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Blavatsky portraits and photographs 

These are photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other depictions of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, also known as HPB.

This collection of photos was inspired by a display of photos 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 inspiration and the research that went into its collection.

Images used here are scanned from the photo collection of the Theosophical Society in America, the Blavatsky Archives, and other sources, which are identified where possible, with copyright data if applicable. Additions and corrections are welcome.

Photograph or Art Work	Year Created	Artist	Notes
	Late 1840s	Unknown	Painting of young H. P. Blavatsky and her mother, H. Hahn. It is at the H. P. B. museum in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. The painter is unknown, but it may have been HPB herself.
		Unknown	H. P. Blavatsky in New York days, from blavatskyarchives.com
	1877	Unknown
	1884	Hermann Schmiechen	Fragment of painting by Hermann Schmiechen.
		Unknown
		Unknown	Photo of HPB reading a book "while residing in Maycot, Crownhill, Upper Norwood, London, at Mabel Collins' home She left Ostend for London, May 1, 1887." Scanned by Theosophical Society in Archives.
	1887	Unknown
	1880s	Unknown	H. P. Blavatsky sitting in a bath-chair, with G. R. S. Mead (right) and James Morgan Pryse.
	1880s	Unknown	H. P. Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott in their final meeting, taken in October 1888 in London. "In the photographic reproduction in Collected Writings, X, 176; shows the following handwritten message by H.P.B.: 'To the Aryan Theosophical Society of New York, with H.P.B.'s and the H.S.O.'s good wishes', London, October, 1888."
	1887	William Quan Judge	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. "The pen she holds is an American gold pen given to her by a New York Theosophist and made by John Foley. The picture was originally published in [The Path (periodical)|The Path]], New York, Vol. VII, May, 1892, p.39." This copy was provided courtesy of Will Thackara at International Theosophical Society (Pasadena); restoration of photo by Pavel Malakhov. QUOTE FROM ECHOES OF THE ORIENT VOL 1 pages 259, 262-263
	January 8, 1889	Enrico Resta	"The Sphinx" pose - the most famous image of HPB. This was taken in 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. Image from the Theosophical Society in America Archives.
	1891	Unknown	Death mask of HPB as printed in May 1991 issue of "The Theosophist".
	ca1889-1909	Gutzon Borglum	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 headquarters building of the Theosophical Society in America. It was painted between 1889 and 1909, when the father died.
	Unknown	Unknown
	1931	Z. Vanessa Helder	Sketch published in World Theosophy vol. 1 no. 8, August 1931, p. 599.
	2000s	Unknown
	2000s	Alexey Leonov
	2000s	Alexey Leonov	Young H. P. Blavatsky