EXPLORE THINK EXPERIMENT ENJOY URBAN ENCOUNTERS – Finnish Art from the 20th Century Materials for Schools and Teachers This material is designed for use by teachers and other adults who work with children and youth. The ex- ercises are designed for pupils from the third grade of comprehensive school through secondary school, but the material can be adapted for other ages. The theme exercises specifically designed for secondary students can be found at the end of the material (pg. 7-9). You can familiarise yourselves with the exhibi- tion and do the exercises either before or after visiting the museum. These museum exercises are intend- ed to provide ideas for discussion and shared consideration. You can click on the artwork images to open up larger versions of print-quality resolution. More art images related to the exhibition and more broadly from the Ateneum’s collections are available via these links: • Urban Encounters • Ateneum art collections online Teachers bringing groups to the museum should kindly read the instructions for visiting the museum. Welcome! Further information: • The Ateneum for schoolchildren and students • Guided tours and introductions MODERN SOCIETY Finland developed rapidly into a modern society from the mid-19th century on. As elsewhere in Europe, this meant brisk development of science and technology, the industrial revolution and urbanisa- tion. Art was powerfully entwined with this societal upheaval and modernisation. This new era can be seen in the work of young artists from the early 20th century, reflected in their experimentation and unprecedented ways of handling colour, form and space. New forms of presentation such as cinema and photography also became permanent elements of the art sector. Artists focused particularly on de- picting urban life, including its mundane details and events. Popular subjects included cafés and fashion. This exhibition delves into changes in Finnish society from the 1910s to the 1980s. On display are circa 300 works by more than 80 artists from the Ateneum collection, including paintings, sculptures, graphics and drawings. HELENE SCHJERFBECK: Girl from the Islands, 1929. Ateneum, coll. Kaunisto. Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Aaltonen 2 HOME Room 20 Family life changed radically in the shift from the coexistence of large families and hired help in rural houses to cities and apartment buildings. Indi- viduality and freedom became important parts of city-dwellers’ lives. Everyday life and celebrations were portrayed with a direct, personal touch. The culture of gathering for coffee spread into urban homes as friends were in- vited over to socialise. Depictions of these moments convey a cosy, informal mood. ENJOY! The table is set AARRE HEINONEN: At the Coffee Table, 1938. Class exercise: Look at works by Finnish artists that Ateneum, coll. Hoving Photo: Finnish National Gallery / show people drinking coffee or tea: how do they Hannu Aaltonen interact and socialise with others? Set up a juice, tea or coffee party in your classroom or during a field trip in the forest or city. Each student can bring his or her own cup and something to share for the table. What kinds of customs do different families have regarding celebrations and everyday coffee serving? What do they usually eat and drink? What do they talk about? How can different cultures be seen and tasted at your class or group’s coffee table? More information about various kinds of customs and celebrations can be found at the Ad Astra web- site, for instance. 3 ENCOUNTERS – FASHION AND DEPICTION OF AN ERA Rooms 22b–31 New types of spaces emerged in cities: cafés, cine- were replaced with ceramics and bark was used to mas, museums and restaurants were places where make accessories instead of cloth fibres, for exam- people could meet and socialise. Shops and depart- ple. ment stores also offered more opportunities for individualistic forms of attire. What kind of image of the times do you get from the films shown in the exhibition rooms? Have the Finns kept a close eye on fashion trends elsewhere concepts of beauty and elegance changed since in Europe. In particular, the latest Parisian fashion that Modern era? For instance, how do subcultures phenomena were quickly adopted in Finland, for influence today’s clothing styles? instance. On the other hand, post-war material shortages and scarcity forced people to make their own clothes and to use natural materials in highly EXPERIMENT! inventive ways to replace fabrics and leather. Shoes were woven out of paper twine, ornamental gems Wings on your heels The main purpose of footwear is of course to protect our feet, but through the ages shoes have been shaped in a variety of ways for aesthetic reasons. Nowadays shoes can also be decorated with vari- ous kinds of detachable ornaments. What might a mountain climber’s shoes look like? Or a writer’s? What kinds of decorations might make your steps feel lighter or make those walking alongside you grin? Exercise: Design and make decorations that could be attached to shoes by sewing, with safety pins or using shoelace holes. What do these decorations say about the person wearing them? The basic material for the decorations could be flat or corrugated cardboard, cloth or felt. You can VIKTOR KUUSELA: On an Evening Walk, 1951. Ateneum. experiment with painting, drawing, embroidery or Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Pakarinen felting. 4 THE CITY Rooms 25, 26 and 27 AUNE MIKKONEN: Skating Rink, 1954. Ateneum. Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Janne Mäkinen Exercise: With a phone or camera, take a picture of some small, interesting detail along a route that you use daily. You can take a close-up photo, and try shooting from different angles. The image can then be cropped and edited using an app on your phone. Present your “everyday treasure” pictures ELGA SESEMANN: The Flower Seller, 1945. Ateneum. to your class or group. Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Pirje Mykkänen 2) Colour experiments: Landscape Depictions of cityscapes continued the tradition of Finnish landscape painting. Rather than forests and The exhibition includes many works in which fields, artists could now seek pictorial subject matter artists experiment with different ways of handling in the city’s streets and construction sites. In the ear- colours and creating surfaces in their paintings. ly decades of the 20th century, Helsinki was built up Elga Sesemann (1922–2007) is known for paint- at a feverish pace. At times the metamorphosing city ings featuring many layers of colour painted with is also seen in works from this period as withdrawn palette knives and thick brushes. Subjects take on and silent. more simplified forms as precise details are left out. EXPERIMENT! Exercise: What kind of landscape are you drawn to at the moment? Do you love the rhythm of the 1) Everyday treasures city, home or nature? Paint your landscape us- ing liquid gouache or acrylic paints, using only a What kinds of routes do we take on a daily basis? palette knife. This tool can be used to add layers of How do we choose these routes and how do they paint of various thicknesses, or to scrape off and vary? These routes might include the way from your remove colour. front door to the schoolyard or hobby venue, or a walk with a pet in a nearby forest. Even short jour- If you don’t have a palette knife at your school, neys include choices, which are determined by habit, an old table utensil or thick piece of cardboard haste or a desire to experience beauty, for instance. should also work well. 5 PORTRAITS Room 30 The portrait tradition has endured fluctuating eras and styles, gaining new interpretations along the way. The so-called milieu portrait, which shows someone in his or her natural environment, was an important portrait type in the late 19th century. Most often these works showed famous men surrounded by their life’s work. In the early decades of the 20th century, pictures based on the milieu portrait tradition re-emerged in new forms. EXPERIMENT! Using images Look at the portraits in the exhibition and discuss what their backgrounds tell the viewer: how do the environment or colour scheme create mood? What hints about the person do we get from the background? TOVE JANSSON: Self-Portrait, 1942. Exercise for pairs or small groups: Choose Ateneum. Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Yehia Eweis a place at the school or museum environment where you’d like to be photographed. At the Ateneum, you are allowed to take pictures in the exhibition rooms, hallways and stairwells. In the exhibition spaces, photos must be taken without flash. Think in advance about what kind of crop- ping your portrait should have and what kind of angle it should be taken from. Ask your partner to take a picture of you on your phone. Then switch roles, taking a picture of your partner according to his or her wishes. The photos can be cropped and edited afterwards using various apps. 6 Theme exercises for secondary students The two following theme exercises are particularly designed for upper secondary school and vocational school students, and can be adapt- ed to suit various classroom subjects. Instead of using pictures, the exercises can be done by writing or other means. An alternative method is suggested at the end of each exercise. The range of subject matter included in the exercises is broad, and relates to many of the works in the exhibition. The whole exhibition visit could therefore even be built around a certain theme. IDENTITY With urbanisation and modernisation, the hot- In order to form an identity, one must be able to ly-debated question of the “new man” arose in reflect various alternatives and values in relation literature and art.