Finnish National Gallery gets massive donation of Schjerfbeck work

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By Anu Uimonen
     
      The Ateneum Art Museum of the Finnish National Gallery has been given an unusually extensive private art collection, containing 35 works of the Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck.
      The donation increases the number of Schjerfbeck works in the collections of the Ateneum by more than one third to a total of 89.
      The paintings are from the collection of two Helsinki doctors, Yrjö and Nanny Kaunisto, who amassed an art collection comprising 78 works during their life together. After the death of Yrjö Kaunisto (1912-2004), his wife Nanny Kaunisto (b. 1911) presented the collection to the National Gallery as a donation.
      In addition to the Schjerfbeck paintings, the collections include works by Marcus Collin, Ester Helenius, Ilya Repin, Martti Ranttila, Alfred Willian Finch, Juho Mäkelä, and Jussi Mäntynen.
      A selection of works from the Kaunisto collection, including all of the Schjerfbeck paintings, have now been put on display on the third floor of the museum.
      Nanny Kaunisto praised the display of her familiar paintings when she visited the museum on Wednesday.
     
"The value of the collection is about 12.2 million euros, of which the Schjerfbeck paintings comprise about 12 million", Tuula Arkio, director-general of the National Gallery estimates.
      "Things like this hardly ever take place nowadays. This is a real natural treasure. The previous donation comparable to this was made by H.F. Antell in the 19th century."
      Antell’s bequest formed the foundation of the whole collection of the Ateneum.
     
In addition to the art collection, Nanny Kaunisto donated other property to form a fund in the name of Yrjö and Nanny Kaunisto within the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Annual grants from the fund can be used for further purchases by the National Gallery.
      "This is the first fund among the 700 funds within the Cultural Foundation, whose purpose it is to support state activities", says Niilo Jääskinen, deputy chairman of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
      New works to be acquired with the money from the bequest will not necessarily have to be of the same time period as the collection in question. However, Nanny Kaunisto has requested that preference be given to the works of talented women.
     
The idea of donating their art collection to the Ateneum was already included in the will drafted by Yrjö and Nanny Kaunisto in 1957.
      The Kaunistos had hoped that their home in the Helsinki island suburb of Kuusisaari might be turned into a Schjerfbeck museum. Their home, designed by architect Viljo Revell was completed in 1964.
      After the death of her husband, Nanny Kaunisto gave up the idea, because studies conducted in 2001 showed that turning a house built more than 30 years earlier into a museum would not be possible without extensive remodelling and considerable maintenance costs.
     
     
The collection donated by Yrjö and Nanny Kaunisto will be on display at the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki until January 6th, 2006.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 10.11.2005

More on this subject:
 COMMENT: Welcome addition to Ateneum collection
 BACKGROUND: A long life promoting art and medicine

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ANU UIMONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
anu.uimonen@hs.fi