Helene Schjerfbeck (Finland 1862‑1946)

”Flicka med ljust hår” (Fair-Haired Girl)

To be sold at Uppsala Auktionskammare’s Important Sale Week 10 – 13 December 2024

Lot 802 Helene Schjerfbeck (Finland 1862‑1946). ”Flicka med ljust hår” (Fair-Haired Girl). Signed with monogram HS lower right. Oil on canvas, 38.5 x 32 cm.

Executed in 1916.
Stretcher with stamp: ”O.Y. Taidekauppa Boström Konsthandel A.B. Helsinki Helsingfors” and notes:
”Lars Jonason 10/11 -64 Astrid Jonason”.

Estimate

3.000.000 – 4.000.000 SEK
€ 259.000 – 345.000

Provenance

Engineer Jonas Hesselman (1877‑1957), Storängen, Stockholm.
(Probably) his daughter Astrid Jonason (1908‑1987).
(Probably) her son Lars Jonason (born 1946).
Stockholms Auktionsverk, 10‑13 April 1984, cat. no. 665.
An important Swedish private collection.

Exhibited

(Probably) Stenmans konstsalong, Helsinki, ”Helena Schjerfbeck 1879‑1917”,
12 September-1 October 1917, cat. no. 122.
Ateneum, Helsinki, ”Helene Schjerfbeck”, 2 February-5 April 1992, cat. no. 239.
Ateneum, Helsinki, ”Helene Schjerfbeck – 150 years”, 1 June-14 October 2012, cat. no. 365.
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, ”Helene Schjerfbeck – 150 years”, 3 November 2012-
12 February 2013, cat. no. 365.
Göteborgs konstmuseum, Gothenburg, ”Helene Schjerfbeck – 150 years”, 16 March-18 August 2013,
cat. no. 365.
Åmells konsthandel, Stockholm, ”Helene Schjerfbeck”, 5-19 October 2013.

Literature

Christian Faerber (red.), Konst i svenska hem I: målningar och skulpturer från 1800 till våra dagar, 1942,
in the collection of Engineer K. Jonas E. Hesselman, no. 362, p. 240.
H. Ahtela, Helena Schjerfbeck, 1953, p. 363, no. 451 in the catalogue, titled “Kvinnohuvud”.
Leena Ahtola-Moorhouse (ed.), Helene Schjerfbeck, exhibition catalogue, 1992, cat. no. 239, illustrated p. 177.
Leena Ahtola-Moorhouse (ed.), Helene Schjerfbeck – 150 years, exhibition catalogue, 2012, cat. no. 365, illustrated p. 209.
Åmells konsthandel, Helene Schjerfbeck, 2013, p. 28, illustrated p. 29.

In September 1917, the first solo exhibition of Helene Schjerfbeck opened in the art salon of art dealer Gösta Stenman in Helsinki. Works from between the years 1897 and 1917, in total 159 paintings, were exhibited. Gösta Stenman had already before the opening of the exhibition cleverly presented this relaunch of an almost forgotten artist as a sensation and the anticipation was great. Her friend Einar Reuter (pseudonym H. Ahtela) published a book about Schjerfbeck the same summer. Previous success for Schjerfbeck at the Baltic exhibition in 1914 and the Finnish exhibition at Liljevalchs konsthall in Stockholm in 1916, where both Stenman and Einar Reuter had helped her, also promoted this event. The painter herself did not come to the inauguration in Helsinki, living at this time in Hyvinkää, but received a message that most of the paintings were sold the first day of the appreciated exhibition. And when she heard at what prices her paintings sold, she humbled asked to lower the prices. The positive response from the visitors, from friends and colleagues, overwhelmed her. The historic exhibition was a turning point, not only for the painter herself, but also in Finland’s art history. The critics called her one of the greatest artists in Finland. That is an epithet we still today give Helene Schjerfbeck.

Most probably one of the paintings exhibited in this ground-breaking exhibition was “Flicka med ljust hår” (Fair-Haired Girl), executed in 1916, now presented in the sale. This striking portrait, is a fine example of the artist’s developed style. It is marked by a distinctive blend of modernism, psychological depth, and minimalism. The sitter, whose identity remains unknown, is captured in an evocative moment of stillness. She is not the first, nor the last, of her models with glowing warm red cheeks. The honey blond hair and the coral red blouse are balanced by the green-grey background. Schjerfbeck has confidently placed the signature just above the young woman’s shoulder. The minimal background enhances the focus on the subject, allowing her sensitive face to take center stage. The reduced, almost abstract treatment of the figure with her features simplified, reveals Schjerfbeck’s approach to portraiture, where emotion and inner life become as important as external likeness.

E. Richter at Helsingin Sanomat wrote about the exhibition 1917 and his words serve well to describe the portrait ”Flicka med ljust hår”: “Även om det sinnliga har förtunnats, blivit så sprött och genomskinligt, att hennes figurbilder förefalla att vara enbart andeuppenbarelser, har däremot den inre sidan av hennes målningar, den känsla och den själ, som finns i dem, blivit övertygande levande och äga en uppenbar realitet. Hon har inte förgäves sökt den enda stora sanningen – människosjälens skönhet”. (cit. in H. Ahtela, p. 135).

Throughout her life, Schjerfbeck would turn to herself and painted numerous self-portraits. They were explorations of her physical appearance and her psychological state. The auto portraits are one important category in the artist’s oeuvre. Another, closely related theme, is her many portraits. Fascinated by the people around her, she sought new models in her surroundings. The young woman in this painting is, with Schjerfbeck’s mastery of colour, light and form, captured in an intimate and contemplative representation. The shy gaze, with her head slightly turned to the left, resembles the artist’s self-portraits from this period. Likewise are the red cheeks, pale skin and blond hair. The delicate features are softened by her use of a fluid brushwork. As the painter at this period is increasingly exploring the psychological and emotional dimensions of portraiture, the portrait in this sale is an example of this introspection. Schjerfbeck, now in the middle of her life, was distancing herself from conventional academic portraiture in favor of more introspective and modernist expressions of the human form. When exploring the depth behind the appearances quite often her portraits are given a subtle hint of melancholy and isolation, perhaps a reflection of herself. Executed during a period of great personal and artistic transformation, this portrait is both a demonstration of Schjerfbeck’s refined technique and an exploration of the boundaries between abstraction and representation.  ■

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