我就是切奇科夫画中的《中国女孩》

choi

BBC Chinese, May 7, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/si ... _chinese_girl.shtml

, which is translated from

I Was the Chinese Girl in Tretchikoff's Painting. BBC, May 6, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22344710

Quote:

"I had so many modelling offers [after having sat for the painting] but - stupid me - I went and got married and had children, so that was that.

"Everybody's fascinated by that painting. I don't know what it is about it really.

Note:
(a)
(i) Vladimir Tretchikoff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Tretchikoff
(1913-2006; a painter born in Russian Empire that is now Kazakhstan; section 1 Life and career)

I can not find the Chinese name of "Manchurian College."
(ii) http://www.vladimirtretchikoff.com/

In the pull-down menu for "About Us," find "Biography." There, click "1944" and you shall meet Leonora "Lenka" Schmidt-Salomonson.

(b) Chinese Girl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Girl
(The painting is Tretchikoff's second variation on the theme, after the first (using a different model [probably Lenka]) was destroyed in a robbery at the artist's studio in South Africa)

(c)  
(i) chiffon (n; French, literally, rag, from chiffe old rag, alteration of Middle French chipe, from Middle English chip  chip):
"a sheer fabric especially of silk"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chiffon
(ii) View a photo in

chiffon (fabric)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiffon_(fabric)

(d) "In all, I was paid six pounds and five shillings for the work."

shilling (British coin)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shilling_(British_coin)
("There counted twelve pence to the shilling, with twenty shillings to the pound. The British shilling had succeeded the English shilling, and it remained in circulation until Decimal Day 1971. Upon decimalisation the British shilling was superseded by the five-pence piece having a comparable value, size and weight")

(e) "I've got it [a print of the painting] in my lounge.

lounge: "UK the room in a house or apartment that is used for relaxing and entertaining guests: All the family were sitting in the lounge watching television."
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ ... ish/lounge?q=lounge

Americans would say "living room."

choi

(f)
(i) Chinese Girl.
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20617/lot/43/
(auctioned by Bonhams on Mar 20, 2013 at London; Monika Pon-su-san (née Sing-Lee);  Boris Gorelik, author of the forthcoming new book Incredible Tretchikoff (due out in mid 2013), was the first researcher to trace Sing-Lee in 2010; his model from Cape Town's small Chinese community)

* Boris Gorelik, Incredible Tretchikoff; Life of an artist and adventurer. is not yet published.

* Mignon Buhler

(A) mignon (disambigulation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mignon_(disambiguation)
(generally means cute or kind in French)
(B) mignon (adj): "small and cute; pretty in a delicate way; dainty  see also: filet mignon"
Wiktionary
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mignon
(C) filet mignon (n; French, literally, dainty fillet)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/filet%20mignon

* a book:
Vladimir Tretchikoff with Anthony Hocking, Pigeon's Luck. Collins, 1973.  

* "Tretchikoff painted two portraits of Monika, one in which she wears the famous golden tunic and another in which it is blue and pink (apparently the real colour of the silk-chiffon garment)."

Zenka Ang, Chinese Girl in Cheongsam Dress Vladimir Tretchikoff (3). Elegant Story, Mar 22, 2013.
http://www.elegantstory.com/chin ... dimir-tretchikoff-3

(ii) Dan Newling, Revealed After 60 years... the Real Green Lady Whose Face Is on a Million Living Room Walls.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ ... ing-room-walls.html
(17-year-old Monika Sing-Lee; now in her mid-70s; "But growing up in the apartheid era, everyone hated the Chinese;" She went on to marry, but they parted 40 years ago and she spent much of her life in poverty)

I can not find teh Marie Claire story.