Wäinö Aaltonen

• Wäinö Aaltonen : Jean Sibelius, ca. 1935, k. 70 cm (B I 428) [© The Holders of Copyrights / Visual Artists` Copyright Society Kuvasto 1996] (27.4 kB)

Despite the many momentous works and innovative ideas Finnish painting of the time of independence was seen as not having fulfilled the requirements made of it. There was a desire for such charismatic leaders as Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Albert Edelfelt, on whose shoulders the nation could have laid the responsibility for directing and officially representing the Finnish visual arts.

Sculpture was in a different position. The ideals and aesthetic conceptions of the period seemed to be particularly suited to the sculptural idiom. The new nation needed works of art in public places to give character and backbone to her independent growth. The period was characterized by enthusiasm for monumental art. Monuments were important, they were needed to commemorate the civil war and they were necessary for the spiritual rebuilding of the country.

The memorials erected after the civil war were, as fitted the nature of their purpose, representative of Finnish classicism, ceremoniousness, solemnity and dignity. These new ideals found their realisation above all in the hands of a young sculptor from Turku by the name of Wäinö Aaltonen (1894-1966). As a sculptor he was mainly self-educated, having been trained as a painter in Turku. After the Novemberist connections of his early career the basis of Wäinö Aaltonen's art shifted towards classicism. In this respect he became a continuator of idealist 19th century human portrayal. Wäinö Aaltonen's conception of the Finnish people, which was based on Greek ideals of beauty and implied an affinity between the Finns and the Greeks was greeted with satisfaction.

Wäinö Aaltonen : Jean Sibelius