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This article discusses two artworks by the Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt (1854 – 1905), related to a sixweek- long journey to Spain in 1881: San Telmo Sevilla – recuerdo de la feria (San Telmo Seville – A Memory from the Feria), and Remembrance of Spain (Jewish Girl), also known as A Memory from Spain. The approach is theoretical, with the aim to examine how the concept of the souvenir shapes our understanding of the paintings’ motifs. The main research questions pertain to how Edelfelt’s Spanish artworks refer to the differentiated object that attracted his tourist eye, containing also his experiences. Questions of metonymy and travel pictures’ parallels to (tourism) photography are addressed. The methodology is based on semiotics according to D. MacCannell (1999) and J. Culler (1981), with a particular interest in truth markers. An empirically anchored art historical aspect is contextualised within a framework of theories on tourist behaviour, such as Urry’s theory of the tourist gaze. The artworks are defined as souvenirs and analysed from a tourism perspective. The combination of the concept of the souvenir and empirical data as a base for art historical analysis of travel pictures is particularly successful: the pictures’ function as truth markers serves as proof of that ephemeral but real experiences have taken place; the artworks’ titles refer to the memory function, anchoring the pictures in time and place like truth markers do. This adds to art historical analysis, framing empirical evidence within a broader context of travel behaviour and souvenir production.

I artikeln granskas den finländske moralfilosofen och socialantropologen Edvard Westermarcks (1862–1939) fotografier i hans reseskildring Sex år i Marocko (1918). Syftet är att reda ut hur autenticitet skapas och förmedlas i text och bild i den populärt hållna boken. Samtliga forskningsfrågor har beröringspunkter med hur Westermarcks antropologiska fotografier kan definieras utgåendefrån autenticitet. På vilket sätt skapar själva texten och interaktionen mellan text och bild intryck av autenticitet och trovärdighet? Vilken betydelse har olika grader av autenticitet för Westermarcks berättarstrategier? Hur kan autenticitet kontra iscensatt verklighet i Westermarcks berättelse och illustrationerna bestämmas och vad berättar det om hans relation till Marocko? Textens och bildernas interaktion granskas, varefter det sker en analys utgående från begreppet ikonotext, turismteoretiska och antropologiska, fotohistoriska frågeställningar. Även om Westermarcks fotografier kan definieras som relativt okonstlade, har antropologiska fotografier historiskt sett ofta varit mer eller mindre arrangerade; trots en skenbar direkthet karakteriseras fotograferingsögonblicket därför av subjektivitet. I Westermarcks reseskildring skapas olika grader av autenticitet genom ett varierande samspel mellan text och bild, användningen av preciserande ord och uttryck och själva urvalet bilder (hans och andras) som ska illustrera hans text. Man kan också tänka omvänt, att texten förklarar speciellt hans egna bilder, eftersom samspelet mellan text och bild då är så ens och en hög grad av autenticitet uppnås. Men trots Westermarcks uppenbara Marockoexpertis och fotografiernas förmodade direkthet, gör hans sätt att använda autenticitetsmarkörer att reseskildringen paradoxalt nog kan definieras som en mer eller mindre iscensatt och differentierande verklighetsskildring.

Recension: Hanna-Reetta Schreck, Minä maalaan kuin jumala. Ellen Thesleffin elämä ja taide (Helsinki: Teos, 2017).

In 1931, the Finnish painter Juho Rissanen (1873-1950) travelled to the tourist city Biskra in Algeria, then spending there the winter season, a most agreeable time in North Africa. It is situated on the verge of the Saharan desert, and ever since Algeria had become a French colony in the early nineteenth century, the city hosted hordes of tourists. (Algeria became independent as late as in 1962.) Biskra was known for its sulphate baths, which were supposed to improve health. But as several travellers and painters have observed, it was also the perfect spot where to hire a camel and a driver for a journey into an unwelcoming desert. Algerian Sahara had in fact been the target of many earlier nineteenth century Orientalists, and the country’s status as a French colony made its sights relatively accessible to foreigners. Rissanen was one of those following in the footsteps of earlier itinerants. The authenticity of the city as the visitors saw it is, however, a complex question. The travellers usually lived at the same hotel near the baths and stayed mostly in the company of each other. The locals in their turn – a travel account of the time explains – were always ready to pose wherever a Kodak camera would turn up, and as a result, costume studies were produced and camels painted. All foreigners regarded camel excursion as the climax of the stay. In Finland, Rissanen is best known for his late nineteenth- and early twentieth century portraits of Finnish rural types, let be that he later turned to other motifs and techniques. Even today, the latter part of his production is much lesser known than the celebrated highlights. Chronic anxiety about health constantly led the painter to warmer climates; he spent his final years in Florida after having sauntered around the Mediterranean, e.g. Southern France, in the interwar years. The aim of my article is threefold: firstly, to investigate Rissanen’s motifs for travelling to Biskra; secondly, to show that Rissanen’s encounter with the city was purely touristic, in line with its reputation as a travel destination in colonial France; and thirdly, to present its outcome as an example of late Orientalist painting. To sum up, I consider the reception of Rissanen’s later art production, in order to situate his Biskra-pictures within a larger context. Unfortunately, I have, so far, only been able to locate a handful of watercolours now belonging to Kuopio Art Museum. The Kuopio collection also contains Rissanen’s letters to his friend, the physician Emil Suihko, as well as to the art historian Onni Okkonen, among others. In his correspondence, Rissanen lingers on Biskra. The works I have found depict craftsmen sitting in the streets and women wearing colourful, local dresses. Needless to say, even Rissanen proved his love of the desert by drawing camels. It is another matter that these ubiquitous animals of course could be spotted in the streets, too. Interestingly, in an interview made shortly after Biskra and published in a 1931 issue of the Finnish magazine Konstrevyn, Rissanen says very little of why and how he painted in Northern Africa. Virtually, the whole text deals with touristic trivia. Keywords: Juho Rissanen (1873-1950), Biskra, French Orientalism, tourism, 20th century visual arts

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