A Finn at the core of Guggenheim

Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth: Guggenheim museum would be “fantastic opportunity” for Helsinki

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By Jaakko Lyytinen
     
      The art tour begins in the foyer.
      “This work by Matti Kujasalo was at the Venice Biennale in 1980. Matti is a close friend of mine”, says Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth as he shows his guest inside.
      He stops at a painting by Anna Tuori. “The fantasy world of Tuori’s works is fascinating.”
      Tuori is also one of Ehrnrooth’s friends.
     
Then it’s off to the dining room.
      One large Kujasalo is on loan to the Pori Art Museum, so the space is dominated by a round work by world-renowned minimalist Frank Stella, which Ehrnrooth acquired after becoming acquainted with the artist.
      Stella was showing Ehrnrooth his work at an industrial hall in New York where Stella, a fan of formula I racing, kept a car that had been driven by Michael Schumacher.
      “When one gets to know an artist it can, in the best of cases, lead to an acquisition. Some become very good friends”, Ehrnrooth says.
     
Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth, or “Kisu” as he is known to his friends, is a 42-year-old investor, entrepreneur, and patron of the arts, who is a member of a well-established military and industrial family.
      His father, Casimir Ehrnrooth, has served as the chairman of the board of Nokia and was a key figure in major mergers of the forest industry, as well as that of the commercial banks KOP and SYP.
      Carl Gustaf also works in the investment business along with his brothers Henrik and Georg. They own large holdings in companies including Marimekko and Pöyry.
      Their sister Johanna Ehrnrooth is a well-known artist.
     
"Johanna has been an important bridge for me into the world of art. As a child I watched enviously as she drew. It has always fascinated me.”
      Johanna became an artist and Carl Gustaf became a passionate collector of art. He has numerous works of his sister in his collection and on the walls of his home.
     
The family has a mansion in Janakkala in the south of Finland. On the grounds there is a summer cottage which Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth and his wife Maire Gullichsen-Ehrnrooth had built. It was designed by architect Hannele Grönlund, and its interior walls are covered with the works of Hannu Väisänen. Väisänen, who also designed the dishes of the cottage, is one of Ehrnrooth’s close friends.
      “I just spoke with Hannu. He has been looking at bridges in Siena, Italy recently, and got an idea from one of the bridges for the cottage.”
     
Ehrnrooth is also the only Nordic member of the board of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The board exercises the highest power in the magnificent art network.
      In the summer of 2008 Ehrnrooth got a call from New York. Representatives of the foundation had been mapping out the potential for new board members from the Nordic Countries, and their eyes had been focused on Ehrnrooth, a networked investor who had amassed a significant collection of modern and contemporary art before he had turned 40.
     
Ehrnrooth underwent a thorough background check, and he was interviewed twice in New York before he was named to the board.
      In late 2009 the City of Helsinki proposed to the foundation that it investigate the possibility of setting up a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki.
      Now that project has taken big strides forward.
     
The art tour in the home in the south of Helsinki continues to the living room, which is dominated by a Steinway & Sons grand piano. Next to it the wall is adorned by a kinetic work by Israeli artist Yaacov Agam. The colours of the work come alive as it is viewed from different angles.
      This past week the Guggenheim Foundation published its study on the establishment of a museum in Helsinki. Since then, the G-word has been on the lips of people in Helsinki, with the opponents being the most vocal.
      “The first reactions were not very surprising. Cultural projects spark emotions. No such debate takes place on what else Helsinki spends its annual EUR 700 million investment budget”, Ehrnrooth says. He has not taken part in the study on Helsinki himself.
     
But why should Helsinki get its own Guggenheim – something that Ehrnrooth sees as a “magnificent opportunity”? Ehrnrooth feels that there are two important reasons for this: the collection, and the network.
      “The most important advantage is the collection, but the international network is what makes the Guggenheim unique.”
      “Architecture is the big attraction and one of the main principles of Guggenheim, but if the content is not good, then the whole idea will fall apart.”
     
Ehrnrooth says that the Finnish school system sparked interest within the foundation, because Guggenheim has a pedagogical programme with long traditions. In accordance with its charter, the foundation has worked with New York schools for more than 40 years.
      If Helsinki were to get its own Guggenheim, it would be much cheaper to set up large exhibitions for members of the network than for outsiders, Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth says.
     
High-quality content pulls in large numbers of visitors. Ehrnrooth takes as an example the Picasso exhibition at the Ateneum which brought 315,000 visitors in three and a half months.
      “If three exhibitions costing as much were held in a year, the exhibition compensation fees alone in a period of 20 years would be about 60 million euros.”
      Every member of the Guggenheim network, or “family” as Ehrnrooth calls it, has a task of its own. Helsinki’s task would involve design and architecture, in addition to pictorial art.
     
“In Finland we have high-level know-how in both art, and on the institutional side, but we have never had a window from which to show it to the world.”
      Ehrnrooth compares experts in the field of art with championship athletes. “If nobody came to watch our players, nobody from here would go to the NHL, for instance.”
     
Ehrnrooth emphasises that the most important player in the project has been Janne Gallen-Kallela-Sirén, director of the Helsinki Museum of Art.
      “My role has been to open the door to him and the project”, Ehrnrooth says. “Janne is the Teemu Selänne of the art side.”
      Through the project, the two gentlemen have become such good friends that Ehrnrooth invited Gallen-Kallela-Sirén to join the board of Ekoport, his small company that produces fuel out of the bilge water.
     
The tour has moved into Ehrnrooth’s office, where the works on display include two impressive photographs by Arno Rafael Minkkinen. Ehrnrooth sits down in an easy-chair next to The Gates, an impressive work by Christo, and gives a brief lecture on the Guggenheim Foundation.
      “When the non-profit foundation was set up in 1937, the aim of Solomon R. Guggenheim was to get international art on display in the United States.”
      At first the exhibition space was a suite in the Plaza Hotel, and later a garage, until the museum building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was completed in 1959.
     
Guggenheim became more international when Solomon’s niece Peggy Guggenheim donated her Venice home and her art collection to the foundation in the 1970s. However, Guggenheim did not become a global museum network until the late 1990s when the Bilbao museum, designed by Frank Gehry, became a world-famous attraction.
      Now Guggenheim has become a most desired brand. Nearly every week representatives of different cities who say that here’s the money, and here’s a plot of land. Why don’t we build a Guggenheim museum here?
      “The answer is negative nearly always. Often the reason is that there is a Guggenheim somewhere in the same geographical area”, Ehrnrooth says. He is also on the board of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum.
     
Only very few offers reach the study phase.
      “A study is never a promise that a museum will be established. We want to make sure that the target city really understands what they want.”
      Ehrnrooth says that if a museum is built in Helsinki, there will be no more Guggenheims in the north of Europe.
     
The Guggenheim Foundation’s board meets four or five times a year. The meetings are usually in New York, and once a year in some other Guggenheim city.
      Members of the board include the Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin, whom Forbes magazine ranked as the world’s 38th richest man in 2007. “We could do with more colourful types”, Ehrnrooth says.
     
The board decides on the foundation’s strategy, appoints the director of the New York Guggenheim Museum, and helps in raising funds. The foundation expects members of the board to donate regularly.
      Ehrnrooth does not want to disclose the amounts, but some idea of the scale is indicated by the fact that the foundation collected more than EUR 16 million in donations in 2009 for museum activities. According to the New York Times the foundation nevertheless suffers from economic problems.
     
The City of Helsinki has said that the EUR 24 million licensing fee for 20 years needs to be covered by private donations. Ehrnrooth believes that there will be donations.
      “A century ago there was still a powerful tradition of art patronage in Finland at that time; private donors financed some of the country’s cultural institutions. It would be good to bring back that tradition.”
      One move was made four years ago to revive that tradition when Ehrnrooth and a number of other friends of art set up the Kiasma Support Foundation to help the museum add to its collections.
      “It was a reaction to cuts in funding for acquisition. If the content is diminished, then what point is there in maintaining operations?
     
The Guggenheim board will meet in February immediately after a meeting of the Helsinki City Council. If the council supports the proposal, the view of the board of the foundation will still be needed.
      “Then we will decide whether or not to sign the agreement with Helsinki.”
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.1.2012
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Prime Minister sees Guggenheim museum as an investment for 100 years (13.1.2012)
  Report says Guggenheim museum could bring millions in tax revenues (12.1.2012)
  Guggenheim contract to include cancellation fine (17.1.2012)
  Working group favours construction of Guggenheim museum in Helsinki (11.1.2012)

See also:
  Opponents of Guggenheim gather forces (17.1.2012)
  Wife of Guggenheim project advocate works for company partly owned by Foundation Board member (17.1.2012)

Links:
  The Guggenheim Foundation

JAAKKO LYYTINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jaakko.lyytinen@hs.fi