Paris from a Window : Impressionism in Helena Westermarck's Short Story 'Aftonstämning' (1890)

Helena Westermarck (1857-1938) was a Finnish painter, critic
and novelist. This article uses Westermarck’s short story
‘Aftonstämning’ (1890) as a springboard for the investigation
of the concept and practice of ekphrasis in general, and in the
context of impressionism in particular. Concomitantly, reading
Westermarck’s story through impressionism reveals
her strategy of adopting a very modern form to explore social
divisions in the Parisian cityscape. Her writing is thus seen to
constitute a writerly parallel to the ‘middle way’ found by the
female Scandinavian artists of the time, whose access to the
city life immortalised by male impressionists was limited by
social convention. This is particularly evident in Westermarck’s
use of point of view, iconic projection, framing and cropping.
The article concludes by exposing the tensions
between content and form in Westermarck’s interartistic
transposition of visual elements, which contradicts the
impressionist project to convey only sensory impressions, not
ethical or social interest.