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Helene Schjerfbeck and Lithography Schjerfbeck's dealer Gösta Stenman exercised an enormous influence on her choice of subject matter during her later years. It was Stenman who originally encouraged her to reprise and reinterpret some of her more important subjects, a defining motif of Schjerfbeck's art. There were always nuances or colours that could be altered or an interpretation that could be rendered differently. Not only did this afford the artist greater financial security, but was also a creatively satisfying method of working, allowing Schjerfbeck to further develop her minimalist approach of condensed simplification. In 1927, several letters from Schjerfbeck to her close friend and biographer Einar Reuter reveal that Stenman had asked her to execute eight new 'reincarnations' of previous paintings. These included some of her most famous and successful compositions; The seamstress, The convalescent, Shadow on the wall, Sjundby Manor, Dance shoes, The Californian. Despite Reuter's misgivings about these commissions, Schjerfbeck considered this 'art of rejuvenation' both interesting and edifying. It was in 1938, the year that Schjerfbeck entered into an exclusive agreement with Stenman, that the latter suggested she create further reinterpretations, this time using lithography. Schjerfbeck had never worked in this medium and was initially reluctant, feeling that the onerous method was contrary to her usual creative spontaneity. However, she persevered and, when the prints were ready, Bertha Stenman brought them to Schjerfbeck in Tammisaari. Schjerfbeck continued to work on them, touching them in, adding pastel to some, hand colouring others. True to her artistic integrity, Schjerfbeck was keen to explore the new medium and to adapt it to her unique style. Thus she sharpens the contrasts of the original paintings and pares the motif down to its absolute minimum. In doing so she dramatically simplifies the subtlety of her palette, in keeping with her increasing sensitivity to colour throughout the 1920s and 1930s. However, Schjerfbeck chooses not to significantly alter the composition or form from the originals. According to her developing aesthetic, she simplifies the constituent elements, but retains the overall feel of the original works. The following lots represent five of the six lithographs Schjerfbeck produced in 1938-1939. As later reworkings of some of her most celebrated works, they together form a lasting testament to an artistic career spanning seven decades.

Helene Schjerfbeck (Finnish, 1862-1946)

Toipilas (The Convalescent)

Details

Helene Schjerfbeck (Finnish, 1862-1946)
Toipilas (The Convalescent)
lithograph in colours, 1938-39, second state (of three) after the red stone, on stone-coloured Canson and Montgolfier laid paper, a very good impression
Image: 13½ x 19 in. (345 x 480 mm.); Sheet: 19 x 24¾ in. (480 x 630 mm.)

Literature

Exh. cat., Helene Schjerfbeck, Helsinki, The Finnish National Gallery Ateneum, 1992, p. 262, no. 428 (illustrated).

Special notice

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Lot Essay

First conceived in 1888, The Convalescent is perhaps the most instantly recognisable and appealing of all Schjerfbeck's subjects and was to become a favoured motif with the artist, occupying her at several different times throughout her life. Elegant in its simplicity, the work depicts a young girl, leaning forward in a large wicker chair to look at the opening buds on a small twig on the table in front of her. With her large eyes, slight tilt of the head and her faint smile, Schjerfbeck has created an unusually playful image, combining a freshness and innocence that is arguably unsurpassed in her many other depictions of children.

Typically self-effacing, Schjerfbeck ascribed the success of the work to the 'touching sitter' rather than to any artistic merit, but nevertheless returned to the motif in 1927, paring down all extraneous detail and executing several versions of the subject, one of which was used by her dealer Stenman as his ex-libris. She again returned to the subject in 1938 and once more in 1945, just before her death; the frequency with which Schjerfbeck reprised The Convalescent over the course of her entire career suggests the high regard in which she held the motif. In 1938-1939, Schjerfbeck produced a series of lithographs of the subject. The present work belongs to the second state, executed in four colours in an edition of 30.

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