Crossing borders

To get a better education, artists in the 1800s had to travel abroad, to cities such as Düsseldorf, Dresden, Munich, and Berlin in Germany. Women were only allowed to study as private students of male artists or in art schools men had established for women.

The artists featured in Crossing Borders worked at a time when women did not yet have the right to vote. Women had to choose between a career and a family: when they got married, they usually had to stop working as artists. Many of the courageous artists featured in the exhibition were role models for later women artists such as Helene Schjerfbeck and Ellen Thesleff.

An art-historically significant exhibition highlights previously completely unknown artists and their networks, and puts on display works never before seen in Finland. The exhibition continues the Ateneum’s work as a pioneer in research related to women artists, and it is curated by the Ateneum curator Anne-Maria Pennonen. It highlights the importance of Germany as an art nation and a travel destination over France, which has been studied much more.

All the artists of Crossing Borders from the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries, Germany and Poland studied and worked in Germany in the 1800s. The Finnish artists featured in the exhibition include Fanny Churberg, Alexandra Frosterus-Såltin, Ida Silfverberg and Victoria Åberg, while foreign artists include Jeanna Bauck, Mathilde Bonnevie-Dietrichson, Marie Ellenrieder, Julie Hagen-Schwarz, Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, Magda Kröner, Amalia Lindegren, Emmy Lischke and Bertha Wegmann. The exhibition also features drawings by Finland’s first female scientific illustrator, Hilda Olson, from the collection of the Finnish Museum of Natural History. In all, the exhibits include paintings, sculptures and drawings by more than 50 artists, all of whom are women.