Sakari Tohka (1911-1958) was a founding member and a carrying force of the October Group. Tohka made a powerful attack against the strict and severe classicism prevalent in sculpture with his own works which were lively and rough, filled with light and pulsing with rhythm. Intuition dictates everything.
Tohka's romantically expressionist sculptures were usually cast in
cement. This was a matter of cost, but another reason was that the
austerity and roughness of cement was well suited to Tohka's early
style. The sculpture
Youth
(1937) exists in many
materials: marble, plaster of Paris, cement, bronze and wood. In all
the versions Tohka comes through more strongly as a modeller than
a glyptic carver. His plastic Expressionism was at complete loggerheads
with the artistic views and opinions of Wäinö Aaltonen, the period's
leading sculptor and one of the potentates of Finnish art.
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Past, Present of Future? Problems of Orientation in the 20's and 30's 
Ernst Krohn : Koulutyttö Sakari Tohka : Nuoruus Eemu Myntti : Uimarannalla Yrjö Saarinen : Lepohetki Vilho Lampi : Raita Saunan katto Eero Nelimarkka : Neiti Kekäläinen The Noise and Quiet of the City Väinö Kunnas : Kaupunkikuva Harmaa tanssi Sulho Sipilä : Luistinrata Sisäkuva Ragnar Ekelund : Nôtre-Dame Olli Miettinen : La Piste II Birger Carlstedt : Paysage étrange Edwin Lydén : Ukonilma Otto Mäkilä : Kesäyö Satu Wäinö Aaltonen : Jean Sibelius Paavo Nurmen patsas Graniittipoika Kahlaaja Aleksis Kivi, luonnos
