The Noise and Quiet of the City

The present has not yet been discovered here. Tulenkantajat, The Torch Bearers, was a fiery modernist artists' group that shared a belief in the modern age, the beauty of machines, the worship of life, adventure and daring. The fiercest attacks against the nationalist values prevalent in the visual arts came from the group's literary circle. Olavi Paavolainen wrote in 1927 in a letter to Katri Vala: And so I embarked on a journey to search for the present time. To search for a new world and a new man. I fled the thousands of lakes and fresh coniferous forests and undulating fields of oxeye daisies to look for oil tanks, chimneys, cranes and bituminous roads. I fled the smell of manure and newly tilled soil to find the stink of smoke and coal dust. I fled the 'meek heritage' in order to find workers who owned a Citroën and knew algebra.

The Noise and Quiet of the City