975 resultados para FINLAND.


Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

This dissertation, based on material from Stenman s vast private archive, examines the role played by Swedish-speaking Finnish art dealer Gösta Stenman (1888-1947) and his art gallery, Stenmans Konstsalong, in the Finnish and Swedish art worlds from 1911 to 1947. This archive is examined here for the first time. The analytical framework used for this empirical study derives from Pierre Bourdieu s sociological theories. An art-sociological approach allows for the inclusion of more mechanisms at work in the art world than are typically embraced in such inquiries. This approach provides a fuller understanding of how Stenman attained his standing and central role in the art world in Finland as well as Sweden; enabling us to appreciate how he came to occupy such a prominent position in current art historical writing. All of these issues constitute new areas of research. Taking his cues from the contemporary art world of Paris, Stenman became the year 1914 a modern art dealer like no other in the Nordic countries. This dissertation represents the first academic investigation into his operations, strategies, and objectives, offering insight into not only the art dealer himself but also the functioning of the art market one of the most vital aspects of the art world. A by-product of this work, is that the modern art market in Finland is portrayed, including essential issues related to its growth and development as well as how it altered the conditions under which art could be produced, exhibited and promoted and what this entailed for the art world at large, artists and patrons alike. This first systematic analysis of the operations of Stenman s Konstsalong offers greater understanding of the art worlds of Sweden and Finland in the early twentieth century. The work also looks at how an agent of the art market could move between the fields of art in Sweden and Finland. The manner in which Stenman promoted individual artists, including his relationships with Tyko Sallinen, Helene Schjerfbeck, Juho Mäkelä, Jalmari Ruokokoski, Siri Derkert, Esther Kjerner, Eva Bagge, and many others, also falls within this purview. Stenman s contract with Sallinen from 1913 stands out as a new phenomenon in Finnish art promotion, whereby an artistic career became established via a far-sighted, strategic promotional program. The case study of Stenman s promotion of Schjerfbeck in Sweden provides evidence of the increasingly advanced nature of Stenman s strategies. The title of the dissertation, The Promoter of Modernism, attempts to convey that Stenman was the consummate modernist, modern in his thoughts, his actions, and his approach to art. Keywords: Gösta Stenman, Stenmans konstsalong, Stenmans dotter, art market, modernism, collecting, Novembergruppen, Helene Schjerfbeck, Tyko Sallinen, Juho Mäkelä, Jalmari Ruokokoski, Wäinö Aaltonen, Siri Derkert, Åke Göransson, Esther Kjerner, Eva Bagge.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

DRAMATURGY OF THEATRE MANAGEMENT Essential tasks, everyday problems and the need for structural changes Theatre justifies its existence only through high quality performances. Maintaining the artistic level and organizing performances are the primary tasks of a manager, even though in everyday life this often seems to be overshadowed by all the other tasks of a manager s work. How does a theatre manager design strategies and make everyday decisions if aims are to have artistically meaningful performances, financial success and a socially healthy ensemble, when not only artistic work or leadership of an organization are to be taken into consideration, but also a manpower-based art institution with long traditions? What does theatre management consist of and what kind of dramaturgical movement happens in it? Based on interviews carried out in five different city theatres in Finland in the years 2004-2008, incident stories were written within a continuous comparison theory frame. Social constructionism within a dramaturgic framework enabled versatile dialog on a manager s work and problem areas. The result is an interpretative study, where instead of common regularities, many details are collected that can be taken into consideration when similar situations occur. Based on the interviews and historical data, four factors that influence a manager s work were chosen: ownership, media, work community and programme. Within theatre management, the central problems were 1) the inconsistent use of theatre resources and problems in corporate governance caused by the administrative models; 2) the theatre s image, based on the image of its manager, as presented by the media and its influence on the wellbeing of the staff; 3) unsolved problems between the staff left behind by the previous managers and problems related to casting; 4) knowledge of the audience. These points influence how the manager plans the artistic programme and divides the resources. The theatre manager s job description has remained quite the same since the early days of Kaarlo Bergbom. In the future, special attention should be placed on why managers face fairly similar problems decade after decade. Reducing these problems partly depends on whether structural improvements are made to a theatre s close network of owners, financers and labour unions. During this study clear evidence was seen that structural changes are necessary in the production of performances and in the creation of a more versatile programme. In this process, different kinds of co-operation, experiments, development projects, continuing education and international relations have special importance, especially if the aim is to make it possible for all citizens of Finland to enjoy a vibrant and revitalized theatre.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

The study explores the first appearances of Russian ballet dancers on the stages of northern Europe in 1908 1910, particularly the performances organized by a Finnish impresario, Edvard Fazer, in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Berlin. The company, which consisted of dancers from the Imperial Theatres of St. Petersburg, travelled under the name The Imperial Russian Ballet of St. Petersburg. The Imperial Russian Ballet gave more than seventy performances altogether during its tours of Finland, Sweden, Denmark and central Europe. The synchronic approach of the study covers the various cities as well as genres and thus stretches the rather rigid geographical and genre boundaries of dance historiography. The study also explores the role of the canon in dance history, revealing some of the diversity which underlies the standard canonical interpretation of early twentieth-century Russian ballet by bringing in source material from the archives of northern Europe. Issues like the central position of written documentation, the importance of geographical centres, the emphasis on novelty and reformers and the short and narrow scholarly tradition have affected the formation of the dance history canon in the west, often imposing limits on the historians and narrowing the scope of research. The analysis of the tours concentrates on four themes: virtuosity, character dancing, the idea of the expressive body, and the controversy over ballet and new dance. The debate concerning the old and new within ballet is also touched upon. These issues are discussed in connection with each city, but are stressed differently depending on the local art scene. In Copenhagen, the strong local canon based on August Bournonville s works influenced the Danish criticism of Russian ballet. In Helsinki, Stockholm and Berlin, the lack of a solid local canon made critics and audiences more open to new influences, and ballet was discussed in a much broader cultural context than that provided by the local ballet tradition. The contemporary interest in the more natural, expressive human body, emerging both in theatre and dance, was an international trend that also influenced the way ballet was discussed. Character dancing, now at low ebb, played a central role in the success of the Imperial Russian Ballet, not only because of its exoticism but also because it was considered to echo the kind of performing body represented by new dance forms. By exploring this genre and its dancers, the thesis brings to light artists who are less known in the current dance history canon, but who made considerable careers in their own time.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

Dozens of Finnish artists, practically all the professional sculptors and painters, travelled to and stayed in Rome during the 19th century. The study at hand concentrates for the first time on the Finnish artists in Rome in corpore, and analyses their way of life based on a broad variety of previously unknown and unexplored sources from a number of archives in both Scandinavia and Rome. The extensive corpus of source material is scrutinized with microhistorical precision from the point of view of cultural history. The new information thus achieved adds to the previous knowledge of Rome s often overlooked importance as a source of inspiration in Scandinavian culture in general and significantly clarifies our understanding of the development of Finnish artistic life and cultural identity in the 19th century. The study proves that in Finland, like in all of Europe, the stay in Rome was considered to be a necessary part of becoming a true artist. Already the journey was an integral part of the encounter with Rome, corresponding with the civilized ideal of the period. The stay in Rome provided a northern artist with overwhelming opportunities that were incomparable to the unestablished and modest forms of artistic life Finland could offer. Without domestic artistic institutions or traditions, the professional status of Finnish painters and sculptors took shape abroad, firstly through the encounter with Rome and the different networks the Finnish artists belonged to during and after their stay in the eternal city. The Finnish artists were an integral part of the international artistic community in the cultural capital of Europe, which gave a totally new impetus to their work and contributed to their cosmopolitan identification. For these early masters of Finnish art, the Scandinavian communality and universal artistic identity seemed to be more significant than their nationality. In all, the scrutiny of Finnish artists in their wide social, ideological and international framework gives an interesting aspect to the cultural ambiance of the 19th century, in both Rome and Finland. The study highlights many long-forgotten artists who were influential in shaping Finnish art, culture and identity in their time.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

This study examines the transformation of the society of estates in the Finnish Grand Duchy through the case study of Senator Lennart Gripenberg and his family circle. While national borders and state structures changed, the connections between old ruling elite families remained intact as invisible family networks, ownership relations, economic collaboration and power of military families. These were the cornerstones of trust, which helped to strengthen positions gained in society. Also, these connections often had a central if unperceivable impact on social development and modernization. Broadly speaking, the intergenerational social reproduction made it possible for this network of connections to remain in power and, as an imperceptible factor, also influenced short-term developments in the long run. Decisions which in the short term appeared unproductive, would in the long run produce cumulative immaterial and material capital across generations as long-term investments. Social mobility, then, is a process which clearly takes several generations to become manifest. The study explores long-term strategies of reproducing and transferring the capital accumulated in multinational elite networks. Also, what was the relationship of these strategies to social change? For the representatives of the military estate the nobility and for those men of the highest estates who had benefited from military training, this very education of a technical-military nature was the key to steering, controlling and dealing with the challenges following the industrial breakthrough. The disintegration of the society of estates and the rising educational standards also increased the influence of those professionals previously excluded, which served to intensify competition for positions of power. The family connections highlighted in this study overlapped in many ways, working side by side and in tandem to manage the economic and political life in Finland, Russia and Sweden. The analysis of these ties has opened up a new angle to economic co-operation, for example, as seen in the position of such family networks not only in Finnish, but also Swedish and Russian corporations and in the long historical background of the collaboration. This also highlights in a new way the role of women in transferring the cumulative social capital and as silent business partners. The marriage strategies evident in business life clearly had an impact on the economic life. The collaborative networks which transcended generations, national boundaries and structures also uncover, as far as the elites are concerned, serious problems in comparative studies conducted from purely national premises. As the same influential families and persons in effect held several leading positions in society, the line would blur between public and invisible uses of power. The power networks thus aimed to build monopolies to secure their key positions at the helm. This study therefore examines the roles of Lennart Gripenberg senator, business executive, superintendent of the Department of Industry, factory inspector, and founding member of industrial interest groups as part of the reproduction strategies of the elite. The family and other networks of the powerful leaders of society, distinguished by social, economic and cultural capital, provided a solid backdrop for the so-called old elites in their quest for strategies to reproducing power in a changing world. Crucially, it was easier for the elites to gain expertise to steer the modernization process and thereby secure for the next generation a leading position in society, something that they traditionally, too, had had the greatest interest in.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

"Interior Design is Like Handwriting." Carin Bryggman and Lasse Ollinkari as Interior Designers in the 1940s and 1950s My dissertation deals with the emergence of the interior designer's profession in Finland with focus on the 1940s and 1950s, the postwar years of reconstruction and modernism, as the historical context. The topic is addressed at both the collective and individual levels. Specific subjects of study are the training of interior designers (also known as interior architects), the association of Finnish interior architects (Sisustusarkkitehdit SIO), the professional field and its public image and two leading designers, Carin Bryggman (1920 1993) and Lasse Ollinkari (1921 1993). Though respected figures within the field, Bryggman and Ollinkari have otherwise remained little known and studied. My study presents a great deal of new empiria. The main materials consist of the documents of related institutions and the archives of Bryggman and Ollinkari, in which drawings and photographs figure prominently. The drawings illustrate in a new way the variety of professional tasks in the field. My results are also based on a large body of interviewed material. The materials are approached from two theoretical perspectives, with gender and margins as core concepts from the perspective of women's studies. The even gender division of Finnish interior designers revealed a difference with regard to neighbouring occupations and other countries. I claim that the division of tasks was not defined by gender. The second theoretical basis is the sociological study of professions. The high professional status achieved by interior designers is shown by the fact that of the many related titles in Finnish and Swedish, such as "furniture draughtsman" or "interior artist", interior architect became the established one, despite opposition from architects. My hypothesis that the professionalization of interior designers took place during the two postwar decades proved to be correct. The profession emerged through specialized education and became established with the founding of its own professional organization. From the outset, the goal was to mark a distinction between professionals of interior and furniture design and other designers and architects. Interior designers became a strong and successful modern professional group, involved in a wide range of projects from objects to interiors. Keywords: interior designers, interior architects, interior art, occupations, gender, professions, interior design, furniture, home, public space, Carin Bryggman, Lasse Ollinkari, the Sisustusarkkitehdit SIO association, 1940s and 1950s, reconstruction, modernism.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

Russian Karelians were one of the small peasant nations of the Russian Empire that began to identify themselves as nations during the late imperial period. At that historical moment Russian Karelia fell between an economically undeveloped empire and the rapidly modernizing borderland of Finland. The economic and cultural lure of Finland drew Karelians into the Finnish camp. This attraction was seen as a challenge to Russia and influenced the straggle between Russia and Finland for the Karelians. This struggle was waged from 1905 to 1917. This work is focused on the beginning stage of the struggle, its various phases, and their results. The confrontation extended into different dimensions (economic, political, ideological, church and cultural politics) and occurred on two levels: central and regional. Countermeasures against local nationalisms developed much earlier both in Russia and in other empires for use were also used in the Russian Karelian case. Economic policies were deployed to try to make relations with Russia more alluring for Karelians and to improve their economic condition. However, these efforts produced only minimal results due to the economic weakness of the empire and a lack of finances. Fear of the economic integration of the Karelians and Finns, which would have stimulated the economy of the Karelia, also hindered these attempts. The further development of the Orthodox Church, the schools and the zemstvos in Karelia yielded fewer results than expected due to the economic underdevelopment of the region and the avoidance of the Finnish language. Policizing measures were the most successfull, as all activities in Russian Karelia by the Finns were entirely halted in practice. However, the aspiration of Russian Karelians to integrate their home districts with Finland remained a latent force that just waited for an opportunity to push to the surface again. Such a chance materialized with the Russian revolution. The Karelian question was also a part of Russian domestic political confrontation. At the and of the 1800s, the Russian nationalist right had grown strong and increasingly gained the favor of the autocracy. The right political forces exploited the Karelian question in its anti-Finnish ideology and in its general resistance to the national emancipation of the minority peoples of Russia. A separate ideology was developed, focusing on the closeness of Karelians to the "great Russian people." Simultaneously, this concept found a place in the ultramonarchist myth of the particularly close connection between the people and tsar that was prominent in the era of Nicholas II. This myth assigned the Karelians a place amongst the "simple people" faithful to the tsar.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

In Finland the period 1880 -1914 constituted an essential phase in the creation of the great national project as well as it was a golden time of Francophilia. With Francophilia, i.e. French-mindedness, is here understood a collectively upheld strong sympathy towards France and French culture. However, the Francophilia of late nineteenth century Finland was free from apparent political intentions and remained a chosen disposition. The strength of its drive was not only based on the older European admiration of everything French, but also on the growing fascination for a novelty emerging besides the traditional influences of the Germanic culture. In Finnish society Francophilia mostly worked as an opposite force to the most confined conceptions of what was considered national ; as a consequence France came to denote more than a country and Francophilia contained an important symbolical meaning in the construction of the Finnish nation. The main tasks of the study are to introduce as the first large historical presentation of the subject a covering examination of the many descriptions of Paris-phases of assorted artists, authors, and intellectuals, to clarify the mental relationship of the Finnish intelligentsia to France prior to national independence, and finally to provide these developments with case studies of certain life paths. However, the examination is not biographical, because the starting point remains within the rhetoric arguments of Francophilia and patriotism as these appeared within the public sphere. Historical persons have thus been dealt with primarily as reflectors of the then-current French-minded mentality. Such Francophiles in Finland were first and foremost Werner Söderhjelm, Juhani Aho, L. Onerva and V. A. Koskenniemi. The networks of the Finnish cultural field are mostly displayed through these examples. In previous research the intensive relationship of Finnish artists and authors with France has not been connected with actual concepts of nationalism. The respective periods of the intellectuals in Paris have simply been viewed as devoid of ideological links with the contemporary advancement of the fatherland, or even as opposites to the patriotic pursuits in Finland. From the viewpoint of this study these now canonized creators of a Finnish culture are primarily seen as patriots and fellow countrymen, and only secondly as artists and artist s colleagues. The dissertation is constructed as both a regional survey of the idealization of France and a study of Finnish history through the mirror of Francophilia. As such France only held an instrumental role for the receiving culture, i.e. for the construction of Finland, as no "objective truths" were sought for in France. Keywords: France, francophilia, Finnishness, national project, Paris

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

The Forest devil. Businessman Erik Johan Längman (1799 1863) in the transition of economic system In Finnish historiography, Erik Johan Längman (1799-1863) bears a bad reputation of his own level: a mean, profit-seeking businessman who did not care too much about methods in his operations. Although little known, Längman has been praised as one of the pioneers of modern industry in the Grand Duchy of Finland, which belonged to the Russian Empire. From the mid 1830s Längman owned iron mill and several sawmills around the country. The growing demand of the markets in the 1830s, especially in Great Britain, marked a strong stimulus to Finnish lumber industry. At the same time claims for stricter rule over the sawmill industry were raised by high officials. The momentum of the conflict, the Forest Act of 1851, brought an end to illegal overproduction. In this biography, particular emphasis is laid on the entrepreneurial behaviour of Längman, but also on the effect the entrepreneurs had on the Crown s policies. On the other hand, how did the limitations imposed by the Crown guide the actions of the sawmill owners? The solutions adopted by the sawmill owners and the manoeuvring of the government are in a constant dialogue in this study. The Finnish sawmill industry experienced a major change in its techniques and methods of acquiring timber during the 1830s. Längman particularly, with his acquisition organisation, was able to find and reach faraway forests with unexpected results. The official regulating system with its strict producing quotas couldn t follow the changes. When the battle against the sawmill industry really started on, in 1840, it didn t happen for the benefit of iron industry, as argued previously, but to save Crown forests from depletion. After the mid 1840s Längman and the leader of the Finnish nationalistic movement, J. V. Snellman questioned the rationality of the entire regulation system and in doing so they also posed a threat against the aristocratic power. The influential but now also badly provoked chairman of the economic division of senate, Lars Gabriel von Haartman, accused the sawmill-owners harder than ever and took the advantage of the reactionary spirit of imperial Russia to launch the state forest administration. Längman circumvented the conditions of privileges, felled Crown forests illegally and accusations were brought against him for destroying his competitors. The repeated conflicts spoke primarily about a superior business idea and organisational ability. Although Längman spent his last years mostly abroad he still had interests in Finnish timber business when the liberation of sawmill-industry was established, in 1861. Surprisingly, the antagonism around the Crown forests continued, probably even more heated.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

Approximately 125 prehistoric rock paintings have been found in the modern territory of Finland. The paintings were done with red ochre and are almost without exception located on steep lakeshore cliffs associated with ancient water routes. Most of the sites are found in the central and eastern parts of the country, especially on the shores of Lakes Päijänne and Saimaa. Using shore displacement chronology, the art has been dated to ca. 5000 – 1500 BC. It was thus created mainly during the Stone Age and can be associated with the so-called ‘Comb Ware’ cultures of the Subneolithic period. The range of motifs is rather limited, consisting mainly of schematic depictions of stick-figure humans, elks, boats, handprints and geometric signs. Few paintings include any evidence of narrative scenes, making their interpretation a rather difficult task. In Finnish archaeological literature, the paintings have traditionally been associated with ’sympathetic’ hunting magic, or the belief that the ritual shooting of the painted animals would increase hunting luck. Some writers have also suggested totemistic and shamanistic readings of the art. This dissertation is a critical review of the interpretations offered of Finnish rock art and an exploration of the potentials of archaeological and ethnographic research in increasing our knowledge of its meaning. Methods used include ’formal’ approaches such as archaeological excavation, landscape analysis and the application of neuropsychological research to the study of rock art, as well as ethnographically ’informed’ approaches that make use of Saami and Baltic Finnish ethnohistorical sources in interpretation. In conclusion, it is argued that although North European hunter-gatherer rock art is often thought to lie beyond the reach of ‘informed’ knowledge, the exceptional continuity of prehistoric settlement in Finland validates the informed approach in the interpretation of Finnish rock paintings. The art can be confidently associated with shamanism of the kind still practiced by the Saami of Northern Fennoscandia in the historical period. Evidence of similar shamanistic practices, concepts and cosmology are also found in traditional Finnish-Karelian epic poetry. Previous readings of the art based on ‘hunting magic’ and totemism are rejected. Most of the paintings appear to depict experiences of falling into a trance, of shamanic metamorphosis and trance journeys, and of ‘spirit helper’ beings comparable to those employed by the Saami shaman (noaidi). As demonstrated by the results of an excavation at the rock painting of Valkeisaari, the painted cliffs themselves find a close parallel in the Saami cult of the 'sieidi', or sacred cliffs and boulders worshipped as expressing a supernatural power. Like the Saami, the prehistoric inhabitants of the Finnish Lake Region seem to have believed that certain cliffs were ’alive’ and inhabited by the spirit helpers of the shaman. The rock paintings can thus be associated with shamanic vision quests, and the making of ‘art’ with an effort to socialize the other members of the community, especially the ritual specialists, with trance visions. However, the paintings were not merely to be looked at. The red ochre handprints pressed on images of elks, as well as the fact that many paintings appear ’smeared’, indicate that they were also to be touched – perhaps in order to tap into the supernatural potency inherent in the cliff and in the paintings of spirit animals.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

The Modern City Planning of Architect Aarne Ervi in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: The Planning of the Finnish Capital after the Second World War This study focuses on the city planning of architect Aarne Ervi (1910-1977) in the Helsinki metropolitan area, which includes the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, from the 1940s to the end of the 1960s. Ervi succeeded in several major architectural competitions in Finland, acted as the main designer of the "New Town" of Tapiola and of the suburb of Vantaanpuisto in the metropolitan area, and worked as the first director of the city planning department of Helsinki from 1965-1969. This study belongs to the field of planning history in which the art historical study of architecture blends with the history of Finnish society. I examine architect Aarne Ervi and his city planning architecture through the concept of "modern". I link the theoretical literature of modernism in architecture and the modernization of society with historical documents and empirical archival research. I examine Ervi's professional career, the teamwork characteristic of his office, and the collegial community in which Ervi serves different vocational roles as an architect. The postwar development of planning legislation and of municipal and state planning organisations provides the necessary context for urban planning. I also discuss the municipal development of Espoo and Vantaa and the regionalization process that occured in Helsinki during the decades in question. The main results of this study relate to the collective and cooperative group nature of work in architectural design, to the introduction of an alternative approach to the question of modernism in Finnish architectural discourse, and to the post-war planning history of legislative and institutional organisations in Finland. Furthermore, the study includes new historical research about the city planning department of the city of Helsinki, the planning of Tapiola and Vantaanpuisto, and the operations of the main developers of these two suburban areas: the Asuntosäästäjät Society and the Asuntosäätiö Foundation.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

Towards Lyrical Abstraction Anitra Lucander s Modernism in the 1950s Anitra Lucander (1918-2000) was one of the early pioneers of abstract art in Finland. During the Second World War Finnish art and cultural life was isolated and stagnated and figurative art was still dominant after the war. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, new international abstract art movements started to come to Finland. Anitra Lucander was one of the artists of the younger generation after the war who took an interest in the abstract movements in the early 1950s. At the beginning of the 1950s, abstract art came to Finland primarily in the form of Concretism, but simultaneously, a more delicate abstract movement emerged, and Anitra Lucander was among those cultivating such conceptions in her art. In this thesis, I observe and analyze through Anitra Lucander s art this central movement in Finnish modern art that has not yet been extensively studied. I examine how Anitra Lucander s art connects with the style change in Finnish art. I scrutinize the factors that affected Lucander and turned her towards abstract expression, and the effect her art had on emergence of abstract art in Finland. I will also consider the development of her art, the reception and critique of her art and the effect the critique had on her position in the 1950s art world. Because of a lack of earlier studies, I will undertake basic research, relying on empirical primary source material, where the starting point is to place the phenomenon under examination in the historical and cultural context. The most significant study materials are the artist s paintings and graphics from 1948 to 1960, newspaper and magazine articles from the same era, archive sources and interviews with Lucander s relatives, fellow artists and friends. An interesting aspect of the topic is the fact that Anitra Lucander was the only woman among the important pioneers of early Finnish abstract art. Through Lucander s art, I also examine the position of female artists in the tradition of Modernism as well as in the Finnish art world of the 1950s. This theoretical background is provided by the studies of feminist art historians, such as Marsha Meskimmon, Gill Perry, Griselda Pollock and Anne Middleton Wagner. Lucander s position in the male-dominated Finnish art scene of the 1950s, and how she achieved her position, emerges as one of the central themes of the study. I will also observe whether gender is evident in Lucander s art and expression, as well as her reception and critique compared to the reception of her male colleagues art. From a woman s point of view, I reveal the masculine rhetoric and gendered attitudes in the critique of the era. As a theoretical and methodological frame of reference, I use discourse analysis. Anitra Lucander encountered modernistic, international art movements during her journeys to Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Her art evolved from the geometric Concretism of the early decade towards more delicate and painterly abstract expression. After the mid-1950s, she had developed her signature expression; through Cubism and a collage technique, she developed in her painting a delicate, coloristic imagery, which can be characterized as Lyrical Abstraction. Lucander did not consider abstract expression to be categorical, but saw the abstract and the nonfigurative as equals: the line between the abstract and the figurative is very often fleeting in her art. Already in her own time, Lucander achieved a position as one of the most talented young artists of her generation and her work was included in significant exhibitions. This success can definitely be attributed to the fact that she embraced Modernism in its extreme form, abstraction, already at the beginning of her career and networked with male painters who shared her outlook and modernistic expression. For her, this was either a conscious or an unconscious method of adapting to the male-dominated Finnish art field in the 1950s. In spite of acclaim and attention, Lucander had to encounter the gendered attitudes in the critique of the time, and her art was often perceived through stereotypical views as overly feminine and dependent. However, with her art, Lucander played an important role in the breakthrough for colorism and abstract art in Finland in the 1950s.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

The thesis addresses the problem of Finnish Iron Age bells, pellet bells and bell pendants, previously unexplored musical artefacts from 400–1300 AD. The study, which contributes to the field of music archaeology, aims to provide a gateway to ancient soundworlds and ideas of music making. The research questions include: Where did these metal artefacts come from? How did they sound? How were they used? What did their sound mean to the people of the Iron Age? The data collected at the National Museum of Finland and at several provincial museums covers a total of 486 bells, pellet bells and bell pendants. By means of a cluster analysis, each category was divided into several subgroups. The subgroups, which all seem to have a different dating and geographical distribution, represent a spread of both local and international manufacturing traditions. According to an elemental analysis, the material varies from iron to copper-tin, copper-lead and copper-tin-lead alloys. Clappers, pellets and pebbles prove that the bells and pellet bells were indisputably instruments intended for sound production. Clusters of small bell pendants, however, probably produced sound by jingling against each other. Spectrogram plots reveal that the partials of the still audible sounds range from 1 000 to 19 850 Hz. On the basis of 129 inhumation graves, hoards, barrows and stray finds, it seems evident that the bells, pellet bells and bell pendants were fastened to dresses and horse harnesses or carried in pouches and boxes. The resulting acoustic spaces could have been employed in constructing social hierarchies, since the instruments usually appear in richly furnished graves. Furthermore, the instruments repeatedly occur with crosses, edge tools and zoomorphic pendants that in the later Finnish-Karelian culture were regarded as prophylactic amulets. In the Iron Age as well as in later folk culture, the bell sounds seem to have expressed territorial, social and cosmological boundaries.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

Treasures of a Patriot Eliel Aspelin-Haapkylä as an art collector and art historian Treasures of a Patriot is a study of Eliel Aspelin-Haapkylä (1847 - 1917), professor of aesthetics and modern literature, as an art collector and art historian. The study combines the biographical perspective, art history as a discipline in the 19th-century Finland, and Aspelin-Haapkylä s art historical scholarship. My intention was to answer to questions such as what kind of an art collector an academic art historian was, why he collected art and cultural-historical objects and what the purpose of his collecting was. Aspelin-Haapkylä was an ideal choice for the main character because the ideologies of the era, culture, art and European ideas, especially German ideas about museums, are intertwined in his life. In addition, the ideas of the Fennomen can be found in his ideological background. Together with his wife, Ida Aspelin-Haapkylä, he bequeathed a rich donation to the National Museum of Finland, and a wideranging archive concerning the collection, his writings, and letters to the Finnish Literature Society. I have highlighted the materials from the archives related both to the collection and art history, especially the letters between Aspelin-Haapkylä and artists, fellow members of academia, his spouse and relatives. The content and the structure of the research are divided into seven main chapters. First, I discuss Susan M. Pearce s theory of collecting and the history of collecting. I also introduce some other art historians who were private collectors. The late 19th-century Fennomen and other nationalists who were active in cultural life and the arts, are introduced in the second chapter. In the third I deal with Aspelin-Haapkylä s collection of European art combined with his writings, his early published works, studies and many trips to Europe. The fourth and the fifth chapters are dedicated to those Finnish artists who he wrote biographies of, and the artists of his own era whom he supported. The sixth chapter discusses institutions and channels of influence and power through which the initiative to found the National Museum of Finland, his action in the Antell Delegation and co-operation with the art merchant Henryk Bukowski, rise up to the fore. Finally, I process the last will and the fate of the collection from 1917 until 1932. As an appendix, I have included a report and reconstruction of the art collection. The catalogue is based on the words in Aspelin-Haapkylä s the so-called blue notebooks, which I have completed with additions from other sources.

Relevância:

10.00% 10.00%

Publicador:

Resumo:

"We have neither Eternal Friends nor Eternal Enemies. We have only Eternal Interests .Finland's Relations with China 1949-1989 The study focuses on the relations between Finland and the People s Republic of China from 1949-1989 and examines how a small country became embroiled in international politics, and how, at the same time, international politics affected Finnish-Chinese relations and Finland s China policy formulation. The study can be divided into three sections: relations during the early years, 1949-1960, before the Chinese and Soviet rift became public; the relations during the passive period during the 1960s and 1970s; and the impact of China s Open Door policy on Finland s China policy from 1978-1989. The diplomatically challenging events around Tiananmen Square and the reactions which followed in Finland bring the study to a close. Finland was among the first Western countries to recognise the People s Republic and to establish diplomatic relations with her, thereby giving Finland an excellent position from which to further develop good relations. Finland was also the first Western country to sign a trade agreement with China. These two factors meant that Finland was able to enjoy a special status with China during the 1950s. The special status was further strengthened by the systematic support of the government of Finland for China's UN membership. The solid reputation earned in the 1950s had to carry Finland all the way through to the 1980s. For the two decades in between, during the passive policy period of the 1960s and 1970s, relations between Finland and the Soviet Union also determined the state of foreign relations with China. Interestingly, however, it appeared that President Urho Kekkonen was encouraged by Ambassador Joel Toivola to envisage a more proactive policy towards China, but the Cultural Revolution cut short any such plan for nearly twenty years. Because of the Soviet Union, Finland held on to her passive China policy, even though no such message was ever received from the Soviet Union. In fact, closer relationships between Finland and China were encouraged through diplomatic channels. It was not until the presidency of Mauno Koivisto that the first high-level ministerial visit was made to China when, in 1984, Foreign Minister Paavo Väyrynen visited the People s Republic. Finnish-Chinese relations were lifted to a new level. Foreign Minister Väyrynen, however, was forced to remove the prejudices of the Chinese. In 1985, when the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, Erkki Pystynen visited China he also discovered that Finland s passive China policy had caused misunderstandings amongst the Chinese politicians. The number of exchanges escalated in the wake of the ground-breaking visit by Foreign Minister Väyrynen: Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa visited China in 1986 and President Koivisto did so in 1988. President Koivisto stuck to practical, China-friendly policies: his correspondence with Li Peng, the attitude taken by the Finnish government after the Tiananmen Square events and the subsequent choices made by his administration all pointed to a new era in relations with China.