Helena Westermarck Explained

Helena Westermarck
Birth Name:Helena Charlotta Westermarck
Birth Date:20 November 1857
Birth Place:Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Death Place:Helsinki, Finland
Nationality:Finnish
Field:Painter, writer

Helena Charlotta Westermarck (20 November 1857, Helsinki – 5 April 1938, Helsinki) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish artist and writer.[1] [2] [3] She is known for her pioneering biographies of women.[4]

Biography

Westermarck studied art at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Society and the private academy of Adolf von Becker. During her studies, she met Helene Schjerfbeck, who remained a close friend for the rest of their lives. Westermarck and Schjerfbeck were a part of a group of female artists, "the painter sisters." This group included Maria Wiik and Elin Danielson-Gambogi.[5]

Westermarck worked for long periods in France, often in the company of Schjerfbeck, and developed a sensible realistic style especially with portraits and figure compositions. At the Exposition Universelle (1889), she received honorable mention for her painting Strykerskor.

After contracting tuberculosis in 1884, she abandoned painting and devoted herself to writing as a critic.[6]

Westermarck began her writing career as a novelist. Her novels can be looked at as an artifact of women's history and the everyday life of upper- and middle-class women. She edited the Swedish-language women's magazine Nutid.[7]

Westermarck also made a significant contribution as a researcher through her cultural and historical works. In her research, she worked beside her brother, Edvard Westermarck, in the British Library. She began her pioneering biographic works in the early 1890s. These works include a series of biographies of female figures. Many of her biographies are on unknown female painters who were "discovered" in the 1980s, including Mathilda Rotkirch (1926). She also wrote about women who were pioneers in their respective fields, including Elisabeth Blomqvist (1916–17), Adelaide Ehrnrooth (1928), and Rosina Heikel (1930).

Westermarck's memoir was published in 1941.[8]

Selected works

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Konttinen . Riitta . Westermarck, Helena (1857–1938) . Kansallisbiografia . 18 August 2020 . 22 April 2015.
  2. Web site: Westermarck, Helena . Kirjasampo . 18 August 2020.
  3. News: Uimonen . Anu . Taiteilija kysyi tärkeitä kysymyksiä . 18 August 2020 . Helsingin Sanomat . 8 September 2009.
  4. Book: Women telling nations . 2014 . Editions Rodopi . Amelia Sanz Cabrerizo, Francesca Scott, Suzanna van Dijk . 978-94-012-1112-3 . Amsterdam . 897069728.
  5. Web site: Description of Portrait of Helena Westermarck . taide.art.
  6. Web site: Sara's sisters: The tradition of women's literature in Finland from the 19th century to the early 20th century.. fi. 13 November 2019 . Oulu City Library-Provincial Library . Alarto . Anne . Kyrki . Irma . Saraste . Maija.
  7. Julia Dahlberg. 2018. When artists became intellectuals:Female artistic persona and science as a significant other. Persona Studies. 4. 1. 64. 10.21153/ps2018vol4no1art688. free.
  8. Web site: Westermarck, Helena. Uppslagsverket Finland . Swedish . 26 June 2016.

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