John Boulton Smith : The golden age of Finnish art : art nouveau and the national spirit

The remarkable Finnish pavilion at the Paris World's Fair of 1900 proved to be a landmark in Finland's cultural history. Never before had her artists and architects so consistently striven to present a collective image of their country’s cultural identity to the outside world. The pavilion's design by the young architects Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen, the paintings by Gallen-Kallela and other leading artists, the Iris factory and the Friends of Finnish Handicraft Society, all combined to make a unique artistic impact which received encouraging international recognition.

The Finnish pavilion was a summing up of a national artistic awakening which had been growing throughout the 19th century. It was also to mark the beginning of the important contributions to 20th century architecture, design and industrial art which have been such notable Finnish achievements.

This book tells the story of this renaissance in Finnish art, tracing its development through the 19th century, discussing its achievements in relation to contemporary international art and concluding with its emergence into the first ten years of this century.

John Boulton Smith teaches the History of Art at London University. He is one of the leading English authorities on the art of the Nordic countries. His books include Edvard Munch (1962), Finnish Painting and Sculpture in Finland Creation and Construction, 1968) and Modern Finnish Painting and Graphic Art (1970). He has regularly contributed articles and reviews to art journals in England and Norway and has organized many exhibitions of Nordic Art in England.