Scandinavian Review Independent Visions Spring—2017
SALUTING FINLAND 1917 - 2017 Independent Visions By Janet S. Rauscher The works of these extraordinary women artists enriched the cultural life of Finland’s first century. ALL PAINTINGS: ATENEUM, FINNISH NATIONAL GALLERY FINNISH NATIONAL ATENEUM, ALL PAINTINGS: Helene Schjerfbeck (photo above), Ellen Thesleff (photo above), Sigrid Schauman (photo above), Elga Sesemann (photo above), Self-Portrait with Red Spot, 1944, Self-Portrait with Hat, 1935, Self-Portrait, undated, Self-Portrait, 1946, oil on canvas, 18 x 15 in. oil on canvas, 17 x 15 in. oil on canvas, 16 x 13 in. oil on cardboard, 30 x 27 in. 18 SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW SPRING 2017 SPRING 2017 SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW 19 Opposite page: Helene Schjerfbeck, Californian I, 1919, oil on canvas, 15 x 15 in. Above: Helene Schjerfbeck, Maria, 1909, oil on S FINLAND MARKS ITS CENTENNIAL, ATTENTION canvas, 22 x 29 in. inevitably will turn to its cultural “Golden Age,” when artists— A resisting attempts to align the nation more closely with the Russian Helene Schjerfbeck, Empire—endeavored to develop and disseminate a distinctive sense of The Seamstress, collective identity. Such work was undertaken predominantly by male Half-Length Portrait (The Working Woman), artists; concurrently, Finnish women artists were forging their own paths. 1927, oil on canvas This spring, the exhibition Independent Visions: Helene Schjerfbeck and Her 26 x 20 in. Contemporaries from the Collection of Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery— curated by Anu Utrianen and organized by Dr. Susanna Petersson for Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery—will introduce Scandinavia House visitors to four seminal Finnish women artists. Born between 1862 and 1922, these artists witnessed and responded to dramatic changes in Finnish society and in artistic spheres, both domestic and international.
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