Lempi Ostman (1906–1942)

Lempi Ostman was a New York-based Finnish-American artist and illustrator whose work was often devoted to Finnish subjects, and who was particularly known for her etchings. She was the daughter of Joseph Ostman, an artist and prominent member of the Finnish community in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, in the early decades of the 20th century. Her grandfather was a prominent architect and engineer in Finland. Educated at P.S. 2 and at the Pratt Institute, she lived in Manhattan but maintained a studio in Bay Ridge. Her sister, Mrs. Lilja Ostman Wesa, was a high school art teacher, and ran a coffee shop in Brooklyn, where Lempi Ostman often exhibited her work. She traveled often to Finland, in the course of her work, in order to gain cultural and artistic knowledge. In 1929 she illustrated Julia Davis Adams' Newbery Honor winning children's novel, Vaino: A Boy of New Finland.

(source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1934)