Altina Schinasi (August 4, 1907 â€" August 19, 1999) was an American
sculptor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, window dresser, designer and
inventor. She was best known for designing the Harlequin eyeglass
frame.Altina Schinasi was the youngest child born to the Schinasi
family. She was born at the Schinasi residence at 351 Riverside Drive
(West 107th Street) on Manhattan's Upper West Side on August 4, 1907.
After being tutored at home, Altina attended Horace Mann and at the
age of twelve left home to board at Dana Hall School in Wellesley,
Massachusetts.Altina's mother took Altina and her sister to Paris
shortly after her graduation from Dana Hall. There, Altina studied
painting with her cousin, René Bensussan. While spending more time
with Bensussan, she developed a deeper appreciation for art, and as a
result, Altina chose to attend art school rather than college when she
returned to the states. In New York, Altina studied with Samuel
Halpert at the Roerich Museum.Her father, Morris Schinasi, was a
Sephardic Jew born in Manisa, Turkey. Altina's mother, Laurette
Schinasi née Ben Rubi, the granddaughter of Schinasi's business
associate Joseph Ben Rubi, was a native of Salonica, then in the
Ottoman Empire. Upon Morris Schinasi's death in 1928, his widow
Laurette Schinasi traveled to Manisa, Turkey to establish Moris Sinasi
Çocuk Hastahanesi, or Moris Sinasi Children's Hospital in the city of
her late husband's birth. It remains in operation today.
sculptor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, window dresser, designer and
inventor. She was best known for designing the Harlequin eyeglass
frame.Altina Schinasi was the youngest child born to the Schinasi
family. She was born at the Schinasi residence at 351 Riverside Drive
(West 107th Street) on Manhattan's Upper West Side on August 4, 1907.
After being tutored at home, Altina attended Horace Mann and at the
age of twelve left home to board at Dana Hall School in Wellesley,
Massachusetts.Altina's mother took Altina and her sister to Paris
shortly after her graduation from Dana Hall. There, Altina studied
painting with her cousin, René Bensussan. While spending more time
with Bensussan, she developed a deeper appreciation for art, and as a
result, Altina chose to attend art school rather than college when she
returned to the states. In New York, Altina studied with Samuel
Halpert at the Roerich Museum.Her father, Morris Schinasi, was a
Sephardic Jew born in Manisa, Turkey. Altina's mother, Laurette
Schinasi née Ben Rubi, the granddaughter of Schinasi's business
associate Joseph Ben Rubi, was a native of Salonica, then in the
Ottoman Empire. Upon Morris Schinasi's death in 1928, his widow
Laurette Schinasi traveled to Manisa, Turkey to establish Moris Sinasi
Çocuk Hastahanesi, or Moris Sinasi Children's Hospital in the city of
her late husband's birth. It remains in operation today.
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