71. A VIEW OF FINLAND'S FORESTS - Images and Experiences,
7 May - 28 August 1994
The exhibition "A View of Finland's Forests - Images
and Experiences" was displayed on the upper floor and
Level A on the lower floor of the museum. An overview of
forest motifs and their expression throughout Finnish art
history was the natural starting point for mounting the
exhibition.
Representative works were included by Finland's most
famous landscape painters: Werner Holmberg, Berndt Lindholm,
Hjalmar Munsterhjelm, Victor Westerholm, Fanny Churberg and
Ferdinand von Wright. Along with these classics, the masters
of the golden age of Finnish landscape art were also
displayed: Eero Järnefelt, Pekka Halonen and Akseli
Gallen-Kallela. In our view, these artists have had the
greatest impact on how we perceive the natural beauty of
Finland.
While depicted in new and different ways, the forest has
upheld its position as a central theme in Finnish national
modernism. Artists responding to various stylistic
influences have developed their own forms of expression. The
exhibition included works by Tyko Sallinen, Wilho
Sjöström, Olli Miettinen, Helge Dahlman, Erik Enroth, Aimo
Kanerva, Kain Tapper and Raimo Reinikainen.
By the end of the 19th century, the photograph had become
an important medium for documenting Finland's landscape. The
exhibition included a large selection of I.K. Inha's
photographs of forest motifs. The connection between these
works and paintings from the same era is obvious. In the age
of post-modernism, photography has replaced painting as the
medium for portraying the forest. Many recent works in this
genre are evidence of this trend. Photographs by Taneli
Eskola and Laura Beloff were included as examples.
Photography was also used to realize the mythical aspects of
the forest and nature, and to combine them with expressions
of popular culture. This approach was seen in the
photographic series by Anssi Männistö.
The latest works of Finnish visual arts combine an
ecological perspective with the artists' personal
experiences of the forest, either their living environment
today or the forest of their childhood. These works include
both photographic compositions of photographs in nature. Of
the many artists in this group, Pekka Nevalainen, Anne
Siirtola and Heli Hiltunen were represented in the
exhibition.
The central idea of the exhibition was to draw a parallel
between the new and old depiction of the forest in Finnish
art. The exhibition demonstrated that present-day artists
have been inspired not only by nature itself but also by the
older depiction of the forest. On the other hand, these
works of art have standardized certain landscape types, so
that the landscape is recognized and experienced through the
paintings: the landscape is noticed because it looks like
the one in a known painting. National pictorial culture
feeds our perception of landscape and provides inspiration
for new works of art.
Works from the Sara Hildén Foundation were exhibited on
Levels B and C on the lower floor.
Catalogue:
Katso metsää - kuvia ja kokemuksia
1994, 72 pages
Sara Hildén Art Museum Publication 60 (Text in Finnish)
ISBN 952-9652-151
ISSN 0357-3001
Price FIM 50
17,234 visitors attended the exhibition.
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