Nuances of the 1920s Palette

The exhibition Nuances of the 1920s Palette opens on the first floor of the Tikanoja Art Museum. The selected works are from the museum’s own collection and they represent the color expression of the period.

The use of earthy colors gained popularity in Finnish visual arts during the 1910s and it continued in the 1920s. Broken colors were considered "Finnish". Frithjof Tikanoja's collection included many works, which were representative of the period, but also exceptional in terms of their color expression. The international influences seen in the colors of Eemu Myntti’s works spoke to his contemporaries. William Lönnberg's Ironing Woman, was considered by the critic Edvard Richter to represent a rare "true color culture". The painting also serves as an example of the exhibition's brighter color palette.

The decade was characterized by urbanization, but the connection to the countryside remained strong. After the civil war, efforts were made to create national unity, which in turn strengthened the interest in the peasantry, home and folk culture. The artists captured glimpses of the period in their works: the city and the countryside, the everyday life and Sundays. From Tyko Sallinen's rhythmic Saturday Evening cadence, we move on to Werner Åström's and Alvar Cawén's works that depict the peace of a Sunday. Other artists in the exhibition are e.g. Wäinö Aaltonen, Matti Annala, Arvi Mäenpää, Jalmari Ruokokoski and Ilmari Vuori.