Independent Visions: Helen Schjerfbeck and Her Contemporaries from the Collection of Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery, an exhibition presenting fifty-five works by four celebrated Finnish artists, opens at Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America, in New York City, on April 29, 2017.
The exhibition highlights the pioneering role of these artists at the end of the 19th century and in the early decades of the 20th: Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946), Sigrid Schauman (1877-1979), Ellen Thesleff (1869-1954), and Elga Sesemann (1922-2007). Coinciding with the yearlong celebration of the centennial anniversary of Finland’s independence from Russia, the exhibition provides a rich opportunity for American audiences to engage with these influential Finnish painters.
The exhibition is curated by Anu Utriainen, curator of collections at Ateneum and Dr. Susanna Pettersson, director of Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery. On view through October 3, 2017, the exhibition will be accompanied by a range of public programs for all ages and a new catalogue. Drawn from Ateneum’s extensive collection, Independent Visions features Schjerfbeck’s complex self-portraits, Thesleff’s colorful woodcuts, Schauman’s lush and delicate landscapes, and Sesemann’s brooding Expressionist portraits. Sharing the experience of traveling and studying in France and Italy while maintaining strong attachments to their home country of Finland, these artists and their work reveal the excitement and turbulence of the modern period that generated a newly found independence-both cultural and personal.
The Scandinavia House Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 12-6 PM (Wednesday until 7 PM). Admission to the Scandinavia House Gallery is free.
To request visual materials and further press information, please contact:
Lisbeth Mark or Heather Meltzer, Bow Bridge Communications, LLC, New York City
+1 347-460-5566 or [email protected]
To request further information on Ateneum, please contact:
Anna Kari, Communications Officer, Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery
+358 40 717 8185 or [email protected]
