of her hear. Medallion was found in German city of Trier (Trèves) in 2000s.
|-
| [[File:HPB young in furs.jpg|200px]]
| 1865-1868
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Young HPB dressed in furs. Printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume I.
|-
| [[File:HPB in hoop skirt JPEG.jpg|200px]]
| 1860s
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | HPB in a hoop skirt. 
<blockquote>
Most likely the picture about which General Rostislav wrote: "taken 20 years ago in my presence." September 18, 1881.<ref>Description from Theosophy Canada website, 2005.</ref>
</blockquote>

This portrait appears in a collage as the frontispiece of [[World Theosophy (periodical)|''World Theosophy'']] in September 1931 and also printed in a rectangular format in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume I.
|-
| [[File:HPB 1870.jpg|200px]]
| ca1870
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | HPB around 1870. Printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume II.
|-
| [[File:HPB portrait 9.jpg|200px]]
| 1870s
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Photograph reproduced in [[A. P. Sinnett|A. P. Sinnett's]] ''Incidents in the Life of Mme. Blavatsky,'' and edition in 1913, but not in the 1886 first edition.<ref>Daniel Caldwell email to Janet Kerschner. February 21, 2019. Theosophical Society in America Archives.</ref> 

This portrait also appears in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume II, and in a collage as the frontispiece of [[World Theosophy (periodical)|''World Theosophy'']] in September 1931.
|-
| [[File:HPB by spiritualist photographer.jpg|200px]]
| Early 1875
| Unknown spiritualist photographer
| style="text-align:left;" | Portrait by a [[Spiritualism|spiritualist]] photographer in New York. HPB wrote of this in a May 20, 1875 letter to [[Hiram Corson|Professor Hiram Corson]]:
<blockquote>
You may think me perhaps a cheat if you did not forget that I promised you my portrait, and that you have to see it yet. But I am not to be blamed. I seldom allow my noble countenance to get immortalized in portraits. I have none, and passing through New York had some taken at a spirit photographers. There I am, represented on it looking like some elderly idiot staring disconsolately at a she spirit with a rooster crest on its head, making faces at me. Really, putting all vanity aside, how can I send you such an awful caricature? So I gave two of those libel pictures to two persons I do not care about; but neither you nor Mrs. Andrews, nor [[Epes Sargent|Mr. Sargent]], or even [[Henry Steel Olcott|Olcott]] got one, and have to wait.<ref>H. P. Blavatsky letter to Hiram Corson. May 20, 1875. ''Some Unpublished Letters of H. P. Blavatsky'', compiled by E. R. Corson. Available at [https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/corson/cors-lt1.htm Theosophical University Press.]</ref>
</blockquote>

Printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume I and XIV. 

This photo was scanned from the [[Geoffrey Barborka]] book ''Tibet and Tulku'', and was inscribed by HPB to her friend, poet [[Epes Sargent]]. Another version, provided by the Blavatsky Archives website, was inscribed to [[Hiram Corson]]. Evidently HPB was persuaded to order additional prints after distributing the first two.
|-
| [[File:HPB by Beardsley 1875 smoking.jpg|200px]]
| October 3 or 4, 1875
| Jefferson Beardsley
| style="text-align:left;" |[[File:Back of Beardsley photo.jpg|160px|thumb|HPB inscription to Nadezhda Andreyevna]]Photograph taken in Ithaca NY in October 1875 while HPB was visiting [[Hiram Corson|Professor Hiram Corson]] and writing [[Isis Unveiled (book)|''Isis Unveiled'']].<blockquote>In an undated letter, written to Professor H. Corson, H.P.B. wrote about the photographs Beardsley had taken: The important factor here is that H.P.B. actually ordered two dozen portraits made of this special photograph. "When will Beardsley send me the rest of my portraits? Please order from him two dozen more of those with the cigarette in the hand, only bigger, if he can do them. I will enclose you a post office order for eighty-five dollars in my next; if you answer me, that he is at work on them. I suppose by the thirteen dollars he, too, charged me for the three dozen, that every extra dozen will be four twenty-five. Will you inquire please?"<ref>Eugene Rollin Corson, ''Some Unpublished Letters of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky'' (London: Rider & Co., 1929), 171.</ref><ref>Description from Theosophy Canada website, 2005.</ref>
</blockquote>

A print of this photo is in the photo album of HBP's sister Vera Jelihovsky, which is held by the State Archives of the Russian Federation. A scan of that print is available at the Ukrainian website [http://art-roerich.org.ua/ art-roerich.org.ua]. An inscription on the back of the photo, in HPB's handwriting, can be roughly translated as "Sweet and dear Nadezhda Andreyevna, comrade of childhood and nightly dinners. From the secretary of the Theosophical Society, E. Blavatsky."
|-
| [[File:HPB by Beardsley 1875 standing.jpg|200px]]
| October 3 or 4, 1875
| Jefferson Beardsley
| style="text-align:left;" |Another photograph taken in Ithaca NY in October 1875 while HPB was visiting [[Hiram Corson|Professor Hiram Corson]] and writing [[Isis Unveiled (book)|''Isis Unveiled'']]. The date can be established by a letter from Mrs. Corson to her son Eugene, which describes events between October 2 and October 5:
<blockquote>
"We went next to Beardsley for her picture. She has a magnificent sort of gold-embroidered cloak, worn in the Caucasus, which she drapes around her in a fanciful fashion." [quoting Mrs. Corson]

Mrs. Corson had a photograph of herself taken in it, feeling that she never had a better picture taken, but for some reason it would not develop. [narrative by Michael Gomes]<ref>Michael Gomes, ''The Dawning of the Theosophical Movement'' (Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987), 214. He quoted Mrs. Corson's letter to Eugene Corson. 5 October 1875. Corson Papers, Cornell University.</ref>
</blockquote>

This photo appeared as the frontispiece of the November, 1928 issue of [[The Theosophist (periodical)|''The Theosophist'']], labelled "An Unpublished Photograph of H.P.B. about 1879," but that year is incorrect. Also printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume XV.
|-
| [[File:HPB - NY.JPG|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1876
| Napoleon Sarony
| style="text-align:left;" |Sarony took this photo of HPB in 1876 in New York. It was offered for sale for 50 cents in [[The Path (periodical)|''The Path'']].  

One extant print of this photograph was printed by the Beardsley studio in Ithaca, New York. [It was not unknown in those days for one studio to make prints from the work of another studio.] That print, found in a [[William Stainton Moses|Stainton Moses]] collection in the College of Psychic Studies archives, has a handwritten notation: "The Mulligan of 1878."<ref>Joma Sipe email to Janet Kerschner. 20 December 2018. Theosophical Society in America Archives.</ref><ref>Leslie Price, "Two Photos of HPB Given to Stainton Moses with Unusual Signatures" ''FOTA Newsletter'' No. 3 (November, 2014), 17.</ref> Mulligan was a nickname that [[Henry Steel Olcott]] used for Madame Blavatsky. 

The Sarony photo was printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume III and VI, and has served as the inspiration for an 1878 engraving, and also for a newer watercolor (shown below).

This image was provided by [http://blavatskyarchives.com/hpbphotos.htm Blavatsky Archives].
|-
| [[File:HP Blavatsky 1877.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1876-1877 
| Napoleon Sarony
| style="text-align:left;" | Taken in New York and used as a frontispiece in early editions of [[Isis Unveiled (book)|''Isis Unveiled'']].<ref>Description from Theosophy Canada website, 2005.</ref> Also printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume III and other works.
|-
|  [[File:HPB portrait Edsall Studio.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1876-1878 
| Edsall Photographic Studio
| style="text-align:left;" | Taken in New York. Printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume IV.
|-
| [[File:HPB Sarony portrait 1877.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1876-1878 
| Napoleon Sarony
| style="text-align:left;" | Portrait of [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]] by Napoleon Sarony in 1877. This image is from the photo album of HBP's sister Vera Jelihovsky, which is held by the State Archives of the Russian Federation. The back of the print is stamped "Sarony’s Imperial Portraits, 37 Union Square, New York."

A scan of the print is available at the Ukrainian website [http://art-roerich.org.ua/ art-roerich.org.ua].
|-
| [[File:HPB with feather hat.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1877 
| Napoleon Sarony
| style="text-align:left;" | This photograph was printed as a ''carte de visite'' by the Sarony studio in 1877.<ref>Joma Sipe email to Janet Kerschner. 20 December 2018. Theosophical Society in America Archives.</ref> The image shown here was scanned from a framed print in the Theosophical Society in America Archives.
|-
| [[File:HPB drawing from 1877 Sarony.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | Unknown
| 1878
| style="text-align:left;" | Engraving derived from the 1876 photograph by N. Sarony. Mr. Buchanan wrote a profile of HPB for ''The Phrenological Journal'' and the journal added this illustration. An editorial note says:
<blockquote>
For the admirable photograph from which our portrait was engraved we are indebted to M. Sarony, of Broadway, while our acknowledgments are due to Prof. J. R. Buchanan, M.D., for contributions to our phrenological notes."<ref>James Rodes Buchanan ''The Phrenological Journal and Science of Life'' Vol. 66-67 (March, 1878), 137. Thanks to Pat Deveney for pointing out this article in "New Blavatsky Photograph?" ''FOTA'' No. 1 (March, 2014), 8.</ref>
</blockquote>
|-
| [[File:Wimbridge portrait.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1878
| [[Edward Wimbridge]]
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Edward Wimbridge]] was an artist and architect who embarked for India with HPB and [[Henry Steel Olcott|Colonel Olcott]] in 1878. He designed the cover for the first issue of [[The Theosophist (periodical)|''The Theosophist'']].  In her diary, HPB noted that on September 11, 1878, Wimbridge prepared this image for engraving. It was etched on copper and appeared in the 1878 fourth edition of [[Isis Unveiled (book)|''Isis Unveiled'']] published by J. W. Bouton in New York.<ref>H. P. Blavatsky, "Diaries of H. P. Blavatsky" in ''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'' Volume I, page 409.</ref><ref>Joma Sipe email to Janet Kerschner. 20 December 2018. Theosophical Society in America Archives.</ref>

From Joma Sipe's copy of [[Isis Unveiled (book)|''Isis Unveiled'']].
|-
| [[File:HPB with fur sash.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1878 
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | HPB en route to India in December, 1878.<ref>''Sunrise'' 46.5 (June/July, 1977), inside front cover.</ref>
|-
| [[File:Bronze medallion.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1878
| [[William R. O'Donovan]]
| style="text-align:left;" | Bronze medallion sculpted by William R. O'Donovan, who knew visited Madame Blavatsky and [[Henry Steel Olcott|Colonel Olcott]] at [[The Lamasery]]. His friendship and the medallion are described by Olcott in [[Old Diary Leaves (book)|''Old Diary Leaves'']], Volume 1, pages 411-412.
|-
| [[File:HPB portrait from NYPL.jpg|200px]]
| 1880
|Charles T. Scowen
| style="text-align:left;" | Charles T. Scowen was a British photographer who worked in Sri Lanka and India from 1871–1890. He set up a studio in Kandy by 1876, and later opened a second in Colombo. HPB and Colonel Olcott visited Ceylon from May 16 to July 13, 1880.

Image from [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-c17c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 New York Public Library Digital Collection].
|-
| [[File:H P Blavatsky in Benares 1880.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1880 
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Taken in Benares (now Varanasi), India, in 1880. This photo was downloaded from the Ukrainian website [http://art-roerich.org.ua/ art-roerich.org.ua]. It was scanned from the photo album of HPB's sister Vera Jelihovsky, in the State Archives of the Russian Federation.
|-
| [[File:HPB in Galle 1880.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1880 
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Taken in Galle, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka]. HPB and Colonel Olcott visited Ceylon from May 16 to July 13, 1880.

This image is from Blavatsky Archives website, and also appears in Volume II of Blavatsky ''Collected Writings'', where it is opposite page 400. The original is in the Adyar Archives. 
|-
| [[File:HPB in Galle from CW2.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1880 
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Taken in Galle, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka]. HPB and Colonel Olcott visited Ceylon from May 16 to July 13, 1880.

This image is scanned from Volume II of Blavatsky ''Collected Writings'', where it is opposite page 464.

|-
| [[File:HPB in Galle with Devendra 1880.jpg|200px]]
| May 18, 1880
| Payagala Badalge Karolis
| style="text-align:left;" | This photo was found by Senaka Weeraratna in family album and published in ''[https://www.sundaytimes.lk/230129/75th-independence/rare-images-in-family-photos-509909.html The Sunday Times]'' (Sri Lanka) in January 29, 2023 in ''Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky’s historic visit to the island in 1880'' by Yomal Senerath-Yapa.

|-
| [[File:HPB 1882-1884 from Russian State Archives.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |ca1882 
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | This photo was used as a ''carte de visite'' made in Madras (now Chennai), India.<ref>Joma Sipe email to Janet Kerschner, 20 December 2018. Theosophical Society in America Archives. He also wrote, "This photo appeared for the first time on an Exhibition for the Celebrations of the 180th birthday of HPB on the Nicholas Roerich Museum."</ref> 

The image shown here was presented in 2006 at an exhibition called ""Helena Blavatsky: Destinies and Faces ..." The Roerich Research Foundation (St. Petersburg) and the Adamant Cultural and Educational Center (Lomonosov) sponsored this event at the N. K. Roerich in Novosibirsk to honor the 175th anniversary of HPB's birth:
<blockquote>
The exhibition in Novosibirsk for the first time presents the original of an unknown portrait of E.P. Blavatsky, made in the photographic studio of Madras. On the back is her autograph, not previously published: "To Princess Olga Petrovna Volkonskaya as a sign of respect, love and devotion from the nineteenth-century Indian avatars Radda Bai. Elena Blavatsky. Nice. March 1884." Unfortunately, about Princess Volkonskaya (nee Kleinmichel) so far very little information has been found.<ref>A. P. Sobolev, "E.P. Blavatsky - Sphinx of the XIX Century" at Rossasia website, [http://rossasia.sibro.ru/voshod/article/31204 http://rossasia.sibro.ru/voshod/article/31204]. November 2011. Accessed 2 January 2019. This quotation was translated from the Russian using Google.</ref>
</blockquote>

Another version of the image is available at [https://blavatskytheosophy.com/blavatsky-defeats-an-atheist/ BlavatskyTheosophy.com], where the publication history of the photo is given.<ref>R. Jagganathiah, "Blavatsky Defeats an Atheist" in [https://blavatskytheosophy.com/blavatsky-defeats-an-atheist/ BlavatskyTheosophy.com]. The photo was previously published as "The Great Teacher H.P.B. As I Saw Her" in ''The Adyar Bulletin'', May 1909. It was later republished in ''The Canadian Theosophist'', May-June 1983 and in the biography ''HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky'' by Sylvia Cranston.</ref>
|-
| [[File:HPB with Subba Row and Babaji.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1882-1884
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | HPB with [[T. Subba Row]] and [[Babaji]] ca 1882-1884. From [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-9d42-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 New York Public Library Digital Collection]. A ''carte de visite'' at the Winterthur Library seems to be from the same studio in Madras that printed the "ca1882" photo shown above. 

Printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume V.
|-
| [[File:HPB with fan - cabinet card.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1884
| Elliott & Fry, London
| style="text-align:left;" | HPB is posed with a large fan. [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] [[File:HPB with fan - from The Word Dec 1915.jpg|right|100px|thumb|From ''The Word'', 1915]]Volume V, page 257 states that [[Laura Holloway]] was the photographer, but [[Alice L. Cleather|Alice Cleather]] wrote of the photograph as being taken <u>for</u> Laura Holloway:

[[File:HPB note to Skinner on photo1887.jpg|right|200px|thumb|HPB note to Ralston Skinner]]
<blockquote>
The portrait which forms the frontispiece to the present volume was taken in London in 1884 for Mrs. Laura Langford. H. P. B. gave me a copy, but it has never before been published to my knowledge. - A.L.C.<ref>Alice Cleather, ''H. P. Blavatsky: Her Life and Work'' (Calcutta:Thacker, Spink & Co., 1922), 125. See [http://blavatskyarchives.com/theosophypdfs/cleather_h_p_blavatsky_her_life_and_work_1922.pdf Blavatsky Archives website].</ref>
</blockquote>

In May, 1887, HPB sent a signed copy to [[James Ralston Skinner]]. It is at the Harvard-Andover Library.<ref>'''[https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/12/resources/966 "Skinner, J. Ralston (James Ralston), 1853-1887"]'''. Personal papers at Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard University. This collection includes '''six letters from H. P. Blavatsky'''. </ref>

''The Word'' magazine published this version in Volume 22, No. 3, December 1915, facing p. 136.

The portrait also appears in a collage as the frontispiece of [[World Theosophy (periodical)|''World Theosophy'']] in September 1931.
|-
| [[File:HPBphoto.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1884
| Elliott & Fry, London
| style="text-align:left;" | Detail from the previous portrait. 
|-
| [[File:HPB with fan.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1884
| Elliott & Fry, London
| style="text-align:left;" | Another pose of HPB with a fan, almost certainly from the same photography session as the previous photographs taken for Laura Holloway.
|-
| [[File:HPB in 1880s.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1884
| Elliott & Fry, London
| style="text-align:left;" | Possibly a detail from the previous portrait, or a separate close-up pose. Described in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume VI as HPB "in her forties," and "reproduced from a photograph given by [[William Quan Judge]] to Mrs. Harriet Farrar in New York."
|-
| [[File:HPB 1884 from Russian State Archives.jpg|200px]]
| 1884
| Elliott & Fry, London
| style="text-align:left;" |This portrait is from the photo album of HBP's sister Vera Jelihovsky, which is held by the State Archives of the Russian Federation. An inscription on the back of the photo, in HPB's handwriting, is roughly translated as " Elena Petrovna Blavatsky. In a difficult moment of life..." 

The image shown here is scan of the original, posted at the Ukrainian website [http://art-roerich.org.ua/ art-roerich.org.ua]. 

The Russian Archives dates the photo as 1867-1868, but that is clearly incorrect. Based on the clothing, this must be one of the photos taken for [[Laura Holloway]] in 1884. The photo was first published in ''The Review of Reviews'', 1893, page 493. It is also in Geoffrey Barborka's work, ''Tibet and Tulku'', on page 160.
|-
| [[File:HPB Schmeichen painting 1.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:120px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1884-1885
| [[Hermann Schmiechen]]
| style="text-align:left;" | 
[[File:HPB portrait.jpg|130px|thumb|Fragment]]This is the first painting of HPB by [[Hermann Schmiechen]]. It "was made at [[Elberfeld, Germany|Elberfeld]] in September, 1884, and was later presented by Mrs. Toni Schmeichen to the [[Esoteric Section|Esoteric School]]; for some years past, it has been in [[Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa|C. Jinarajadasa's]] home, 33 Covington Square, London," according to [[Boris de Zirkoff]], writing in 1954.<ref>Boris de Zirkoff, ed. ''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume VI, 1883-1884-1885'' (Los Angeles: Blavatsky Writings Publication Fund, 1954), 299. [[Boris de Zirkoff[[ wrote the caption of an illustration that showed the <u>second</u> version of this painting.</ref>

Note the positions of the hands, with the right hand pointing up, and the left pointing down. This represents the [[Hermeticism|hermetic]] principle of "as above, so below."
|-
| [[File:HPB Schmeichen portrait.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1884-1885
| [[Hermann Schmiechen]]
| style="text-align:left;" | This is the second painting of HPB by [[Hermann Schmiechen]]. "The second portrait, reproduced herewith, was for many years at the London Headquarters, 19 Avenue Road. It is now in the Hall of the Indian Section, at Benares," according to [[Boris de Zirkoff]].<ref>Boris de Zirkoff, ed. ''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume VI, 1883-1884-1885'' (Los Angeles: Blavatsky Writings Publication Fund, 1954), 299. Boris de Zirkoff wrote the caption of an illustration that showed the <u>second</u> version of this painting.</ref>

Edmund Russell wrote of HPB's reaction to the painting:
<blockquote>
The Schmeichen portrait at Adyar I have always liked. A suggestion of prophetess in the dim cave. It was just this that
did not please her. She thought it made her look too much like a Sybil.<ref>Edmund Russell, "Isis Unveiled: Personal Recollections of Madame Blavatsky" ''Occult Review'' 28.5 (November, 1918), 263.</ref>
</blockquote>

This portrait is reproduced facing page 553 in the HPB Centenary Number of [[The Theosophist (periodical)|''The Theosophist'']], published in August, 1931. [[Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa|Mr. Jinaranadasa]] provided the dimensions of the painting: 4 ft. 6 3/4 inches by 3 ft. 2 3/4  inches [139 cm x 98.4 cm].

It also appears in a collage as the frontispiece of [[World Theosophy (periodical)|''World Theosophy'']] in September 1931.
|-
| [[File:Italian HPB Postcard Portrait.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1885
| Giulia Hoffman Tedesco
| style="text-align:left;" | [[File:Italian HPB Postcard Portrait reverse.jpg|right|260px|thumb|Reverse side of postcard.]] A portrait of HPB was painted by prominent German artist Giulia Tedesco - probably inspired by an earlier photograph. It was printed in a postcard format by Alfieri & LaCroix in Milan. This postcard is in the collection of Joma Sipe.
|-
| [[File:HPB reading book JPEG.jpg|200px]]
| 1887
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Photo of HPB reading a book "while residing in Maycot, Crownhill, Upper Norwood, London, at [[Mabel Collins|Mabel Collins']] home She left Ostend for London, May 1, 1887."<ref>Description from Theosophy Canada website, 2005.</ref>
|-
| [[File:1888 Kodak photo by W Q Judge.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1888
| [[William Quan Judge]]
| style="text-align:left;" | [[File:Kodak camera.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Kodak camera]]
This view is of HPB at her desk at 17 Landsdowne Road, London, taken by [[William Quan Judge]] with a Kodak camera as she was working on [[Lucifer (periodical)|''Lucifer'']]. The picture was originally published in [[The Path (periodical)|''The Path'']], New York, Vol. VII, May, 1892, p.39."<ref>Description from Theosophy Canada website, 2005.</ref> Mr. Judge wrote of the occasion:
<blockquote>
[No photographs] were obtained of her as she paused in her work until in 1888 this little photograph seized her, after consent, just as she was beginning the day’s work on ''Lucifer'', then in its babyhood. She had, only a short while before, come out from the room behind her and sat down at the desk on which the first pages of ''Lucifer'' were begun and whereon most, if not all, of ''The Secret Doctrine'' was written. The pen in her hand is an American Gold pen given to her by a New York Theosophist and made by John Foley, whose name is known to thousands of writers. The sheet of paper in front is a sheet of the MSS. of ''The Secret Doctrine'', and others lie about.<ref>William Quan Judge, ''Echoes of the Orient Volume 1'' Second edition (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 2009), 262. Compiled by Dara Eklund.</ref>
</blockquote>
This copy of the photograph was provided courtesy of Will Thackara at International Theosophical Society (Pasadena); restoration of photo by Vladimir Krasnoperov. 
|-
| [[File:HPB_and_family.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1888
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Taken October, 1888 in London. HPB is seated next to her sister, Vera de Zhelihovsky. Standing behind them are [[Vera Johnston]], [[Charles Johnston]], and [[Henry Steel Olcott]]. 
|-
| [[File:Fragment of family photo 1888.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1888
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | While this photo has sometimes been identified as one of the [[Enrico Resta|Resta]] series from January 8, 1888, it has more likely been cropped from the previous family photo.

[http://blavatskyarchives.com/hpbphotos.htm Blavatsky Archives] provided this image, which was also printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume VIII.
|-
| [[File:HPB and HSO final meeting JPEG.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1888
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | H. P. Blavatsky and [[Henry Steel Olcott]] in their final meeting, taken in October 1888 in London. "H.P.B.'s tobacco-basket [under HPB's hand] is now in the possession of Geoffrey Watkin, London," [[Boris de Zirkoff]] wrote in 1964.<ref>Boris de Zirkoff, ed. ''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume X, 1883-1884-1885'' (Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Publishing Company, 1964), 176.</ref> 

The photographic reproduction in ''Collected Writings'' Volume X, page 176, shows the following message handwritten by HPB: "To the [[Aryan Theosophical Society]] of New York, with H.P.B.'s and the H.S.O.'s good wishes," London, October, 1888.<ref>Description from Theosophy Canada website, 2005.</ref>

|-
| [[File:Resta portrait 1.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | January 8, 1889
| [[Enrico Resta]]
| style="text-align:left;" | "The Sphinx" pose - the most famous image of HPB. This was taken in [[Enrico Resta|Resta's]] studio at 4 Coburg Place, Bayswater, London on [[January 8]], 1889. Six glass plates were taken altogether; in some HPB is looking to the side or is holding a cigarette. The originals are now located in the Archives of the Blavatsky Lodge of the Theosophical Society in England, with duplicates at Elliott & Fry, Ltd. in London. Image from the Theosophical Society in America Archives, scanned from Elliot & Fry print. 

This photograph has been printed in publications more than any other. including [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume XI. Among the first was [[The Path (periodical)|''The Path'']] in February, 1890.
|-
| [[File:HPB smoking.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | January 8, 1889
| [[Enrico Resta]]
| style="text-align:left;" | This is another of the six poses taken in [[Enrico Resta|Resta's]] studio at 4 Coburg Place, Bayswater, London on [[January 8]], 1889. 
|-
| [[File:Resta portrait 3.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | January 8, 1889
| [[Enrico Resta]]
| style="text-align:left;" | This is another of the six poses taken in [[Enrico Resta|Resta's]] studio at 4 Coburg Place, Bayswater, London on [[January 8]], 1889. From [http://blavatskyarchives.com/hpbphotos.htm Blavatsky Archives]. Printed in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume X.
|-
| [[File:Resta portrait 5.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | January 8, 1889
| [[Enrico Resta]]
| style="text-align:left;" | This is another of the six poses taken in [[Enrico Resta|Resta's]] studio at 4 Coburg Place, Bayswater, London on [[January 8]], 1889. Scanned from [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume XII. See also [http://blavatskyarchives.com/hpbphotos27.htm Blavatsky Archives.]
|-
| [[File:HPB with Mead and Pryse.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1890
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" |HPB sitting in a bath-chair, with [[G. R. S. Mead]] (right) and [[James Morgan Pryse]]. Taken in London.
|-
| [[File:HPB in bath-chair.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" |1890
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" |HPB sitting in a bath-chair. This portrait appears in a collage as the frontispiece of [[World Theosophy (periodical)|''World Theosophy'']] in September 1931.
|-
| [[File:HPB in white lace.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1890-1891
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | HPB in a white lace shawl holding a copy of [[The Path (periodical)|''The Path'']]. Probably the last photo taken of her. It was reproduced in [[A. P. Sinnett|A. P. Sinnett's]] ''Incidents in the Life of Mme. Blavatsky,'' 2nd edition in 1913, but not in the 1886 first edition.<ref>Daniel Caldwell email to Janet Kerschner. February 21, 2019. Theosophical Society in America Archives.</ref> 

This portrait also appears in a collage as the frontispiece of [[World Theosophy (periodical)|''World Theosophy'']] in September 1931, and also in [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume XIII.
|-
| [[File:HPB death mask.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1891
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Side view of death mask of HPB as printed in May 1991 issue of [[The Theosophist (periodical)|''The Theosophist'']].,
|-
| [[File:HPB death mask front.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1891
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Front view of death mask of HPB, as printed on the cover of the May 1913 issue of [[The American Theosophist (periodical)|''The American Theosophist'']].
|-
| [[File:HPB listening to Quill Pen - from Nightmare Tales.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1892
| [[Reginald Machell]]
| style="text-align:left;" | Illustration of HPB listening to a quill pen in the story "A Bewitched Life (as Narrated by a Quill Pen)." It is the first story in '''''Nightmare Tales''''' written by HPB and published posthumously. See page 4 in most editions. The caption under the illustration says, 
<blockquote>
I noticed a light flashing from under his pen. A bright colored spark that became instantaneously a sound. It was the small voice of the quill.
</blockquote>

An account in [[Lucifer (periodical)|''Lucifer'']] relates that both the cover art of ''Nightmare Tales'' and this illustration were created by [[Reginald Machell]], along with "some clever tailpieces, consisting of Japanese monsters of indescribable curliness."<ref>"Nightmare Tales" ''Lucifer'' 10.57 (May, 1892), 264.</ref>
|-
| [[File:Borglum_portrait_of_HPB.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | ca1889-1909
| [[Gutzon Borglum]]
| style="text-align:left;" | Painted for his Theosophist father by the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, copied from the Resta photograph. This painting hangs in the Meditation Room in the [[L. W. Rogers Building|headquarters building]] of the [[Theosophical Society in America]]. It was painted between 1889 and 1909, when the father died.

|-
| [[File:May P - On the brain (of Mrs. Besant) 1892.jpg|200px]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 1892
| [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_May_(caricaturist) Phil May]
| style="text-align:left;" | A caricature "On the Brain [of] Mrs. Besant". Words on image from top to bottom: "Mahatmaism", "Blavatksy". Published in [https://archive.org/details/philmayalbum00mayp/page/36/mode/2up The Phil May album], 1900, p. 36. The place of first publication is unknown yet.

|-
| [[File:HPB engraving by P Vishnevsky.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | ca1893
| P. Vishnevsky
| style="text-align:left;" | This engraving is modeled after the 1876 photo by Napoleon Sarony. It has been scanned from the Russian book «Загадочные племена на Голубых горах в дебрях Индии. Дурбар в Лагоре». СПб, 1893. (''Mysterious Tribes from the Blue Mountains in the Deep of India; Durbar in Lahor'', St.Peterburg, 1893.) The book is a compilation of articles originally printed in the Russian magazine Ruskii Viestnik (Russian Messenger) during the years 1883-1886 when HPB was supporting herself by writing travel stories.<ref>See also pamphlet by H. P. Blavatsky, translated by Mary G. Langford: ''Mr. Peters and the Goddess''.</ref>. The position of the left hand is an exaggeration of that in the 1877 photo, and may be a Masonic hand gesture.

Thanks go to Oleg Boldyrev for providing the image. The location of the original art is unknown.
|-
| [[File:HPB from Posthumous Memoirs.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | ca1896
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | [[File:Yost typewriting machine, ca 1896.png|120px|right|thumb|Yost typewriter, ca 1896]] This is the title page art for a purported autobiography dictated from beyond the grave by Madame Blavatsky, '''''Posthumous Memoirs by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky'''''. Joseph M. Wade, in the Introductory Explanation to this work, described how the spirit of George W. Stephens operated a typewriting machine designed by G. W. N. Yost, whose spirit supervised the operation. The typewriter was enclosed in a cabinet placed a few feet away from a medium who was connecting with HPB. Published in Boston by Jos. M Wade and in London by H. A. Copley 1896. Available from [https://cdn.loc.gov/service/gdc/dcmsiabooks/po/st/hu/mo/us/me/mo/ir/00/wa/de/posthumousmemoir00wade/posthumousmemoir00wade.pdf Library of Congress]. The image may be an automatic drawing.
|-
| [[File:Blavatsky HP mask (Ferdinand Schirren).jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1898
| Ferdinand Schirren
| style="text-align:left;" |This plaster sculpture called "Portrait de Madame Helena Blavatski" was created by Belgian artist Ferdinand Schirren (1872-1944). It is in a private collection in Brussels, according to the [https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Ferdinand-Schirren-Portrait-de-Madame-Helena-Blavatski-1898-Plaster-Private_fig9_303552954 ResearchGate website], where it was posted by Clerbois Sébastien.
|-
| [[File:Founders stature in Adyar.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1907
| Govinda Pillai
| style="text-align:left;" | This statue stands in the Great Hall of the Headquarters Building in Adyar, Chennai, India. "[[Henry Steel Olcott|The Colonel]] stands beside H. P. Blavatsky, who is seated, with his hand on her shoulder, an upright, robust figure, with venerable beard and strongly cut features." The statue was unveiled on [[December 7]], 1907." Colonel Olcott had died on [[February 17]] of that year, and the unveiling was an occasion to honor him and his work with Madame Blavatsky. Tribute addresses were given by [[S. Subramania Iyer|Sir S. Subramania Iyer]], Mr. V. C. Seshachariar, Dr. W. A. English, Mr. P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar, Mr. Sitarama Shastri, [[Marie Russak|Mrs. Russak]], and [[Annie Besant]].<ref>"The Unveiling of Colonel Olcott's Statue," ''World Theosophy'' 2.12 (December, 1932), 634-636.</ref>
|-
| [[File:Flagg portrait of HPB.JPG|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1920-30s
| James Montgomery Flagg
| style="text-align:left;" | This sketch was made from the Jefferson Beardsley photograph of 1875. James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960) was a well-known portraitist and the highest-paid American magazine illustrator of his time. He is famous for the 1917 recruitment poster of Uncle Sam saying "I want you for the U. S. Army." Flagg is known to have been at a Star Camp in Ojai, California in 1928, so he had some familiarity with the Theosophical Society and [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]].<ref>Craig Walker, "Star Camp Congress 1928" blog post in [http://ojaihistory.com/star-camp-congress-1928/ Ojai History website]. 18 August 2011. Accessed 26 November 2019.</ref> He also sketched [[Annie Besant]]<ref>''The Channel'' 1.2 (April-June, 1916), frontispiece. See [http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/channel/channel_v1_n3_apr-may-jun_1916.pdf IAPSOP database].</ref>, Krishnamurti,<ref>"Mr Krishnamurti - June 5 1923" ''The Herald of the Star'' 12 (September, 1923), 360.</ref><ref>"Krishnaji (Portrait over fireplace)" ''The Theosophist'' [Hollywood] vol 1 (July, 1930), 556.</ref><ref>"Portrait of Krishnaji" ''The Star'' 1.1 (January, 1928), 2.</ref> and [[Charles Webster Leadbeater]]<ref>"Portrait of Bishop CW Leadbeater" ''The Theosophist'' [Hollywood] vol 1 (February, 1930), 122.</ref> from photos for Theosophical journals. His wife Dorothy was a member of the [[American Theosophical Society]] in New York from 1930-1934.<ref>"Flagg, Mrs. Dorothy" Membership Ledger Cards Roll 3. Membership Microfilm Records. Theosophical Society in America Archives.</ref>

This image is from [https://theosophyproject.blogspot.com/2018/12/ Montreal Theosophy Project].<ref>Mark Casady, 28 December 2018 blog entry [https://theosophyproject.blogspot.com/2018/12/ Montreal Theosophy Project]. Accessed 11 November 2019.</ref> It appears on the cover of [[Collected Writings (book)|''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'']] Volume XV, and in works by Howard Murphet.
|-
| [[File:Helder_-_Sketch_of_HPB.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1930
|[[Z. Vanessa Helder]]
| style="text-align:left;" | Graphite sketch based on an 1878 photograph, as published in [[World Theosophy (periodical)|''World Theosophy'']] vol. 1 no. 8, August 1931, p. 599. Previously it had been printed in [http://resources.theosophical.org/pdf/Authors/Jinarajadasa/Jinarajadasa_The_Personality_of_HP_Blavatsky.pdf ''The Personality of H. P. Blavatsky''], a pamphlet written by [[Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa|C. Jinarājadāsa]] in 1930.
|-
| [[File:Blavatsky and the Masters by Knapp.JPG|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 1930
| J. Augustus Knapp
| style="text-align:left;" | Painting displaying an imaginative representation of HPB and her Masters. A black and white image of this painting has been in circulation with the false claim that it was an actual photograph taken at Adyar. The original painting is held at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, California.
|-
| [[File:Blavatsky HP - stature with sphynx.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 2004
| Alexey Leonov
| style="text-align:left;" | This work, entitled "Sphinx of XIX century," is made of a ceramic called "grog" (also known as firesand and chamotte). It is in a private collection in Moscow.<ref>Information provided by Ukrainian artist via Pavel Malakhov.</ref>
|-
| [[File:Blavatsky HP - head (A.Leonov) 2.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 2008
| Alexey Leonov
| style="text-align:left;" | This original sculpture is in the [http://museum-blavatsky.com.ua/ Museum of H.P.Blavatsky and her family] (Dnepr, Ukraine).<ref>Information provided by Ukrainian artist via Pavel Malakhov.</ref>

In 2015-2016, bronze versions of this pose were installed at the [[Theosophical Society (Adyar)|Theosophical Society]] headquarters in Adyar, Chennai, India, and at the [[International Theosophical Centre]] in Naarden, The Netherlands. These installations were facilitated by Dialogue of Cultures - United World Fund.
|-
| [[File:Blavatsky HP - head (A.Leonov) 1.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | 2011
| style="text-align:left;" | Alexey Leonov
| style="text-align:left;" | This sculpture is on permanent exhibition at "Великие Учителя человечества" (Great Teachers of Humanity) in the ethnographic park "Этномир" (Ethno-world), Kaluga region, Russia.<ref>Information provided by Ukrainian artist via Pavel Malakhov.</ref>
|-
| [[File:HPB drawings from 1850s photo.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | Unknown, before 2000s
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | This pencil drawing was made from the 1850s photograph. It was scanned from a reproduction of the pencil drawing in Theosophical Society in America Archives.
|-
| [[File:Rudolf Strauch engraving.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | Unknown
| Rudolf Strauch
| style="text-align:left;" | Engraving by Rudolf Strauch of Leipzig, from the [https://arkivkopia.se/sak/aboaka-1254 Archive of Swedish Cultural Common]. Copied from 1889 Resta photograph. Contact Åbo Akademie for high-resolution image or commercial use.
|-
| [[File:HPB watercolor from 1877 Sarony.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | Unknown
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Watercolor derived from photograph by N. Sarony in 1876. Location of original is unknown. Scanned from photograph.
|-
| [[File:HPB painting from 1887 Maycot photo.jpg|200px]]
| style="height:100px; width:100px; text-align:center;" | Unknown
| Unknown
| style="text-align:left;" | Painting derived from 1887 photograph taken at Maycot. Artist and location of original are unknown. Scanned from photograph in Theosophical Society in America Archives.
|}

== Notes ==
<references/>

[[RU:Фотографии и портреты Е.П. Блаватской]]

[[Category:Art works|Blavatsky photographs]]