Portrait of Grunya Sukhareva

myminifactory

This stunning sculpture is a vivid portrait of Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva, a pioneering Soviet child psychiatrist who left an indelible mark on the field. Born on November 11, 1891, Sukhareva dedicated her life to unraveling the mysteries of childhood psychopathology. Her groundbreaking work, published in Russian as early as 1925 and later in German, marked a significant milestone in the understanding of autism. Initially, she employed the term "schizoid psychopathy," which was commonly used at the time to describe eccentric behavior, but soon replaced it with "autistic psychopathy" to accurately capture the essence of this complex disorder. Sukhareva's trailblazing article predated the notable case studies of Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner by nearly two decades, yet her work remained largely overlooked until much later.