Fokus gallery: Lars-Gunnar Nordström
Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki
- 27.8.2024–24.11.2024
The Ateneum will celebrate Nordström by staging a small-scale exhibition in the Fokus Gallery, consisting of works from the Finnish National Gallery collection.
In August 2024, 100 years will have passed since the birth of the pioneer and trailblazer in Finnish concrete art, Lars-Gunnar “Nubben” Nordström (1924–2014). Trained as an interior architect and practically self-taught as an artist, Nubben was a key influential figure in Finnish post-war modernism and a multidisciplinary reformist in art. The exhibition will present paintings, sculptures and prints from the 1940s and the 1950s, selected from the Finnish National Gallery collection.
The exhibition sheds light on the reception of early concrete art in Finland, the zeitgeist in that era, and the great importance of an international outlook for Nordström and like-minded artists. The Finnish art debate of the 1950s was characterised by heated confrontations. Verbalising a new visual idiom was difficult for critics, and there was much conceptual confusion.
In the 1950s, the Ateneum acquired just two works by Lars-Gunnar Nordström: the serigraphs Composition in Blue (1952) and Vihreä taistelu (‘The Green Battle’, 1952). The other works in the exhibition were acquired only after the mid-1970s, when concrete art had established itself on the Finnish art scene. The 1950s were also a time of reform in Finnish sculpture, and Lars-Gunnar Nordström was one of the most open-minded experimentalists in this field, too. In the mid-1950s, scrap metal became the artist’s material of choice, and he worked it by cutting and welding, producing a series of light, dynamic sculptures. The sculptures Tandem and Twist were influenced by the work of the American artist Alexander Calder.
The title of the woodcut Blue Moment (1948–1949) is a direct reference to jazz music, which the artist loved, and to trumpet playing, a hobby of his youth. “I construct it [my art] mathematically, as if it were music; it’s music to the eye, with chords and rhythms based on the intrinsic mechanics of colours”, said Nubben in 1978, describing his way of working.
The exhibition is part of the Nubben 100 anniversary year programme, and it is curated by the chief curator of the Ateneum, Sointu Fritze.
The Fokus Gallery presents concise displays, with selected artists or themes from the Ateneum collection. The gallery is located on the second floor of the museum, which is also where the collection exhibition A Question of Time is staged.
Museum exhibitions
Museum events
- Ateneum Guide: Audio guide in the exhibition A question of time
- Gothic Modern -näyttelyintro
- Lasten Ateneum: Opastetut kierrokset
- Ateneum Late – free for students and under 25-year-olds
- Lasten Ateneum: Opastetut kierrokset
- Sunday of guided tours: Exhibition intros
- Sounds of Christmas at the Ateneum
- Sounds of Christmas at the Ateneum
- Gothic Modern -luennot
- Ateneum Teema: Ajan kysymys -keskustelu
- A guided tour of the collection exhibition A Question of Time
- Ateneum Salon: Dive into the Middle Ages 11.12.
- Sunday of guided tours: Exhibition intros
- Gothic Modern -luennot
- Sunday of guided tours: Exhibition intros
Edut
Osana kulttuurikierrosta
Museum contact details
Ateneum Art Museum
Kaivokatu 2, Helsinki
0294 500 401
Yhteydet julkisilla
Näytä reitti museolle Matkahuollon reittioppaassa
Katso reitti Matkahuollon reittioppaassa
Päämäärä:
Ateneum Art Museum, Kaivokatu 2, Helsinki
Lähtöpiste:
Admission fees
22/20/12/0 €
Payment methods
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Opening hours
Mon | Closed |
Tue | 10:00-20:00 |
Wed | 10:00-20:00 |
Thu | 10:00-20:00 |
Fri | 10:00-20:00 |
Sat | 10:00-17:00 |
Sun | 10:00-17:00 |
Exceptional opening hours: https://ateneum.fi/en/opening-hours-and-tickets/