16 Facts About Sophie Brzeska

Much of what scholars and historians have been able to trace about Sophie Brzeska has come from her personal correspondence with Gaudier.

Sophie Brzeska's childhood was difficult and she did not receive a sufficient education.

Sophie Brzeska's paternal grandfather was a landowner, and her father studied as a lawyer.

Sophie Brzeska described her father as "a good-for-nothing spendthrift [who] had dissipated his estates to the point of bankruptcy".

Sophie Brzeska was left suicidal by her family's attempts to marry her off, and in 1899 she fled to the West to become a writer.

Sophie Brzeska accepted a succession of jobs as governess in various cities, including in Paris, Philadelphia, New York, London, Krakow and in Switzerland.

Sophie Brzeska resided in the United States for several years.

Sophie Brzeska was a companion and her relationship with Gaudier resembled a co-dependency because both suffered from mental health issues and stress brought on by poverty.

Henri was devoted to Sophie Brzeska, even taking her last name as his, but Sophie Brzeska often was dismissive and cold toward Henri's romantic overtures.

Sophie Brzeska referred constantly to her "work" and aspirations to be a published writer.

Sophie Brzeska wrote a number of versions of her autobiography entitled Matka but nothing in her own words was published until 2008.

Sophie Brzeska wrote in both French and English, and it is clear from the language and tempo of the writings that she was highly strung and emotional.

Sophie Brzeska's ignoring of conventional punctuation has been retained for the same reason.

Sophie Brzeska died intestate in the County Mental Hospital, Barnwood, Gloucestershire on 17 March 1925.

The relationship between Henri Gaudier and Sophie Brzeska was fictionalised in the 1934 stage play The Laughing Woman by Josephine Tey under the pen name 'Gordon Daviot'.

Sophie Brzeska was often left out of accounts of Gaudier's life.