#målarsystrarna

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Helene Schjerfbeck In the seaside town of Ekenäs, south-west of Helsinki, there is a name that appears wherever you go: Helene Schjerfbeck. A street lined with early-19th-century weatherboard houses is named after her and at the ‘Helene Schjerfbeck’ cafe they serve lingonberry and bitter chocolate cake with the initials HS picked out in sugar. An actor, Anne Ingman, has made it her vocation to impersonate Schjerfbeck in a floor-length black costume with a battered leather handbag and a jade brooch like one Schjerfbeck wore. She guides visitors through a park where Schjerfbeck painted, tells stories about her life and points out a modern artwork by AK Dolven - a bell high in the oak trees that can be heard across town. It is another homage to Schjerfbeck. Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) remains through the latter part of her lifetime and since her death, one of Finland’s best-loved artists. But in the UK she remains little known. A solo show at the 'Royal Academy’ of 65 paintings - she made more than 1,000 in her lifetime - is putting this right. Schjerfbeck started in the style of French naturalists such as Jules Bastien-Lepage before becoming an early modernist. ’Helene Schjerfbeck’ at the ‘Royal Academy of Arts’ July 20 — 27 October 27, 2019. #neonurchin #neonurchinblog #dedicatedtothethingswelove #suzyurchin #ollyurchin #art #music #photography #fashion #film #words #pictures #neon #urchin #heleneschjerfbeck #artist #painter #selfportrait #exhibition #royalacademyofart #ekenäs #helsinki #ateneumnationalgallery #finland #avertedgaze #helenawestermarck #mariawiik #adathilén #målarsystrarna (at Royal Academy of Arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3HOzL3g1DD/?igshid=1d2d1dvv40964

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Helene Schjerfbeck “When you give a child a pencil, you give her an entire world.” - Helene Schjerfbeck, Artist. Helene Schjerfbeck was born on 10 July 1862 in Helsinki. It is said that her artistic life began when, aged four, she fell down the front steps of the family’s house and broke her hip. It was a bad break - inexpertly set and left her with a limp for life. But it was while she was convalescing that her father gave her pencils and she started to draw. Her talent would soon prove impossible to ignore. Schjerfbeck’s talent was spotted by a teacher when she was 11 and she won a scholarship to join the drawing school of Helsinki’s Finnish Art Society. Two years later, when she was 13, her father died of tuberculosis. The family had never been well off – Svante Schjerfbeck had started as a merchant, gone bankrupt, and became the office manager of a railway engineering workshop. His death devastated the family. Olga, Helene’s mother, took in lodgers and sewing to make ends meet but never thought art a suitable career for her daughter. It was her father who had always been Helene’s great supporter. Fortunately, there were others who wanted to help. Finland had been part of Sweden until it was annexed in 1809 by Russia and did not become independent until 1917. As Helene became a teenager the country was recruiting talent to establish a national identity through art. She was granted a further scholarship to study oil painting at the academy of German-born painter Adolf von Becker from 1877 to 1880. At 16, too young to show her work in Paris she studied plein-air realism and history painting and in 1879 produced the painting that would launch her career. ‘Wounded Warrior in the Snow ‘ in the Ateneum’s collection (Finland’s national gallery) is formidably accomplished for a 17-year-old, remarkable for its (albeit carefully staged) naturalism. Throughout her life, Paris remained her dream city. There she lived the life of an artist: slept in a garret, worked hard and made lifelong friendships with Helena Westermarck, Maria Wiik and Ada Thilén whom she called “målarsystrarna” her “painter sisters”. (at Royal Academy of Arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3HOYyRg8dM/?igshid=1w4pnx0csunx6