Ilya Glazunov and Finland

The Ilya Glazunov and Finland exhibition looks at Finland in the Kekkonen era (1956-81) through one phenomenon of the art world. The Soviet painter Ilya Glazunov (b. 1930) attracted considerable public interest and many influential Finnish friends in the early 1970s with an individualistic approach and Slavic Romanticism that brought worldly style and flair to a Finnish art world stifled by solemn social obligations.

The Ilya Glazunov and Finland exhibition looks at Finland in the Kekkonen era (1956-81) through one phenomenon of the art world. The Soviet painter Ilya Glazunov (b. 1930) attracted considerable public interest and many influential Finnish friends in the early 1970s with an individualistic approach and Slavic Romanticism that brought worldly style and flair to a Finnish art world stifled by solemn social obligations. Styled the court painter of the Kekkonen era, Glazunov made his mark in Finland in 1973 after he was commissioned to paint an official portrait of President Kekkonen. He also painted several other prominent Finns of the time, such as Marimekko founder Armi Ratia (1973), leading designer Timo Sarpaneva (1975), and Speaker of Parliament Johannes Virolainen (1982), and his subjects included many other influential cultural, financial and organisation leaders and their close relatives, as well as the artist’s Finnish friends. Glazunov also created an entire series of portraits, mostly by drawing, at the time of his 1975 exhibition in Kunsthalle Helsinki.

Glazunov’s original style does not fit into the norms of orthodox Socialist Realism. The influences of religious icons and the iconography of the Russian Old Believers are clearly visible in his portraits. Besides Kekkonen, he has also immortalised several other national leaders, including India’s Indira Gandhi (1973), Chile’s Salvador Allende (1973) and H.M. King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden (1974).

The 30 portraits from private Finnish collections on display at the Kiasma exhibition date mainly from the 1970s, and many are now shown in public for the first time. Through one phenomenon this exhibition showcases the public debate on art that is occasionally sparked off by media interest in the personality of an artist or in some “controversial work”.

Besides paintings and drawings, some documentary materials are also on display, including photographs and TV shows providing background on the works and the cultural climate of Finland in the 1970s. The architectural design of the exhibition space is the work of Ralf Forsström, and the curator of the exhibition is former Kiasma Museum Director Berndt Arell, who is currently Director of the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland. The exhibition will move to the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art in Vaasa in the autumn.

Ilya Glazunov and Finland