{{Short description|Finnish landscape painter (1860–1919)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Victor Westerholm | image = File:Gustaf Adolf Welin - Portrait photograph of Victor Westerholm.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Westerholm in 1914–1917 | birth_name = Victor Axel Westerholm | birth_date = {{Birth date|1860|1|4|df=yes}} | birth_place = Turku, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire (now Finland) | death_date = {{Death date and age|1919|11|19|1860|1|4|df=yes}} | death_place = Turku, Finland | field = Painting | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = }}
'''Victor Axel Westerholm''' (4 January 1860 Turku – 19 November 1919 Turku) was a Finnish landscape painter, especially known for founding the Önningeby artists' colony.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blf.fi/artikel.php?id=4160|title= Victor Westerholm |publisher= Biografiskt lexikon för Finland |access-date=January 1, 2019}}</ref>
==Biography== Victor Axel Westerholm was born in Turku in 1860. He was the son of Viktor Westerholm, a ship's master, and Maria Westerholm (née Andersson). As a child he spent a lot of time at the island of Nagu in the Finnish Archipelago. From 1869 to 1878 he studied at the Finnish Art Society's Drawing School in Turku, under Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1808–1873) and Thorsten Waenerberg (1846–1917); and as a young man he studied under Eugen Dücker (1841–1916) in Düsseldorf from 1878-1880. Much later he studied under Jules Joseph Lefebvre(1836–1911) at the Académie Julian in Paris from 1888-1890.<ref name="international studio">The International Studio, v. 33 No. 130 – December, 1907. edited by Charles Holme, Guy Eglinton, Peyton Boswell, William Bernard McCormick, Henry James Whigham. Victor Westerholm, Finnish Landscape Painter. Google Books</ref><ref name="kansallisbiografia"/>
In 1888 he became a teacher at the school of the Society of Art in Turku, and in 1891 became the director of the Turku art museum.<ref name="international studio" />
thumb|100px|Painting in 1907
In 1880 he first time visited Åland Islands and subsequently returned there almost every summer. He often painted winter landscapes and sunsets at his summer home, "Tomtebo", bought in 1884 at the village of Önningeby in the Municipality of Jomala on Åland in the Baltic Sea. A studio has also been built there. After completing his studies in Düsseldorf in 1886, he invited Fredrik Ahlstedt, Hanna Rönnberg and Elin Danielson to the newly acquired Tomtebo by the Lemström canal, thus beginning the Önningeby artists' colony (''Önningebykolonin''). Several artists arrived to Ålands that summer. Visiting artists who spent time in Önningeby include J.A.G. Acke, Hanna Rönnberg, Elin Danielson-Gambogi, Edvard Westman and Elias Muukka. J.A.G. Acke also became his close, life-long friend. Since 1992 Önningeby-museet in Önningeby has exhibited a permanent exhibition of works by the Önningeby artists’ colony.<ref name="international studio" /><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.konstmuseum.ax/en/onningebykolonin/ |title= The Önningeby artists' colony|publisher= konstmuseum |access-date=January 1, 2019}}</ref><ref name="visitaland">{{Cite web |url=http://www.visitaland.com/onningebymuseum/en |title=visitaland.com – The Önningeby colony |access-date=2010-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716115210/http://www.visitaland.com/onningebymuseum/en |archive-date=2011-07-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Ekström2023">{{cite book|last=Ekström|first=Kjell|title=Ida, Anna and Elin: Three Members of the Önningeby Artists' Colony|year=2023|publisher=Önningebymuseet, UAB BALTO print|isbn=978-952-69688-5-8}}</ref>
Westerholm was an instructor at Turku drawing school in 1887–1898 and 1904–1917. In 1891, he was elected as the curator of the newly formed Art Association in Turku.
==Personal life== thumb|100px|With his wife Hilma in 1884 [[File:Elin Kleopatra Danielson-Gambogi 20.jpg|thumb|100px|Portrait of his wife Hilma by Elin Danielson-Gambogi, 1888<br>{{NoteTag|The painting won a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1889.<ref name="satakunnankansa">{{cite news |last1=Kuvaja |first1=Sini |title=Tunnetko tämän taiteen kultakauden mestarin Noormarkusta? Aikansa kapinallinen eli ja maalasi rohkeasti |url=https://www.satakunnankansa.fi/kulttuuri/tunnetko-taman-taiteen-kultakauden-mestarin-noormarkusta-aikansa-kapinallinen-eli-ja-maalasi-rohkeasti-14078114 |access-date=16 May 2020 |work=Satakunnan Kansa |date=18 February 2017}}</ref>}}]] thumb|100px|With their daughter Greta in 1889
In 1885, he married Hilma Alander, whom he met at a dancing course in Turku. She was not a painter, but Victor encouraged her to take courses at the Turku Drawing School. They had three daughters and two sons. One daughter, {{ill|Greta Westerholm|fi}}, was born in Ålands.<ref name=Ekström2023/> Westerholm lived in Turku where he died in November 1919 from a flu that turned into pneumonia.<ref name="kansallisbiografia">{{cite web |last1=Reitala |first1=Aimo |title=Westerholm, Victor (1860 - 1919) |url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/4160 |website=Kansallisbiografia |access-date=9 July 2020 |date=23 September 2015}}</ref>
He was calm and thoughtful personality, but also had a good sense of humour. Together with his wife they were rather hospitable hosts on Önningeby. He preferred freedom to paint, but still accepted students and provided instructions at the colony, keeping silence in case he was unsatisfied with a student's work.<ref name=Ekström2023/>
==Memory== A monument, dedicated to Victor Westerholm, designed by his student Wäinö Aaltonen, was envailed by Lemström Canal near his summer house Tomtebo in 1960.<ref name=Ekström2023/>
==Works==
{{gallery |mode=packed |height=140 |Victor Westerholm - Werner Holmberg's Graveside - A-1993-402 - Kansallisgalleria.jpg|''Werner Holmberg's Graveside'', 1882 |Victor Westerholm - In the Studio - A I 235 - Finnish National Gallery.jpg|''In the Studio'', 1883 |Victor Westerholm - Autumn Landscape.jpg|''Autumn Landscape'', 1883 |Victor Westerholm - An October Day in Åland - A I 236 - Finnish National Gallery.jpg|''An October Day in Åland'', 1885 |Victor Westerholm - Eckerö Post Quay.jpg|''Eckerö Post Quay'', 1885 <small>(fi)</small><ref name="hs">{{cite news |last1=Valjakka |first1=Timo |title=Hienovaraisesti poliittinen maalaus katsoo länteen Venäjän keisarikunnan läntisimmällä kohdalla Ahvenanmaalla |url=https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000006523411.html |access-date=4 August 2020 |work=Helsingin Sanomat |date=30 May 2020}}</ref> |Victor Westerholm - Cows in a Birch Forest.png|''Cows in a Birch Forest'', 1886 |Victor Westerholm - Märket lighthouse - 1887.jpg|''Märket lighthouse'', 1887 |Victor Westerholm - Landscape from Åland - A I 608 - Finnish National Gallery.jpg|''Landscape from Åland'', 1895 |Victor Westerholm - Seal Hunting.jpg|''Seal Hunting'', 1900 |VICTOR WESTERHOLM, "EVENING SUN".jpg|''Evening Sun'', 1901 |Victor Westerholm - Kymi River (1902).jpg|''Kymi River'', 1902 |Victor Westerholm - Scene from Hirvensalo.jpg|''Scene from Hirvensalo'', 1903 |Victor Westerholm - Drying Laundry in the Sun.jpg|''Drying Laundry in the Sun'', 1900s |Victor Westerholm - Vallinkoski.jpg|''Vallinkoski Rapids'', 1917 <small>(fi)</small> |Victor Westerholm - Self-Portrait - A II 1365 - Finnish National Gallery.jpg|''Self-Portrait'', 1919 }}
==See also== *Golden Age of Finnish Art *Finnish art
==Notes== {{Reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category-inline|Victor Westerholm}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westerholm, Victor}} Category:1919 deaths Category:1860 births Category:19th-century Finnish painters Category:20th-century Finnish painters Category:Finnish male painters Category:19th-century Finnish male artists Category:20th-century Finnish male artists Category:Painters from the Russian Empire