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The haunting paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck, on show in the final leg of a
travelling tour that has already attracted thousands of visitors in Hamburg and
The Hague, may come as a surprise to many. Few outside the Nordic world would
recognise the work of this Finnish artist who died in 1946. More people should.
The 120 works have at their core 20 self-portraits, half the number she painted
in all. The first, dated 1880, is of a wide-eyed teenager eager to absorb
everything. The last is a sighting of the artist’s ghost-to-be; Schjerfbeck died
the year after it was made. Together this series is among the most moving and
accomplished autobiographies-in-paint.
Precociously gifted, Schjerfbeck was 11 when she entered the Finnish Art
Society’s drawing school. "The Wounded Warrior in the Snow", a history painting,
was bought by a private collector and won her a state travel grant when she was
17. Schjerfbeck studied in Paris, went on to Pont-Aven, Brittany, where she
painted for a year, then to Tuscany, Cornwall and St Petersburg. During her 1887
visit to St Ives, Cornwall, Schjerfbeck painted "The Convalescent". A child
wrapped in a blanket sits propped up in a large wicker chair, toying with a
sprig. The picture won a bronze medal at the 1889 Paris World Fair and was
bought by the Finnish Art Society. To a modern eye it seems almost sentimental
and is redeemed only by the somewhat stunned, melancholy expression on the
child’s face, which may have been inspired by Schjerfbeck’s early experiences.
At four, she fell down a flight of steps and never fully recovered.
In 1890, Schjerfbeck settled in Finland. Teaching exhausted her, she did
not like the work of other local painters, and she was further isolated when she
took on the care of her mother (who lived until 1923). "If I allow myself the
freedom to live a secluded life", she wrote, "then it is because it has to be
that way." In 1902, Schjerfbeck and her mother settled in the small, industrial
town of Hyvinkaa, 50 kilometres north of Helsinki. Isolation had one desired
effect for it was there that Schjerfbeck became a modern painter. She produced
still lives and landscapes but above all moody yet incisive portraits of her
mother, local school girls, women workers in town (profiles of a pensive,
aristocratic looking seamstress dressed in black stand out). And of course she
painted herself. Comparisons have been made with James McNeill Whistler and
Edvard Munch. But from 1905, her pictures became pure Schjerfbeck.
"I have always searched for the dense depths of the soul, that have not yet
discovered themselves", she wrote, "where everything is still unconscious-there
one can make the greatest discoveries." She experimented with different kinds of
underpainting, scraped and rubbed, made bright rosy red spots; doing whatever
had to be done to capture the subconscious-her own and that of her models. In
1913, Schjerfbeck was rediscovered by an art dealer and journalist, Gosta
Stenman. Once again she was a success. Retrospectives, touring exhibitions and a
biography followed, yet Schjerfbeck remained little known outside Scandinavia.
That may have had something to do with her indifference to her renown. "I am
nothing, absolutely nothing", she wrote. "All I want to do is paint".
Schjerfbeck was possessed of a unique vision, and it is time the world
recognised that.
1. Schjerfbeck’s paintings may come as a surprise to many because_____.
[A] her paintings are rarely known outside the Nordic world
[B] her paintings have never been on show out of the Nordic world
[C] her paintings have the power to haunt people whoever have seen them
[D] her paintings focus on supernatural elements such as ghosts
2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
[A] "The Convalescent" is in fact a portrait of Schjerbeck in her
childhood.
[B] "The Convalescent" is a reflection of Schejerbeck’s sentimental
childhood.
[C] "The Convalescent" is made as a result of an accident in Schejerbeck’s
childhood.
[D] "The Convalescent" is featured by the child’s stunned, melancholy
expression.
3.Schejerbeck chose to live a secluded life mainly because of ____.
[A] she was exhausted by her teaching job
[B] her personality prefers this kind of style
[C] she could not appreciate the work of the other local painters
[D] her mother’s health condition required her to adopt such a life
style.
4.Schjerfbeck remained little known outside the Nordic world probably
because_____.
[A] she did not make efforts to publicize her works.
[B] she knew that her works would gain worldwide recognition one day.
[C] she only cared about her painting instead of personal fame.
[D] the last thing she was interested in was to have people disturb her
5. We can infer from the passage that the most outstanding characteristics
of Schjerfbeck’s paintings is_____.
[A] her vivid characterization of common people
[B] her capture of the characters’ soul
[C] the melancholy expression of the characters
[D] her unconscious sense of some mysterious elements |
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发表于 2017-8-6 14:10:53