Four years ago? Six years ago? When was my last visit to Finland? THAT is the question. The trip had been canceled twice in 2015 so my fingers and toes were crossed that there would be no hitches this time around. I was to arrive very late - 11.30pm is late for me and then we would have a 45 minute trip to Jorvas where Helena and Jorma live. A friendship going back some 30 or more years.
There house is one of the first eco homes built, perhaps 500 meters from the sea and virtually nothing around them - or two houses in the distance. Silence like that, is unknown in the city. I love being there but certainly couldn’t live in such an isolated area with pheasants, deer, birds and other animals to attract my attention. This time around Gekko their dog seem to approve of me - to this extent…..
Helena had planned my stay well. The sun shone all the time I was there. In fact out of the wind it was nearly warm although l was not casting off clothing like the Fins can do.
The night was short. The first day we would go to the Kuusilahdenkuja to visit the Didrichsen Art museum. It is a unique combination of an art museum and a private home by the seaside, on Kuusisaari island in Helsinki. (I should add perhaps that there are over 30,000 islands in Finland for a population of 5 million).
The museum holds two to three exhibitions a year, varying from Finnish art to modern international art. Permanently on display are the Pre-Columbian and Asian collections and artwork in the sculpture park. We were to see an specific exhibition from the collection of Russian art. Otherwise the permanent collections consists of Finnish art from the 20th century. The artist’s names
are, I’m sorry to say, quite beyond me but I did read that in the modern
international art collection there are works by: Picasso, Kandinsky,
Miró, Léger, Moore, Giacometti and Arp. This Léger was fabulous.
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Fernand Léger: Nature mort à la coupe, 1948
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Fernand Léger: Nature mort à la coupe, 1948
Marie-Louise and Gunnar Didrichsen were the owners.
What is lovely about the house, not to mention the gardens, it really feels lived in.
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| Henry Moore Reclining Figure on a Pedestal 1960 |
There are the galleries where we saw the exhibition. A bit of a shock to me. Some paintings or drawings appear to be sheer propaganda
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| Serge Kolstov "Stonecutter" 1920 |
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| Zoya Matveyeva-Mostova "Playing Billiards" 1969 |
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| Vjatjeslav Zjemirikin "On The way to the forest, clearing worksite" 1976 |
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| Victor Zoteyev "Youth construction proeject" 1965 |
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| Vjatjeslav Zjemerikin "Study" 1970 |
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| Sergei Jakobtjuk "Sami Women" 1977 |
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| Kirill Sjebeko "Airborn Postman" 1969 |
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| Serge Maljutin "Portrait of Dobiskji (?) 1925 |
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| Sergej Jakobtjuk "Reindeer Herder" 1974 |
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| The library with mainly English titles |
and others which have a real charm about them.
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| Serge Koltsov "Tango" 1928-30 |
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| Fjodor Bogorodskij "Sailor with girlfriend and accordion" 1930 |
Well, perhaps not charm but fascinating to look at.....
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| Georgi Rublev "Makhno" 1930 |
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| Konstantin Vyalov "Construction of a tramline" 1920 |
Thats was a lovely day and of course, fascinating seeing the pictures with Helena who knows so much about the Russian work and explained many points to me.
There was another exhibition too but with installations which were virtually impossible for me to look at.
The HAM or the Helsinkin art museum - contemporary art is quite something. The majority of the collection consists of Finnish art from the 20th and
21st centuries, but it also includes some older Finnish masterpieces as
well as international art. From the very beginning, HAM has been
investing in young and creative artists who contribute to the creation
of new art history. This is a small sample of what we saw.
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| Nikolaj Karatjarskov "Gusla Player" 1965 |
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| German Bezukladnikov "Evening Dance" 1970: Pretty close to a Chagall ? |
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| Igor ? 1980 Nearly a Rousseau? |
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| Aleksander Fedsoeyev "Sunday" 1981 |
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| Vasilij Jerofejev "Boys" 1995 |
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| Ai Wei Wei "Divina Proportio" - it took Ai's team of carpenters to years to make the piece with traditional joinery technique |
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| Marjatta Tapiola "Red" 2005-2006 |
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| Marjatta Tapiola "Beast's Head " 2000 |
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| Markus Konttinen "Love and Hate" 2003. When l first looked at it, I thought it was like the Russian "Tango" |
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| Juhani Linnovaara "Walkinh" 1970. I loved this |
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| Juhani Linnovaara "Awakening" 1955-56 |
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| Jukka Mäkelä "Untitled" 1985 |
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| Leena Luostarinen "Snake in Paradise" 1985-86 |
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| Marika Mäkelä "Dark light" 1985 |
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| Heikki Marila "So Ashamed I cannot Look ll" 2008. A little like Bacon? |
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| Mari Sunna "Capture" 2005 |
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| Kim Simonsson |
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| Kim Simonsson |
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| Kim Simonsson |
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| Kim Simonsson |
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| Juhana Blomstedt "Dream of Moebius ll" 2003 |
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| Pekka Kauhanen "Toy" 2001 |
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| Kristiinna Uusitalo "Far brighter than a cloud which carries the sun" 2006-207 |
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| Kristiinna Uusitalo "Time without duration" 2006-7 |
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| Bo Haglund "Skull" 2007 |
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| Tove Jansson |
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| Ellen Thesleff "Icarus" 1940 |
The following day we were off again and saw a very beautiful home called Tarvaspää. The artist who built it was Akseli Gallen-Kallela (26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) A Swedish-speaking Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic (illustration, below). His work was considered important for the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallen to Gallen-Kallela in 1907. The reason was to make it sound more Finnish!
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| Sculpture in the garden |
In our last visit we saw this painting and l knew at once that his work should mean much more to me….like us all, I can remember having seen paintings, but putting an artist’s name to them is anything but easy, especially is languages such as Finish!
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| Akselli Gallen |
Gallen-Kallela
Gallen-Kallela had worked overseas and even spent some time in Paris. It’s worthwhile reading up about him….
The Ateneum Art Museum has the country’s oldest and largest art collection. It not only tells the story of Finnish art, but also how the art field was developed. Here we were to see « Stories of Finnish Art » This was an exhibition of classics, well known in Finland along side seldom exhibited works of art. An exhibition with a twist as often we saw other well known European artists next to the Finnish work. It was easy to see the influence. Perhaps not my period but one hall which was really impressive was that of the portrait of artists we had seen. As you can see for yourself there are a great number of them - women too and some of these women’s work I like immensely. It would be very interesting to see such a gallery of European artists by period and the movements which were followed by other artists.
When we came into the bookshop, this is what we saw.
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| Kaarina Raikkonen |
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| Kaarina Raikkonen |
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| Kaarina Raikkonen |
I was overwhelmed. Such a fabulous idea. Kaarina Raikkonen. Her work is innately human. The use of material, or rather old clothes makes this possible. Apparently she has had installations all over the world - those I am sure that I would love. The shirts blowing in the breeze seem to be making a statement. Political? Immigration? Crowds? I’m not sure what but they are strong. Helena gave me a book of her's. I was quite astonished that my daughter picked up the book when l came home. "When did you see Kaarina Raikkonen? Her work is fabulous?" She then proceeded to tell me all about her.
There were other shows we saw but both Helena and l were at saturation point. It took me a few days back in Paris to look at the photos and see what l had seen! How lucky l am to have friends like that.
Back to Paris....I had left home in this weather
and come back to a "Northern Springtime" - I hope that Jorma and Helena have it too....
and come back to a "Northern Springtime" - I hope that Jorma and Helena have it too....
There house is one of the first eco homes built, perhaps 500 meters from the sea and virtually nothing around them - or two houses in the distance. Silence like that, is unknown in the city. I love being there but certainly couldn’t live in such an isolated area with pheasants, deer, birds and other animals to attract my attention. This time around Gekko their dog seem to approve of me - to this extent…..
The Ateneum Art Museum has the country’s oldest and largest art collection. It not only tells the story of Finnish art, but also how the art field was developed. Here we were to see « Stories of Finnish Art » This was an exhibition of classics, well known in Finland along side seldom exhibited works of art. An exhibition with a twist as often we saw other well known European artists next to the Finnish work. It was easy to see the influence. Perhaps not my period but one hall which was really impressive was that of the portrait of artists we had seen. As you can see for yourself there are a great number of them - women too and some of these women’s work I like immensely. It would be very interesting to see such a gallery of European artists by period and the movements which were followed by other artists.
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