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Lot Essay
Schjerfbeck's dealer Gösta Stenman, the first owner of the present work, visited the artist in Hyvinkää in the summer of 1914, having come directly from Paris. There he had bought a work by Marie Laurencin which he showed to Schjerfbeck; she praised it, saying that it displayed 'lots of grace'. Although it is arguable exactly how much she was directly influenced by Laurencin, Schjerfbeck certainly greatly admired her simplicity of form and colour.
Although line had played such an important role in her work throughout the 1900s, Schjerfbeck's figure paintings from the mid-1910s are characterised by the relationship between surface and colour, a concern that preoccupied her to such an extent that she complained in a letter to Maria Wiik in 1914 that 'I don't know how to draw anymore'. The bold forms of The reading girl are strengthened by the contrasts that Schjerfbeck creates through her use of colour; the yellow of the hair and the depth of the black dress are highlighted against the intense blue-green of the background. This colour is strikingly similar to that which Schjerfbeck discovered after much experimentation for the background of the iconic oil The tapestry from 1914-1916.
The model for the present work would appear to be the same girl that Schjerfbeck used for The tapestry, although her name is unknown. Schjerfbeck commented to Einar Reuter, her friend and biographer, during the execution of this latter work that she found it very difficult to capture the body language that she wanted to depict, the carriage of her model was too 'modern'. The pose of The reading girl is similarly vital in portraying the harmonious mood of the work but Schjerfbeck has captured it with a remarkable sense of grace. The model sits in careful introspection, holding but looking away from her open book and Schjerfbeck achieves a sense of calm and peace through the figure and surroundings that are rendered with a minimum of detail.
Although line had played such an important role in her work throughout the 1900s, Schjerfbeck's figure paintings from the mid-1910s are characterised by the relationship between surface and colour, a concern that preoccupied her to such an extent that she complained in a letter to Maria Wiik in 1914 that 'I don't know how to draw anymore'. The bold forms of The reading girl are strengthened by the contrasts that Schjerfbeck creates through her use of colour; the yellow of the hair and the depth of the black dress are highlighted against the intense blue-green of the background. This colour is strikingly similar to that which Schjerfbeck discovered after much experimentation for the background of the iconic oil The tapestry from 1914-1916.
The model for the present work would appear to be the same girl that Schjerfbeck used for The tapestry, although her name is unknown. Schjerfbeck commented to Einar Reuter, her friend and biographer, during the execution of this latter work that she found it very difficult to capture the body language that she wanted to depict, the carriage of her model was too 'modern'. The pose of The reading girl is similarly vital in portraying the harmonious mood of the work but Schjerfbeck has captured it with a remarkable sense of grace. The model sits in careful introspection, holding but looking away from her open book and Schjerfbeck achieves a sense of calm and peace through the figure and surroundings that are rendered with a minimum of detail.