Nachshen was born in the city of
Zhitomir, which was then part of Russia and is now in Ukraine. Nachshen was born into a Jewish family and after an anti-Jewish
pogrom in the city in 1905, the family fled Zhitomir and eventually settled in London. Nachshen did well at school in London and enrolled in the
Slade School of Art. She illustrated translations of works by
Arthur Schnitzler and the Nobel Prize winner
Anatole France in a style based on Russian folk art and art deco elements. Nachshen illustrated a version of the Jewish text the
Haggadah in 1934 and also illustrated editions of works by
Oscar Wilde and
Samuel Butler. She also produced illustrations for the
Radio Times. During World War Two, Nachshen produced poster designs for a number of high-profile campaigns, notably the
Make Do and Mend campaign run by the
Board of Trade and also
Telegraph Less for the
General Post Office. She continued with her book illustration work during the War, producing designs for versions of "
Diary of a Madman" by
Nikolai Gogol and a 1945 collection of short stories by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky as well as books by
Enid Blyton. After the War, Nachshen lived in London and continued to illustrate Russian novels and poetry, mainly for the publishers
Constable & Co and also for the Lindsay Drummond company. For the Russian novels, Nachshen used
scraperboard to create dramatic illustrations that resembled a style of eastern European woodcuts, while for the children's book that she illustrated she used much lighter pen drawings. ==Books illustrated==