MAIRE GULLICHSEN ART FOUNDATION´S COLLECTION
The Maire Gullichsen Art Foundation´s collection builds a picture of the Finnish modernism of the post war period and its international influences. The main emphasis in the collections is in the abstract and concretist art examining questions of form and colour. The exhibition is realized in collaboration with the Maire Gullichen Art Foundation.
MEDIA RELEASE (Translated with ChatGPT)
May 19, 2003
THE MAIRE GULLICHSEN ART FOUNDATION COLLECTIONS
A press conference for the exhibition will be held at the Pori Art Museum on Friday, May 30, 2003, at 12:00 PM. The event will feature painter Carolus Enckell, who is also a member of the Art Foundation.
“Visual art is about seeing and thinking. A successful painting makes a person aware of their way of seeing, helping them become more conscious of themselves and their surroundings.”
Maire Gullichsen (1907–1990), one of Finland’s most significant cultural figures of the 20th century, continues to inspire interest. In 2000, the Pori Art Museum honored its founder and benefactor by opening the Wing, an extension dedicated to new trends in contemporary art, presenting her life’s work, and publishing a related book.
“I nurture the hope that the backbone of the Pori Art Museum’s collection could consist of works representing abstract art. Such an abstract backbone would be unique and found nowhere else,” said Maire Gullichsen in 1977 when speaking about the as-yet-unrealized Pori Art Museum—an ambition she had passionately supported since the mid-1960s.
In August 1971, Maire Gullichsen established an art foundation bearing her name to manage the part of her collection she intended to donate to the City of Pori as the core collection of the art museum. The construction project took nearly a decade to complete. On October 3, 1980, the Maire Gullichsen Art Foundation and the City of Pori reached an agreement to deposit the collection in the museum, which opened the following year.
According to Erik Kruskopf, the Maire Gullichsen Art Foundation Collection is built on three foundational pillars:
- Maire Gullichsen’s early acquisitions, primarily works from the later phase of Finland’s Golden Age of Painting, featuring artists such as Magnus Enckell, Helene Schjerfbeck, Tyko Sallinen, and Ellen Thesleff.
- The pioneers of Finnish non-figurative art, including teachers from the Free Art School and members of the Prisma Group, such as Birger Carlstedt, Sam Vanni, Yngve Bäck, Rabbe and Torger Enckell, Unto Pusa, Lars-Gunnar Nordström, and Ernst Mether-Borgström.
- The mature flourishing of abstract art, represented by artists like Tor Arne, Carolus Enckell, Jorma Hautala, and Paul Osipow, as well as sculptors Kain Tapper, Mauno Hartman, and Harry Kivijärvi.
Maire Gullichsen had a remarkable eye and understanding for staying at the forefront of new developments in art. She worked tirelessly to open up Finnish design and visual art to the international stage and help it find its place within the European cultural landscape. The collection established by her foundation reflects Finnish art’s relationship with contemporary trends and serves as an important part of the internationalization process through which Finland’s artists gradually claimed their place on the global stage during the 20th century.
The Maire Gullichsen Art Foundation Collection exhibition will open at the Pori Art Museum on May 31, 2003, at 3:00 PM and will be on view until August 24, 2003.
For more information, please contact Acting Museum Director Esko Nummelin at +358 2 6211085, +358 2 6211091 (fax), or esko.nummelin@pori.fi.
WELCOME!