Blavatsky photographs and portraits

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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.
	1840s	Unknown	HPB painted as "The Lovely Maiden." The reproduction was made by means of a special process from a printed copy which was first published in 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. This portrait appears in a collage as the frontispiece of World Theosophy in September 1931.
	1865-1868	Unknown	Young HPB dressed in furs. Printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume I.
	1860s	Unknown	HPB in a hoop skirt. Most likely the picture about which General Rostislav wrote: "taken 20 years ago in my presence." September 18, 1881. This portrait appears in a collage as the frontispiece of World Theosophy in September 1931 and also printed in a rectangular format in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume I.
	ca1870	Unknown	HPB around 1870. Printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume II.
	1870s	Unknown	Photograph reproduced in A. P. Sinnett's Incidents in the Life of Mme. Blavatsky. This portrait appears in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume II, and in a collage as the frontispiece of World Theosophy in September 1931.
File:HPB drawing from NYPL Digital Collection.jpg	1870s	Unknown	From New York Public Library Digital Collection.
	1870s	Charles T. Scowen	From New York Public Library Digital Collection.
	September 1875	J. Beardsley	Photograph taken in Ithaca NY in September 1875 while HPB was visiting Professor Hiram Corson and writing Isis Unveiled. 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?"
	September 1875	J. Beardsley	Another photograph taken in Ithaca NY in September 1875 while HPB was visiting Professor Hiram Corson and writing Isis Unveiled. It appeared as the frontispiece of the November, 1928 issue of The Theosophist as "An Unpublished Photograph of H.P.B. about 1879," but that year is incorrect. Printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume XV.
	1875-1876	Unknown	Portrait by a spiritualist photographer. Printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume I and XIV.
	1876-1877	Napoleon Sarony	Taken in New York and used as a frontispiece in early editions of Isis Unveiled. Also printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume III and other works.
	1876-1878	Edsall Photographic Studio	Taken in New York. Printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume IV.
	1877-1878	Napoleon Sarony	H. P. Blavatsky in New York days, from Blavatsky Archives. This photo was printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume III and VI, and has served as the inspiration for a drawing and a watercolor.
	ca 1877-1878	Unknown
	1878	Unknown	HPB en route to India in December, 1878.
	1878	William R. O'Donovan	Bronze medallion sculpted by William R. O'Donovan, who knew visited Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott at The Lamasery. His friendship and the medallion are described by Olcott in Old Diary Leaves, Volume 1, pages 411-412.
File:HPB in 1881.jpg	1880-1881	Unknown	Taken in Galle, Ceylon.
	ca1882	Unknown	From BlavatskyTheosophy.com.
	1882-1884	Unknown	HPB with T. Subba Row and Babaji ca 1882-1884. From New York Public Library Digital Collection. Printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume V.
	1884-1885	Hermann Schmiechen	Fragment of painting by Hermann Schmiechen.
	1884-1885	Hermann Schmiechen	Larger version of painting by Hermann Schmiechen. This portrait appears in a collage as the frontispiece of World Theosophy in September 1931.
	1887	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."
	1887	Laura Holloway	Detail from a larger portrait of HPB with a fan, which appears in a collage as the frontispiece of World Theosophy in September 1931. Photographer was Laura Holloway Langford, according to H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume V, page 257.
	1887	Laura Holloway	HPB with a fan.
	1887	Laura Holloway	Fragment of previous photograph. Described in 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."
	1888	William Quan Judge	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. The picture was originally published in The Path, New York, Vol. VII, May, 1892, p.39." Mr. Judge wrote of the occasion: [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. This copy of the photograph was provided courtesy of Will Thackara at International Theosophical Society (Pasadena); restoration of photo by Vladimir Krasnoperov.
	1888	Unknown	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.
	1888	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.
	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, 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 H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume XI. Among the first was The Path in February, 1890.
	January 8, 1889	Enrico Resta	This is another of the six poses taken in Resta's studio at 4 Coburg Place, Bayswater, London on January 8, 1889.
	January 8, 1889	Enrico Resta	This is another of the six poses taken in Resta's studio at 4 Coburg Place, Bayswater, London on January 8, 1889. From Blavatsky Archives. Printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume X.
File:Resta portrait 4.jpg	January 8, 1889	Enrico Resta	This is another of the six poses taken in Resta's studio at 4 Coburg Place, Bayswater, London on January 8, 1889. From Blavatsky Archives. Printed in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume VIII.
	January 8, 1889	Enrico Resta	This is another of the six poses taken in Resta's studio at 4 Coburg Place, Bayswater, London on January 8, 1889. From Blavatsky Archives. Scanned from H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume XII.
	1890	Unknown	HPB sitting in a bath-chair, with G. R. S. Mead (right) and James Morgan Pryse. Taken in London.
	1890	Unknown	HPB sitting in a bath-chair. This portrait appears in a collage as the frontispiece of World Theosophy in September 1931.
	1890-1891	Unknown	HPB in a white lace shawl holding a copy of The Path. Probably the last photo taken of her. This portrait appears in a collage as the frontispiece of World Theosophy in September 1931, and also in H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume XIII.
	1891	Unknown	Side view of death mask of HPB as printed in May 1991 issue of The Theosophist.,
	1891	Unknown	Front view of death mask of HPB, as printed on the cover of the May 1913 issue of The American 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.
	ca1893	P. Vishnevsky	This engraving is 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.) Thanks go to Oleg Boldyrev and Pavel Malakhov for providing it. The location of the original art is unknown.
	ca1896	Unknown	This is the cover art for a purported autobiography dictated from beyond the grave by Madame Blavatsky, Posthumous Memoirs by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Joseph M. Wade, in the preface 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 Library of Congress. The image may be an automatic drawing.
	1907	Govinda Pillai	This statue stands in the Great Hall of the Headquarters Building in Adyar, Chennai, India. "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 Sir S. Subramania Iyer, Mr. V. C. Seshachariar, Dr. W. A. English, Mr. P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar, Mr. Sitarama Shastri, Mrs. Russak, and Annie Besant.
	1930	Z. Vanessa Helder	Graphite sketch based on an 1878 photograph, as published in World Theosophy vol. 1 no. 8, August 1931, p. 599. Previously it had been printed in The Personality of H. P. Blavatsky, a pamphlet written by C. Jinarājadāsa in 1930.
	1930s-1950s	Unknown	This is a FAKE photograph of HPB with the "Ascended Masters." See "The Fake Photo" at BlavatskyTheosophy.com website for more information.
	Unknown, before 2000s	Alexey Leonov	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.
	2000s	Unknown
	2000s	Alexey Leonov	In 2015-2016, bronze versions of this pose were installed at the 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.
	2015-2016	Alexey Leonov
	Unknown	Unknown	Drawing derived from photograph by Napoleon Sarony in 1877-1878. Location of original is unknown. Scanned from photograph.
	Unknown	Unknown	Watercolor derived from photograph by Napoleon Sarony in 1877-1878. Location of original is unknown. Scanned from photograph.