In Finland, that for 700 years was under Swedish and 100 years under Russian rule, fin-de-siecle art had a particular responsibility to bear. As part of a growing national identity and pronounced striving for freedom, the arts-- whether music or literature, architecture, the decorative arts or painting--gained an increasingly political role that helped mould the country’s identity.
The works of art included in this volume enable readers to familiarise themselves with the cultural output of the country and gain an insight into this fascinating development in Modernism.
Stephan Koja is curator at the Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria. He is the author or editor of Claude Monet (1996), America - The New World in 19th Century Painting (1999) and Gustav Klimt - Landscapes (2002). He produced the documentary films Klimt Landscapes. Tracing the Sources (2002) and Nordic Dawn Modernism’s Awakening in Finland 189o-192o (2005).
Foreword 12
Introduction 14
SOILI SINISALO
Native Land, Art and Landscape in Finland
in the Late 19th and Early 2oth Centuries 22
VILLE LUKKARINEN
Landscapes of Ideas 34
RAINER KNAPAS
Tracing the Sources 50
TIMO HUUSKO, RIITTA OJANPER,A, SOILI SINISALO
The Landscape of the Mind 68
LEENA AHTOLA-MOORHOUSE, TIMO HUUSKO
In Search of New Means of Expression 78
HELMIRIITTA SARIOLA, SOILI SINISALO
Facing a New Reality 92
RIITTA OJANPERA, KATRI VUOLA
PLATES 102
List of Plates 182
Map 185
Chronology 188
TIMO HUUSKO, RAINER KNAPAS, SYLVIA MRAZ, RIITTA OJANPERA,
Biographies 208
SIINA HALIKKA, IRMELI ISOMAKI, LEA KESKITALO
General Literature 226
Photographic Credits 228
Index 229