After New Year we visited HAM (Helsinki Art Museum) to see the two famous frescoes painted by Tove Jansson named Party in the Countryside (Juhlat maalla, 1947) and Party in the City (Juhlat kaupungissa, 1947). I liked Party in the Countryside, whereas Evgenia liked Party in the City (Juhlat kaupungissa, 1947) more. Both frescoes are vividly blue-toned in color and one is presenting – as follows from the titles - the party in the city and the other - party in the countryside.
Party in the Countryside, 1947, Tove Jansson. Helsinki Art Museum.
I found Party in the Countryside fresco atmosphere more idyllic and calm; at the moment I find forests really inspiring although the dance party in the balcony might be just as fun. Party in the City seem to have many references to Tove Jansson’s own life as it was during the time the fresco were made, and there is lot of movement in the fresco. In this fresco viewer can notice a little Moomintroll hidden in the painting, keeping company with Tove Jansson herself. Including a small troll in her art was typical of Tove Jansson, as a sort of signature.
Tove Jansson has stated that parties were of utmost importance at the time when burdens of war grew heavy on people and sorrow was felt throughout Europe. Especially the Jansson family was known in the art and literature circles in Helsinki for having parties which went on several nights. In a way both frescoes by Tove Jansson can be seen to reflect the best ideas of intelligentsia, those which were part of zeitgeist and much needed.
Party in the City, 1947, Tove Jansson. Helsinki Art Museum.
The story behind the famous Finnish frescoes goes so that the City of Helsinki commissioned two big murals in 1947, intended for the City Hall, and after Jansson had completed the job, both frescoes were placed in Helsinki City Hall restaurant named Kaupunginkellari. Tove Jansson worked on both frescoes together with a conservator and painter Niilo Suihko for about six months. The frescoes were made using both the fresco- and secco-techniques. In 1974 frescoes were moved to Arbis from Helsinki City Hall, and in 2014 moved again to Ateneum, from which, after careful restoration, they were moved to Helsinki Art Museum to be kept there permanently. From 2016 onwards, frescoes are displayed at the museum.
Visit to Helsinki Art Museum and Tove Jansson’s frescoes also reminded me of something else; I didn´t know much about frescoes before this blog entry, although I have seen some in the pictures as well as in Vatican City. Frescoes painted by Michelangelo (1475-1564) might be the most famous ones, at least on European scale, and I am also one of those lucky ones (thanks Mom) who always remembers the day I saw the The Last Judgement (Il Giudizio Universale, 1536-1541) in Sistine Chapel with my own eyes. Seeing the one of the world’s most famous frescoes is truly amazing and unforgettable experience, just like seeing The Creation of Adam (Creazione di Adamo, 1508-1512) in the ceiling of Sistine Chapel. This place is definitely worth visiting, if you have the opportunity.
In Finland we didn´t have Michelangelo and the Italian Renaissance, but we have our own fresco painters: Tove Jansson was only one of them. Other famous Finnish frescoes can be found in Tampere Cathedral, where frescoes of Hugo Simberg (1873-1917) can be viewed along with The Wounded Angel (original painting 1903, fresco 1905-1906) and altarpiece by Magnus Enckell. Frescoes by Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865-1931) with stories from Kalevala are there to be admired in The National Museum of Finland. Gallen-Kallela painted Kalevala frescoes already in 1900 for the Paris World Fair, but they were destroyed. He re-painted the frescoes in 1928 and now it is possible to see them in the vaulted roof in the entrance hall of The National Museum. Frescoes are named Ilmarinen kyntää kyisen pellon (Ilmarinen ploughs a Field of Vipers), Sammon puolustus (The Defence of the Sampo), Iso hauki (The Great Pike) and Sammon taonta (The Forging of the Sampo).
In The Bank of Finland, in the main staircase at the entrance hall there are famous frescoes named Finland awakens (1943) and Finland builds (1943) which are referred to as Finlandia frescoes. Finlandia frescoes are made by painter Lennart Segestråle (1892–1975) with the help of Hilkka Toivola and Aale Hakava. Lennart Segestråle made the first sketches for frescoes in 1938 and they were finished in the middle of the Continuation War (1941-1944) between Finland and the Soviet Union. Frescoes were painted on commission made by Risto Ryti, governor of the Bank of Finland at the time and later the president of Finland. Finlandia frescoes can be viewed as being closely linked to the endeavors which were meant to thicken and solidate the sense of Finnish identity in the difficult political situation at the time. Segerståle was also known for listening to the music of Jean Sibelius which affected his work.
But back to Helsinki Art Museum. Besides the frescoes Party in the Countryside and Party in the City, there is also much else to be seen in Helsinki Art Museum related to Tove Jansson and her skills as a painter of murals: Electricity (Sähkö, 1945) and Rest After Work (Lepo työn jälkeen, 1945) made for Oy Strömberg Ab. Besides them Tove Jansson also painted murals in a hospital, clubhouse and schools on commission and this is something one would wish to see also nowadays in public and private sector institutions alike. Are there many, if any, artists nowadays who are doing this kind of work that Tove Jansson did? If so, are they paid enough for making aesthetically enjoyable experiences for the rest of us?
In 1940s Tove Jansson painted murals for electric company Oy Strömberg Ab and for Aurora Children´s hospital. Both of them are now to be found in Helsinki Art Museum, although hospital mural only as a copy. I found especially Electricity to be somewhat ultramodern and as a part of a workplace atmosphere it has almost magical feel in it, like in all Tove Janssons artwork. It is easy to imagine how the people working in Strömberg were imaging of upcoming weekend while they saw the mural Rest After Work at the workplace.
Tove Janssons skills as an artist who is ahead of her time can be seen and felt through the murals very well; she painted on commission but always in her own style and although the paintings usually developed differently than the original sketches she made, it was fine or even better than the first idea she had in mind. Besides Electricity and Rest After Work it is also possible to see a part of the Moomin-mural which Tove Jansson painted at Aurora Children´s hospital stairway and the original sketches she made for the mural in 1955-1956.
Copy of a mural, 1955, Tove Jansson. Helsinki Art Museum.
Other Tove Jansson’s not-so-known works are to be found in different places around Finland. Altarpiece of Teuva church in Southern Ostrobothnia named Ten Virgins (Kymmenen neitsyttä, 1953) is the only altarpiece painted by Tove Jansson, also notable for its horizontal shape. In South-Eastern Finland one can see the murals Tove Jansson has made in 1949 and 1952 in the Cultural Centre for Children and in Etelä-Kymenlaakso vocational College, both located in Kotka. The mural The Story from The Bottom of the Sea (Tarina merenpohjasta, 1952) is located in Clubhouse Hamina, also in South-Eastern Finland. This made me wonder, did Tove Jansson ever visited Lapland? And if so, did she paint or draw anything?
While Evgenia, not being a fan of contemporary art, wandered off to see the works of the XX century Finnish artists (I Was Waiting for You, exhibition curated by Paavo Westerberg), I went to see more ‘modern’ exhibitions. Unlike her, I am a fan of contemporary art since high school and although Gilbert & Georges THE MAJOR EXHIBITION wasn’t the most aesthetically soothing experience (which reminded me of Marcel Duchamps works and thoughts they evoked), it gave some new perspectives on British society and maybe our own too. And who wouldn't like the neon-coloured rya rugs by Jonna Karanka which were also on display on We might feel the Groove exhibition; maybe more traditional kind of rya rug admirers?
References
Ateneum: Akseli Gallen-Kallela 150 years
https://ateneum.fi/nayttelyarkisto/akseli-gallen-kallela-150-years
Churches in Tampere and Tampere Cathedral
https://tampereenseurakunnat.fi/sivustot/in_english/who_we_are/churches
Finnish Architecture Navigator
http://navi.finnisharchitecture.fi/en
Helsinki Art Museum (HAM)
https://www.hamhelsinki.fi/en
Moomin.com website
https://www.moomin.com/en/
Musei Vaticani
http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en
The National Museum of Finland
https://www.kansallismuseo.fi/en
National Treasures – Art and Stories from 100-year-old Finland
https://kansakunnanomaisuutta.fi/en
The Other World of Hugo Simberg
http://www.simbergintoinenmaailma.fi/en
Tove in Teuva
http://www.toveteuvalla.fi/en
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