Ebba Masalin (29 August 1873 - 31 March 1942) was a Finnish painter, draftsman and illustrator. Masalin's parents were Gabriel Johan and Emilia Masalin. She was born in the town of

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; ; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city in, and the regional capital of, South Savo, Finland, located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population is approximately , while the Mikkeli sub-region of Southern Savonia has a populat ...

. Both her parents' families had been civil servants for several generations and her father became Governor of

Oulu Province The Province of Oulu (, , ) was a Provinces of Finland, province of Finland from 1775 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Lapland (former province of Finland), Lapland, Western Finland and Eastern Finland and also the Gulf of Bothnia and Russia ...

. She did not marry and lived with her sister for much of her life. Masalin studied at the Art Society of Finland's Drawing School in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

between 1892 and 1898. Her work was included in national exhibitions by Finnish artists between 1898 and 1905. She worked as a teacher and illustrator. Her best-known paintings were for schools, depicting wild and garden plants and sometimes animals. These paintings show the plants on a black background, as in a school blackboard, and were designed by John Lindén, the husband of her cousin. They were published by the Otava company. It is likely that her sister Hedvig made the engravings needed for printing these illustrations. This type of wall illustration was widely used in schools in Finland from the late 19th to the mid-20th century and was an important educational tool. Masalin also painted portraits and landscapes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masalin, Ebba 1873 births 1942 deaths People from Mikkeli 20th-century Finnish painters 20th-century Finnish illustrators 20th-century Finnish educators Finnish women illustrators Finnish women educators 20th-century Finnish women painters Finnish art educators Finnish portrait painters Finnish landscape painters