Lennart Segerstråle Finlandia-frescos The Finlandia frescos pained by Lennart Segerstråle on the staircase walls of the Bank of Finland’s main building were unveiled on 4 May 1943. In this brochure, art historian Helmiriitta Sariola discusses the frescos’ origins and Segerstråle’s career. Segerstråle himself described the content of the frescos in a leaflet published in 1943. A full translation of this leaflet is included in this brochure.
2 Contents
Helmiriitta Sariola: War overshadowed the artist’s work 4
Lennart Segerstråle: Finlandia fresco paintings in the Bank of Finland 10
The Finlandia frescos 10 The Bank of Finland staircase 10 Technique 11 The motifs 14
VICTORY: Gratitude and faith
Lennart Segerstråle Works in Brochure © Kuvasto 2010 Photos: Matias Uusikylä. 3 War overshadowed the artist’s work
The unveiling of Lennart Segerstråle’s Norway, attracted a great deal of appeal, art should be incorporated (1892–1975) Finlandia frescos on attention. In addition to the national in the current social programme: ‘in 4 May 1943 was considered one of romantic spirit, the expressive implementing building works’ the the most significant art events of the tendency in Norwegian fresco art most skilled artists should be wartime years. However, the frescos culminated in societal affirmation. assigned tasks ‘that would guarantee – ‘Finland Awakens’ and ‘Finland As the achievements of Norwegian full decoration of buildings and, at Builds’ – painted on the staircase monumental painting became better the same time, give Finnish art the walls of the Bank of Finland’s main known in Finland towards the end possibility to fulfil its greatest social building (completed in the 1880s) of the 1930s, discussion arose on task’. The appeal stated that it was had their origins in the years pre the need to support the genre. ‘a waste to allow the human capital ceding the Winter War of 1939–40. The exhibition raised hopes that the country has in its art In spring 1937, a large art exhi that Finland’s own artists could community to go to waste and not bition featuring modern Norwegian have more opportunities to create let the artists participate in the monumental art was held in the Hel their own monumental art. The patriotic creation of Finland. We sinki Kunsthalle, a leading venue for wish to increase the proportion of are convinced that only swift and art exhibitions in the Finnish capital. monumental and public art was vigorous action will lead to the goal The exhibition, which presented the made concrete in an appeal encapsulated in the motto: Finland’s strong profane monumental art published in the newspapers in art belongs to the whole nation.’ movement that had arisen in November 1938. According to the The appeal was signed by the
4 President of the Republic and leading political and economic figures of the 1930s. Signatories connected with the Bank of Finland included Governor Risto Ryti and Väinö Tanner, Chair man of the Parliamentary Super visory Board. The Bank of Finland showed the way and, at the end of 1938, Governor Ryti commissioned sketches from artist Lennart Seger stråle for two fresco paintings planned for the Bank’s main staircase. Lennart Segerstråle was one of the Finnish artists in the 1930s with a clear orientation towards monumental art. He held the post of public artist and was highly esteemed. His parents were Knut Albert Segerstråle, theology teacher BATTLE Mother Finland and a lecturer at the Borgå Lyceum Sacrifice to freedom
5 in Porvoo, and painter Hanna animal painter. His objective was to Frosterus-Segerstråle. Lennart was harmoniously combine nature, the second oldest child of a large animals, birds and landscapes, family. He lived in Porvoo from which were all close to his heart. his childhood years onwards. His He also worked as a graphic artist mother’s art, life and child-rearing and was the first chairman of the principles were guided by a deep pan-Nordic artists’ association, religious conviction. Lennart’s Nordisk Grafik Union (NGU), youngest sister, Solveig von Schoultz, established in 1937. grew up to become a prominent, Segerstråle already began to turn profound and sensitive poet and increasingly towards monumental short-story writer. art in the 1920s. In the ’20s and Lennart Segerstråle completed ’30s, he made several stained-glass a forester’s degree at the University windows for churches. In 1929, he of Helsinki in 1915 and studied studied classic mosaic and fresco arts under Eero Järnefelt at the techniques at the Academy of Fine university drawing school. In the Arts in Copenhagen under Joachim 1920s and 1930s, Segerstråle was Skovgaard, who revived Danish and Finland’s most famous bird and Nordic monumental painting.
6 FINLAND AWAKENS 7 Segerstråle had assisted this famous the book Finlandiafreskernas år – horizontal element in the paintings, artist in 1927 on a mosaic fresco Bilder av ett folk i kamp (‘The years while the monumental expression (Yttersta dagen, 1924–1927) painted of the Finlandia frescos – Pictures is born out of the effect of the in the apse of Lund Cathedral. of a people at war’), published in massive vertical wedges of light Segerstråle could not paint the 1944. In this book, the artist also and colour. The viewer finds himself frescos commissioned for the Bank discusses the connection between in front of a monumental stage of Finland until late winter 1943. the frescos and Sibelius’ symphonic where the historical narration not He was assisted in this work by the poem of the same name. only embraces time and place but painters Hilkka Toivola and Aale The frescos crystallised into a also attains a strong symbolic Hakava. Before beginning the actual multi-layered dramatic monumental character. Compared with the work of painting the frescos, Seger artwork portraying these fateful bright colours of Juho Rissanen’s stråle spent five years on preliminary years in the life of the Finnish stained-glass windows also found work that was interrupted by the nation. Segerstråle’s expression on the staircase, the colour scheme war and other tasks it brought. follows the model of the new Nor of the Finlandia frescos is relatively The war strongly overshadowed wegian monumental art. Such a sober. The colours are rendered in the development of the frescos from method of realisation was new for hues of blue turning into red and the original sketches of 1938 into him. The frescos are narrative, and green, and partly into white, brown the final paintings ‘Finland Awakens’ their immensely abundant and and black. The unifying colour is and ‘Finland Builds’. Segerstråle has diversified subject matter has been grey. The colour scale is typical of described the origins of the frescos rendered in a realistic and simple several frescos painted during the and his experiences of the time in way. The pictorial stories form a Norwegian fresco epoch.
8 Through the years of making cluded Juho Rissanen’s bright technically best and a lasting the Finlandia frescos, Segerstråle stained-glass windows from 1933 manner; because they will then be became an idealistic painter. The portraying harvest, log driving and created and coloured taking into war-time motifs in the frescos can the herring market spoke for consideration the lighting conditions be understood as a crisis-time separable plates. Segerstråle him on the staircase in question, and patriotic affirmation. Segerstråle’s self recounted that, when he cannot then be transferred to a production was in many respects received the assignment, Juho place where the lighting conditions exceptional in Finnish art. In the Rissanen’s stained-glass windows are not the same; and because in latter part of his life, his art was were to be transferred to a new the current Bank of Finland characterised by a strong Christian office building then being designed. building they will be in an humanist conviction, and he later During the preliminary stage of historically appropriate place, worked almost exclusively on work on the frescos, there was taking into account for example monumental church art. discussion of painting them on the fact that, during the war of According to the contract separable plates and transferring 1939–1940, the building served as Segerstråle signed with the Bank of them to the new offices instead. the government headquarters and Finland, the frescos were supposed When, in spring 1941, Segerstråle place of assembly’ (minutes of the to be ready before June 1942. No announced that he was ready to Parliamentary Supervisory Board decision was taken on whether begin work, it was decided that the in 1941). they should be painted on separable frescos be painted directly on the plates or directly on the wall. The wall in al fresco style ‘because they Helmiriitta Sariola fact that the staircase already in will then be executed in the Art historian
9 Finlandia fresco paintings in the Bank of Finland
The Finlandia frescos consisting of Professor Onni the range of colours in the stained In 1938, the then governor of the Okkonen (Professor of art history), glass, the frescos were kept relatively Bank of Finland, Risto Ryti, Professor Yrjö Hirn and Edvard moderate in colouring, putting commissioned artist Lennart Seger Richter MA – the task of monitoring more emphasis on light and its stråle to draw sketches for two fresco the development of the frescos. shadows and depths. The frescos’ paintings to be placed on the walls After five years of preliminary contents open up for the viewer so of the Bank’s main staircase, on sur work, interrupted by war and that the eye is led from the right faces measuring 7.50 x 3.70 metres. other duties related thereto, the up along the rising stairs through The artist was given full freedom artist was finally able to paint the the fresco on the left, with the regarding choice of motifs. The first frescos in late winter 1943. In April fresco on the other wall continuing indicative sketches already conveyed of the same year, an exhibition was the motif in the opposite direction, the basic ideas of ‘Finland Awakens’ held in the Helsinki Kunsthalle downwards. This way the narrative and ‘Finland Builds’, which became featuring the above-mentioned begins and ends at the windows. the starting point for the final art preliminary work and also life-size The frescos are constantly work. cartoons of the final frescos. illuminated with electric light, for The Parliamentary Supervisory which they were designed. Since Board approved the sketches in The Bank of Finland staircase this light dominates, there is no 1941 and gave a commission of already contained Juho Rissanen’s fear of any disturbing effects from experts appointed by the Bank – stained-glass paintings. Because of other light sources.
10 Technique Fresco is a particular language of its own. It is painting on plaster on a wall. ‘Al fresco’ means that the paint is applied on fresh plaster, and it is the purest technique. Fresco painting is not free like painting on canvas. A surface that takes such a large share of a room’s walls, as fresco usually does, must be comprehended and treated in strict consistency with the room’s overall requirements. Colour choices are restricted; only a certain scale can be used. Frescos are painted on a wall that has been prepared in a specific manner. The wall itself is isolated with pitch to keep moisture away. A fine wire mesh is fastened on top of the pitch layer to fix the first AWAKENING
11 plaster coat laid on it. After the moved and a new layer of plaster first coat has dried, three additional added. The painting thus advances layers of plaster are added, partly in small sections day by day. consisting of a mixture of sand of If a larger area goes wrong, the differing coarseness and lime. The plaster can be removed afterwards. top layer for these Finlandia frescos New plaster is then laid and the consists of an equal amount of section painted again. However, granite powder and lime. The this can be quite problematic, since painting has been carried out on the surrounding areas will have this layer ‘al fresco’. already dried and the intensity of The plaster layers are laid all at the colours faded. once after a short drying phase A fresco is begun by pricking between each layer cast. This way the contours of the picture to be a thick layer of fresh plaster is painted into the wet plaster with a created, which allows about 8–12 sharp object based on the cartoon. hours for painting on the surface. The colours can be blended with When the surface has dried and lime, in which case they will does not absorb colour anymore, lighten unpredictably. This is a no changes can be made. Sections very solid method, although it that could not be painted when the requires a lot of work and careful plaster was still wet must be re advance testing to know how the
12 FINLAND BUILDS 13 colours will fade. This does, how to form a nation – just a larger pares to fight and pushes towards ever, enhance the beauty of the form of a single man. The whole the light under constant sacrifice. material and its durability. Glazes presentation is based on the analogy The intensity of the battle scatters are applied over the under-painting. ‘nation’s path – path of light’. The the darkness – the evil – and makes All colours are blended and painted faintest form of light, the nocturnal way for light around Mother with lime water. polar lights, have awakened the Finland, symbolised by a woman nation from its unawareness, its with her fallen son, a sacrifice for The motifs lethargy. The individuals who have freedom, in her arms. Whether the The frescos have been given the advanced furthest are reaching to sacrifice is sufficient remains a collective name ‘Finlandia’. The wards the light, towards development. constant question of balance: light motif of the first section, the left The urge to move forward has been and progress or darkness and re wall, is ‘Finland awakens’. The awakened. This can, from an gression. The climax of the struggle motif of the second fresco is historical perspective, denote – individual battlefields, the Winter ‘Finland builds’. crusades, but it can also symbolise War in general and the daily positive ‘FINLAND AWAKENS’ refers the individual of the present day, input of individuals moment by to the dark unknown, the pagan as the whole presentation refers to moment – blows away the last night from which the generations a timeless course of events. remainders of darkness. Victory, come forward century after century, And so begins the struggle the spring, has been achieved. A listening to something that begins against darkness in all its forms, woman dressed in black – the poor to stir within them, the awareness against external as well as internal tested land – stands at dawn under of a particular calling that converges enemies. The nation – a man – pre a blossoming tree, with hands
14 crossed, thanking the One who grants light and strength. Everything has now changed. The peace of a spring morning follows the icy darkness of winter. Children are playing free from worry about death and destruction, carefree among blooming anemones and willow. A soldiers’ wife wel comes home her returning husband, a front-line soldier who still wears the tension of the fight in his features. Two young men are standing in the farthest corner on the left in down-flowing light, the curtain of the future, and plough a new field for the country. They represent shared mental and physical work and could, independent of their types, also represent mutual under RECONSTRUCTION standing between classes and Home and society
15 language groups – on the whole, of the past. This is the war’s material has once again been defeated by the entire positive brotherhood of destruction in general, or a single faith in the light and its concrete arms. Each has his own tools, his human being who, without under power. In relation to the magnitude own specific skills for cultivating standing why one period of his life of the ordeals suffered, the light of the common strip of land. They has been wiped away like an the future now expands further are united by their shared insignificant phase, still tries to than ever before, manifested by the experiences. continue fruitlessly the path will to reconstruct and act. Home, ‘FINLAND BUILDS’ continues chosen in the past. the nucleus of society, is being the motif on the other wall. Our War evacuees are referred to built anew. Foundations are laid nation is faced with new ordeals. with a group of women who, over down for a new era with both new This is how it has always been. A a borderline of light and darkness, external and internal building group of Karelian refugees shrouded are moving away drawing an ill material. Above a domestic hearth, in white cloths are standing beside woman on a sledge. The central scaffolds are rising towards the a shattered tree and look one more group portrays hope for the future sky for the new developing Finland. time towards their homes. Two that sprouts inexorably from the And should darkness come again women glance up at airmen, one ruins of the past. Spring is bursting over our land, a rainbow arches pressing a child to her chest. This out, new life is budding, hope above it as a symbolic promise of is the silent accusation of the grows from hopelessness, and the the light’s perpetual return when innocent against violence. Above, a unselfish will to self-sacrifice turns the storm has passed. lone figure dressed in black stands its back on self-absorbed dwelling in ruins that are a charred remnant in one’s own sorrows. Darkness
16 ‘FINLAND AWAKENS’ was a motif for one of the walls from the very start. Despite big changes, it developed all the time around this theme in close association with impressions from Sibelius’ Finlandia. ‘FINLAND BUILDS’, the motif of the opposite wall, on the other hand, revolved around several proposals relating to the economy and the general idea of recovery – industry, agriculture, road con struction etc. The more proposals were made and rejected, the clearer it was for me that such a solution for the right wall would be unrelated to the left, ‘Finland Awakens’. At this stage of preliminary work, external events interrupted devel FUTURE HOPE opments. The Winter War began, Hopelessness
17 followed by the evacuations of little boy’s work in erecting a beam. refugees from Karelia. The spirit of Even the slightest positive task is comradeship in the armed forces thus counted in building the future, influenced basic social attitudes. bringing light into people’s lives. ‘Finland Awakens’ began to take shape increasingly as something Lennart Segerstråle more than merely material renewal and external reconstruction. And so, through these experiences, the solution emerged by itself as a direct continuation of the motif series ‘Finland Awakens’ – it was the nation’s continued push through new ordeals towards even more real light, towards greater determination. The country’s future rise portrayed above a scene of domestic reconstruction has its TRANSITION AND WINTER WAR A charred past foundations and is reflected in a Towards the future
18 19 Lennart Segerstråle: The Finlandia frescos ’Finland Awakens’ and ’Finland Builds’, 1943 Fresco, 390 x 773 cm, both Bank of Finland art collection
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ISBN 978-952-462-638-5 (print) ISBN 978-952-462-639-2 (online)