116 years ago - April 21, 1908 - on the bright holiday of Easter, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin and Elizaveta Moritsevna Heinrich-Kuprina welcomed the birth of a daughter, Ksenia.\r\nKsenia spent her early childhood in Gatchina, where the Kuprins bought a wooden house on Elizavetinskaya Street in May 1911. She left Gatchina with her parents in November 1919. In June 1920 the Kuprins arrived in Paris.\r\n\r\n
E.M. Kuprina with daughter Ksenia
From 1920 she studied at a closed Catholic boarding school in the Paris suburb of Domrémy. After finishing the boarding school she completed courses for models. From 1925 her career as a model began with a position at the Paul Poiret fashion house. In 1926 she met film director Marcel L'Herbier and received her first role in the film "The Devil in the Heart." After that she actively acted in films under the name Kissa Kouprine. She was acquainted with and worked on the same set with young, then still unknown Jean Marais, Jean Gabin, and Nicole Courcel. She met Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and maintained a friendly relationship with his wife.\r\nKsenia was friends with Édith Piaf, who recorded a record especially for her.\r\n\r\nUp to 1936 she appeared in the films: "The Devil in the Heart" (1928), "The Pearl" (1929), "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" (1930), "The Spirits of the Lady in Black" (1931), "The Imperial Road", "The Red Seal" (1931), "The Mists of Paris" (1932), "The Last Night" (1933), "The Adventurer" (1934), "Loretta", "Women's Club" (1936).\r\n
Actress Kisa Kuprina
She returned to Russia in 1958. Ksenia worked at the Pushkin Theatre in Moscow, wrote memoirs, and published documents from the family archive. Ksenia's unquestionable achievement was the return to Russia of the valuable family archive.\r\n\r\nKsenia Alexandrovna wrote the valuable memoir "Kuprin — My Father," which contains information about the emigrant period of the writer's life that no one except her knew.\r\nShe visited Narovchat and took part in the opening of her father's museum in Narovchat on September 6, 1981. She donated memorial items, books, and documents to the museum, which became the foundation and the most valuable part of the museum's collection.
Ksenia Alexandrovna at the museum opening
You can learn more about Ksenia Kuprina's life at the museum.\r\nOur address: Penza Oblast, village Narovchat, Kuprina Street, house 3.\r\nWe will be glad to see you!\r\n
