Extensive exhibition of Pekka Halonen's art marks 120th anniversary of Ateneum Art Museum
By Marja-Terttu Kiviranta
Pekka Halonen was an art student when he painted a number of works in his native Lapinlahti in the summer of 1891 after his first year of art studies in Paris. It is there that he painted his famous work depicting the reaping of a harvest, with his brother Antti modelling as the man in the foreground sharpening a scythe.
The painting reflects what he learned in Paris. It is a conscious depiction of work in the spirit of naturalism. The painting went on display that same autumn at the artist's first exhibition at the Ateneum.
The real breakthrough of the Finnish-speaking Savo native Pekka Halonen (1865-1933) on the Finnish art scene was sealed at that time. Until then, Finland's main artists had been Swedish-speaking, such as Akseli Gallen-Kallela (at that time known as Axel Gallén), and Eero Järnefelt.
Critic O.E. Tudeer praised the exhibition in the publication Valvoja. "I cannot help but point out especially Mr. Halonen's paintings ... The nature of the Finnish heartland presents itself in its unpretentious virgin state so deeply, handled and depicted so intimately, that hardly anything like it has been seen before."
There was a great hunger in that age for a truly Finnish national art.
Five years earlier Halonen was an uneducated young man who, at the age of 21, came from Lapinlahti to Helsinki to the drawing school of the Finnish Art Association.
The drawings were made with charcoal. Only when he got to Paris did he learn to use oil paint. He learned much more during his three years in Paris as well.
After his studies at the Academie Julien and the Academie Golarossi, Halonen and Väinö Blomstedt spent a year studying under Paul Gauguin. This year was seen to be a major turning point for Halonen.
It was the influence of Gauguin, and of Japanese art, which was in fashion at the time, that Halonen began to depict the exoticism of winter in the spirit of the symbolism of the time. Snow in his art had a special "personal" quality, whose significance Gauguin emphasised.
There were other reasons as well. With their snowy landscapes, Nordic artists were able to distinguish themselves from others in the international salons of Paris.
Halonen painted snow, and the light reflected on snow throughout his career. He returned to the simple, ornate, and basic colours of his early landscapes of the 1890s later in the 1920s and 1930s. In the interim he panted in other styles as well, using the clean palette of the post-impressionists.
The Ateneum, the Finnish national gallery, celebrates its 120th anniversary this year. The museum was founded in 1888, and this year's main exhibition is dedicated to Pekka Halonen, who has been seen as one of Finland's "most national" artists from the outset.
The Halonen exhibition is a major event in the history of the Ateneum.
Much of the work for the exhibition was done by Halonen expert Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff. The exhibition will fill the key exhibition areas of the second floor of the museum. A thick exhibition book has been published with articles representing fresh views on the significance of Halonen's art.
The challenging exhibition is built around 12 themes. Architect Maara Kinnermä divided each of the themes into different colours. For instance, Man and Nature is yellow, Mysticism is green, and Ornate Winter is red.
Each theme is named by one key work, with which the other paintings engage in a dialogue. In the winter part, the viewer is surrounded by winter paintings from various years.Snowy Pine (1899) interacts with other snowscapes, and especially the late Snowy Forest (1932).
The Japonism of the 1890s is reflected in the tall and narrow "kakemono" shape of certain early paintings. However, many other paintings are vertical as well.
Halonen's relationship with nature was strong already from childhood. This emerges in Halonen's works in different decades in slightly different ways.
Not all of the nature subjects are necessarily "national landscapes", although they have been sometimes seen as such. Halonen's landscapes are not the typical water viewed from above with a few trees in front.
Halonen often painted indoors in locations that were important to him: the childhood landscapes of Maija Halonen in Myllykylä in Karelia, Halosenniemi in Tuusula, and in Kuhmoinen, the summer place of his later years.
With a total of about 300 works, the exhibition contains so many masterpieces that it is difficult to enjoy them all during a single visit.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 9.3.2008
The Pekka Halonen exhibition is on display at the Ateneum Art Museum in the centre of Helsinki until August 24th. The exhibition is open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Links:
Ateneum Art Museum: Pekka Halonen Exhibition
MARJA-TERTTU KIVIRINTA / Helsingin Sanomat
marja-terttu.kivirinta@hs.fi
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| 11.3.2008 - THIS WEEK |
Extensive exhibition of Pekka Halonen's art marks 120th anniversary of Ateneum Art Museum
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