Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Fülszöveg

Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a man of many facets, uncompromising and emphatically masculine. As a person and as an artist he had a great many faces, was often torn by contradictions, out was tender and affecting as well. He was fiery and could fire others, he was profound and superficial, a self-conscious charmer, captivatingly mischievous, and a romantic easily depressed — a superman now in the moulci of Nietzsche, now in Kalevala style, a dreamer and a resolute man convinced of his genius. He was a tireless seeker after the new, an experimenter and a man of many parts, in his soul a humble worshipper of beauty and an artist who opened up his whole heart to the Finns. He lived in the Grand Duchy of Finland and in the Finnish Republic from 1865 to 1931.




Akseli Gallen-Kallela dominates Finnish art. As a student he portrayed with equal ease the country life or Finland and the bóhemian life of Paris; he honeymooned in the wilds of Karelia to make contact with the ancient world... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a man of many facets, uncompromising and emphatically masculine. As a person and as an artist he had a great many faces, was often torn by contradictions, out was tender and affecting as well. He was fiery and could fire others, he was profound and superficial, a self-conscious charmer, captivatingly mischievous, and a romantic easily depressed — a superman now in the moulci of Nietzsche, now in Kalevala style, a dreamer and a resolute man convinced of his genius. He was a tireless seeker after the new, an experimenter and a man of many parts, in his soul a humble worshipper of beauty and an artist who opened up his whole heart to the Finns. He lived in the Grand Duchy of Finland and in the Finnish Republic from 1865 to 1931.




Akseli Gallen-Kallela dominates Finnish art. As a student he portrayed with equal ease the country life or Finland and the bóhemian life of Paris; he honeymooned in the wilds of Karelia to make contact with the ancient world of the Kalevala epic, setting a trend that Sibelius and others were to follow; he 3ainted, drew, designed buildings, worked in wood, stone, metal, stained glass; he introduced fresco, engraving, book illustration, interior, industrial and 30ster design to Finland; le developed a "national" style and he achieved international fame. And yet outside Finland today he is known for little more than the handful of haunting images which appear on record sleeves of nis friend's music. The time has come for a reassessment of this versatile talent, and Timo Martin points the way in his lavishly illustrated study. Vissza