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Article: Haunting remnants of a pillaged arts colony.(Travel)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- July 14, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ONNINGEBY, Aland Islands - When Russian troops invaded this friendly archipelago in 1915, they unknowingly marched into - and effectively silenced - one of the first plein-air painting colonies in the world.
In 1886, a young Finnish artist named Victor Westerholm persuaded his artist friends to visit distant Onningeby to attempt a new form of painting called plein-air, for which studios were abandoned in favor of using the natural light and landscape outdoors.
As far as 26-year-old Westerholm was concerned, there was no more beautiful place to experiment with the plein-air style than amid the gentle grasses and blue-and-white waters of Onningeby.
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