Helene Schjerfbeck
Covered by droit de suite
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"Hyresvärden I" (The landlord)
Signed H. Schjerfbeck. Executed 1928. Relined canvas 48.5 x 38.5 cm.
Provenance
(Possibly) Unknown Swedish collection, approximately 1929.
Gösta Stenmans collection.
Gösta Stenmans estate.
Bukowski, Stockholm, auction no 427, "Autumn auction", 30 Oktober - 2 November 1984, lot no 533 (Depicted in catalogue, half page in colour, plate V).
Rune Andreassons collection (acquired at the auction above).
Privat collection (acquired from the collection above).
Exhibitions
(Possibly) Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden, "Finlands nutida konst", 5-24 February 1929, no 453 ("Porträtt").
(Possibly) Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, Norway, 1929, no 341.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck. Exposition i Stockholm", 12 September - last days of October (the exhibition was prolonged severel times), no 9.
Eskilstuna konstmuseum, "Helene Schjerfbeck. Separatutställning", February - March 1938, no 7.
Malmö museum, "Helene Schjerfbeck", October 1938.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck", no 13.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbecks U.S.A. - kollektion", 17 November - 23 December 1939, no 71.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck - reprisutställning", 24 April - 19 May 1940, no 67.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck. Hyllningsutställning", 23 September - 15 November 1942, no 54.
Skånska Konstmuseum, Universitetets Konstmuseum, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 22 November - 6 December 1942, no 42.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 27 October - 18 December 1944, no 47.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck in Memoriam", 1946, no 44.
Stenmans konstsalong, "Helene Schjerfbeck. Utställning Canada och USA", 1948-1953.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 1954, no 47.
Helsingfors konsthall, Finland, "Helene Schjerfbeck. Minnesutställning", 1954, no 125.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 1958, no 48.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck 1862-1962", 1962, no 64.
Stenmans konstsalong, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 1967, no 42.
Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, Denmark, "Helene Schjerfbeck - Tyko Sallinen", 1969, no 55.
Kunstforeningen, Köpenhamn, Denmark 1969, no 55.
Helsingfors, "Helena Schjerfbeck", 1980, no 68.
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 1987, no 50.
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 1987-88.
Kunstnernes hus, Oslo, Norway, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 1988, no 58.
Ateneum, Helsingfors, Finland, "Helene Schjerfbeck", 2 February - 5 April 1992, no 353.
Literature
"Samling Gösta Stenman. Finländsk konst. Beskrivande katalog utarbetad av Nils-Gustav Hahl", 1932, no 145, p. 252 and depicted p. 253.
Gotthard Johansson, "Helene Schjerfbecks konst. Ett urval målningar, teckningar och litografier", 1940, depicted full page.
Hanna och Eilif Appelberg, "Helene Schjerfbeck. En biografisk konturteckning", 1949, depicted full page, p. 173.
H. Ahtela, "Helena Schjerfbeck", 1953, mentioned p. 240 and listed as no 653, p. 366.
Lena Holger, "Helene Schjerfbeck. Liv och konstnärskap", 1987, mentioned and depicted full page, no 58.
"Helene Schjerfbeck", Exhibition catalogue, Ateneum, Helsingfors, 1992, listed as no 353, p. 225 and depicted full page, p. 226.
Leena Ahtola-Moorehouse (ed.), "Helene Schjerfbeck", exhibition catalogue, Ateneum, Helsingfors, 2012, no 508.
More information
"Hyresvärden I" (The landlord) is one of Helene Schjerfbecks most important and representative works from her time in Ekenäs, Finland. It is filled with her unprecedented sharp eye for daring compositions with light and shadow where the pale figure stands in stark contrast to the dark background. The influence of her studies of El Greco is apparent in "Hyresvärden I," but the work also contains something highly personal for Schjerfbeck -- a pure composition devoid of any unnecessary details and accomplished in its deceptive simplification.
The 1920s was one of Helene Schjerfbeck's most productive decades. She participated in a show together with the newly founded artist group "De fria" at Salong Strindberg in Helsinki. Nineteen of her paintings were included, and many of her works were sold -- the exhibition was well received. She was also awarded Finand's highest order "The white rose" the same year and received funding from the government, which helped her during her often strained economy.
In the summer of 1922, Schjerfbeck turned sixty years old and the following year, lost her mother, who she had been very close to. While her mother's death came as a shock, Helene also felt a sense of relief. It was time to break away from her old life and begin a new phase. She left her old home and rented an apartment, but in the spring of 1925, fled Hyvinge for good and moved to Ekenäs in southern Finland. She had visited Ekenäs several years before together with her dear friend Einar Reuter. It might have been the memories from that time that made her return to Ekenäs. Helene lived there from 1925 to 1941.
Initially Schjerfbeck felt disappointed by the location - both the residence and the people. But the area grew more and more important to her. The roses, lilies and the old plum tree in the garden became important images to her and brought warm feelings for the area and her home, which she wrote poetically about to her friends. Her sunny living room, where she painted freely, became a safe haven for her.
Schjerfbeck's painting style had changed and become sharper during the 1920s, more revealing, and the colour scale became darker. It was not as easy to find models for her portraits in Ekenäs as it was in Hyvinge, she chose people that was in her surrounding, both friends and also visitors. Eskil Bäckman, her landlord, was a person who Helene became fascinated by and used as a subject in numerous paintings, but this is the most renown.
The realism from her earlier works from the 1880s and 1890 is now substituted to a reduction of lines, shadows and details. She revisited many of her earlier works such as "Konvalescenten", "Skuggan på muren" and "Sömmerskan" at this time, particularly because of the encouragement from her friend and art dealer Gösta Stenman. Many of these paintings today are considered as her best works. She founded her own independent, personally minimalistic and classic style that has become so loved by generations of art lovers. In the autumn 1984 "Hyresvärden I (The landlord)" was included in a sale at Bukowskis Auction House. The viewing was filled with people who wanted to take the opportunity to see the painting, which at the time sold for a record price.