By Helena Westermarck, Critic and Painter

ART in Finland, pictorial art, like much else in that country, is a young growth. It is in the nineteenth century that we are first able to verify its existence, and it is only in the year 1840, or thereabouts, that we find any traces of women who seriously devoted themselves to the study of painting. The pioneers in this may be said to be Mathilda Rotkirch and Victoria Abey.

Somewhat later, in or about 1870, Fanny Churberg, after working in DÜsseldorf and Paris, evinced much independent and original talent in landscape painting, her art having also an inaugural character, in that she was the first who applied herself to the decoration of textile fabrics, adapting to her purpose the old national Finnish patterns, a practice which has since then had a large following in the field of applied design. Her career, unfortunately, was soon ended by illness and an early death. After her came the generation of women artists who are at present carrying forward a young school of enthusiastic workers.

In the sphere of painting, the women artists of Finland study under much the same circumstances as their male comrades. The Schools of Art subsidized by the State are open both to male and to female pupils, and this applies also to all prizes and rewards of merit. Some account of the principal women painters may be of interest.

Maria Wiik (1853), after an apprenticeship in the Finnish Schools of Art and in Professor Becker's Private Academy, spent several years of study in Paris—occasionally moving her easel in the summers to Brittany, to Normandy, or even to St. Ives, in England. She has further developed her art in later years by visits to Holland and to Italy. Her talent lies in the direction of portrait and genre painting and she has now the name of being among the best Finnish portrait painters. She has executed many public commissions, such as the portrait of the Professor at the Rein University in Helsingfors, for the Finnish Literary Society, and that of the poet, Z. Topelius, for a large public school for girls. Many will remember her portrait of the School Inspector, Ohberg, which now hangs in the Helsingfors Board School. Maria Wiik has exhibited at the Paris Salons, and at picture exhibitions in Moscow, Copenhagen, and Dresden, and besides the prizes awarded her in her own country, she has received a bronze medal in Paris (1900) for a picture painted in St. Ives, called, "Out into the World."

Helene Schjerfbeck (1863), also a pupil of the Finnish Schools of Art and of Prof. Becker's Private Academy, continued her studies in Paris and afterwards visited Brittany, England, Austria and Italy. She has painted some important historical pictures, taking her subjects from Finnish and Swedish history, as in her two admirable paintings, "LiukÖping's Prison in 1600" and "The Death of W. v. Schwerin." She has also painted a few landscapes and a number of genre pictures, many of them with subjects taken from French and English life. Helene Schjerfbeck has exhibited both at home and at the Paris Salons, has twice been awarded the lesser money prize given yearly by the Finnish State (for the two historical pictures mentioned above), while at the Exhibition in Paris in 1889, she received a bronze medal. She has also held an appointment as teacher in the Finnish Academy of Art, in the department of painting and in the drawing class from the living model. Her many pictures have been among the best that our women artists have produced.

Venny Soldan-Brofeldt (1860) is another pupil of the Finnish Schools of Art and of Prof. Becker's Academy, and has studied later in Paris, and in Spain and Italy. Her best work is in the genre style, many of her pictures being very characteristic and true scenes of Finnish peasant life, such as "Meal time in a Peasant's Hut" and "Pietists." Her landscapes, too, are remarkable for a sensitive conception of Nature; especially is this true of her pictures of our coast scenery, with its low granite rocks, washed over by the sea waves. Mrs. Soldan-Brofeldt has illustrated also some books for children, among others a part of a large Scandinavian edition of Topelius' Saga tales for children. At the Paris Exhibition of 1889, she received a "Mention Honorable," and in 1900, a bronze medal. She is the wife of the author, Juhani Aho. Brofeldt. Mrs. Soldan-Brofeldt's work is not illustrated in this book, as a photograph of her most important picture was broken into fragments in its journey from Finland to London.

It is characteristic of all these painters that their artistic bias was determined by their study in Paris of the French naturalists, who inspired them with a stern respect for drawing, and taught them to study Nature seriously. Starting from this common standpoint, they have, whilst working in their own way, developed along their own individual lines.

Many another woman artist deserves mention, but the limited space at my disposal permits me to give only a list of their names.

There is Ellen Thesleff, a figure painter; there is Elin Danielson-Gambogi (wife of the Italian painter, R. Gambogi), well-known for her portraits and landscapes; there is Julia Stigzelius de Cock (wife of the Belgian artist, CÉsare de Cock), a clever landscape painter; there is AmÉlie Lundahl, figure painter; and Ada ThilÉn, with her landscapes; and Hanna RÖnnberg, with her subject pictures and outdoor scenes; and Anna SahlstÉn, a figure painter; and last, but not least, I name Annie Torselles-Schybergson, a good painter of animals.

HELENA WESTERMARCK.

Russian School, 1884

German School, XVII Century

German School, XVII Century

German School, End of XVIII Century

German School, 1817 and 1820

German School, Late XIX Century

German School, Contemporary

German and Spanish Schools, Contemporary

German School, Contemporary

German School, Contemporary

German and Swiss Schools, Contemporary

Swiss School, Contemporary

Austrian School, Contemporary

Austrian School, Contemporary

Austrian School, Contemporary

Finnish School, Contemporary

Finnish School, 1887

Swiss School, Contemporary

Finnish School, from 1887 to about 1895

Finnish and Swiss Schools, about 1904

Russian School, XIX Century

German and Russian Schools, 1870 and 1903

Spanish School, 1875

Spanish School, 1881

Spanish School, 1887

Spanish School, 1881 and 1890

Spanish School, 1883