Helene Schjerfbeck
| Helene Schjerfbeck | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Helena Sofia Schjerfbeck July 10, 1862 Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland |
| Died | January 23, 1946 (aged 83) Saltsjöbaden, Sweden |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Naturalism (arts), Realism and Expressionism |
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Helene Schjerfbeck (July 10, 1862 – January 23, 1946, pronounced IPA: [he'le:n 'ɧærvbek] in Standard Swedish and IPA: [helɛ:n ʃærvbek] in Finland Swedish) was a Finnish painter. She is most widely known for her realist works and self-portraits, and less well known for her landscapes and still lifes. Throughout her long life, her work changed dramatically.
Her work starts with a dazzlingly skilled, somewhat melancholic version of late-19th-century academic realism…it ends with distilled, nearly abstract images in which pure paint and cryptic description are held in perfect balance. (Roberta Smith, New York Times, November 27th 1992)
Helena Sofia Schjerfbeck was born on July 10, 1862, in Helsinki, Finland (then an autonomous Grand-Duchy within the Russian Empire), to Svante Schjerfbeck (an office manager) and Olga Johanna (née Printz). When she was four she suffered a hip injury, which prevented her from attending school. She showed talent at an early age, and by the time she was eleven she was enrolled at the Finnish Art Society Drawing School, where her fees were paid by Adolf von Becker, who saw promise in her [ref. Ahtola-Moorhouse]. At this School Schjerfbeck met Helena Westermarck.
When Schjerfbeck’s father died of tuberculosis on February 2, 1876, Schjerfbeck’s mother took in boarders so that they could get by. A little over a year after her father’s death, Schjerfbeck graduated from the Finnish Art Society drawing school. She continued her education, with Westermarck, at a private academy run by Adolf von Becker, which utilised the University of Helsinki drawing studio. Professor G. Asp paid for her tuition to Becker’s private academy. There, Becker himself taught her French oil painting techniques.
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