Emil Wikström

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Emil Wikström (1864 -1942) was a Finnish sculptor. Among his best known works are the statues outside Helsinki Central railway station and the memorials of Elias Lönnrot and Johan Vilhelm Snellman.

Visavuori, his home and studio in Valkeakoski, was opened to the public as a museum in 1966.

Emil Wikström studied art in Finnish Art Association's drawing school in Turku and Helsinki, in Art Academy in Vienna and also in Académie Julian école des arts Decoratif in Paris. Wikström as well as other artists took inspiration for their art from their own country's cultural mythology. Finnish artists studied and worked in Paris. Some decided to retreat to the peace of forest as Wikström reported in a letter to Axel Gallén dated 1898. Wikström was the first to carry out his plan and he found ideal place for himself in Sääksmäki by Lake Vanaja. In Visavuori, Emil Wikström sculpted most of his work and many original casts and studies can be now seen in the Visavuori museum. Emil Wikström was the most important Finnish sculptor of his time. Best remembered for his public monuments in Helsinki, the statues in railway station, and other cities across Finland, Wikström produced portraits of many statesmen, politicians, businessmen, family and friends, as well as figures from Finnish mythology.

[edit] Eemil Halonen

Eemil Halonen was one of Finland’s most productive sculptors. He first studied woodworking at the Lappeenranta and Lapvesi Crafting School. Later he studied sculpture with Emil Wikström at the Finnish Art school. He travelled to study in Russia, France and Italy.

Eemil Halonen’s artwork was multifaceted. While living in Lapinlahti he sculpted images of the common people as well as public works, which he often made from Finnish wood and stone. After moving to Helsinki in 1919 Eemil Halonen concentrated on commissioned works, for example gravestones. His sculpture of Minna Canth, unveiled in Kuopio in 1937, is one of Halonen’s best known public pieces.

Eemil Halonen is one of the most notable interpreters of Finland’s national epic the Kalevala. During his artistic career, which lasted more than 50 years, he repeatedly depicted subjects from the Kalevala. A central theme of his sculpture was women characters from the Kalevala, from Louhe to Sotkottaret. For Eemil Halonen the Kalevala was a sacred book that broadly affected his view of life. He would often say: ”The Kalevala has wisdom behind it”.