Nina Olivier

Born: 28 July 1882 in Gap, in the French Hautes-Alpes region.

Died: circa autumn of 1949.

Nina Olivier, born Eugénie Victorine Auzias, went by the nickname "Nina of Montparnasse". She made her living as an artist's model. Aleister Crowley met Nina in Paris in 1908 and occasionally saw her on and off for years.

In the spring of 1909 Nina became the lover of the American art collector and critic Leo D. Stein (1872-1947) who had been living in Paris since 1900. Leo and Nina went to live in Settignano, Italy and Leo later left Italy to return to America to work as a journalist. Due to World War I Leo and Nina became separated. After the war Leo settled near Florence, Italy, and reunited with Nina. They were married in 1921.

Aleister Crowley's book The Star and the Garter commemorated his entire circle of women at the time of its writing: fiancée Eileen Gray was the star; while the garter was composed of three other ladies, most likely Gerald Kelley's fiancée, Sybil Meugens; model Nina Olivier; and sculptress Kathleen Bruce. Nina Olivier would reappear in "The Ordeal of Ira Pendragon" and in Rodin in Rime.