Silent beauty. It’s a phrase that perfectly captures the shared aesthetic of two remote parts of the world. One is the Nordic region – especially Finland and neighbouring Sweden – the other is East Asia; mainly Japan, with ancestral influences from Korea and China. An exhibition by the same name combines the collection of Helsinki’s Ateneum (one of three museums forming the Finnish National Gallery), where the show is being held, alongside pieces from the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo.
On display are mainly ceramics and paintings, dotted with sculptures, textiles and architecture, which explore the countries’ artistic synergy. The timing is apt: this year marks the centenary of diplomatic relations between Finland and Japan. The show’s time span is elastic: focusing on pre- and post-World Wars, yet sometimes diverting to Korea’s Joseon dynasty (15th century) or the present day.
The opening section profiles Yanagi Sōetsu, art critic, philosopher and father of the Mingei movement, initiated in 1925. His campaign, which emphasised the beauty of everyday objects in simplified shapes, culminated in the opening of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in 1936. Yanagi had visited Stockholm in 1929 and played a key role in Japan’s embrace of Nordic aesthetics.
Courtesy of Finnish National Gallery. Photography: Hannu Pakarinen
Meanwhile, Finnish and Swedish artists were discovering Japanese sensibilities through techniques and materials like woodcut printing and Japanese handcrafted paper, exhibited in Paris or at the Venice Biennale. This section’s display starts with a 19th-century haori, a kimono-style coat. The simple lines and geometric motifs of the garment, which was used as fireman’s uniform, illustrate the beauty in a functional item made by an unknown craftsperson. Coincidentally, its motifs also recall the universe of iconic Finnish design house Marimekko.
The next room is largely dedicated to landscapes, starting with an oil painting by Helene Schjerfbeck. The strong connection to nature highlights similarities between the Far East and the far north. Then a great number of stoneware and earthenware pieces appear including slender-shaped jugs and bottles by Kyllikki Salmenhaara, which recall the stretching cedar tree, while minimally shaped plates and bowls by Kanjiro Kawai and Shōji Hamada lend a sense of dynamism.
‘According to Hamada, it takes sixty seconds to apply his decorative technique, but it took him sixty years to learn it’, says Anne-Marie Pennanen, the show’s curator, pointing out the calligraphy-like motif on the plate. As a backdrop to the pottery, two stencil-dye (Katazome) works by Samiro Yunoki are displayed on the wall.
‘Silent Beauty’ unfolds as a perpetual dialogue between different disciplines. Its flow is organic, guided by themes such as winter, fire, still lifes and black and white. The show also includes ceramics by Bernard Leach, paintings by Ufan Lee, and abstract paintings and sculptures by the Finnish couple Ahti and Maija Lavonen. Among the qualities juxtaposed throughout this exhibition, such as harmony, calmness, cleanness, simplicity, patience, the most prominent of all is pure silence. Here, silence is more golden than ever.
Vase, 1970, by Heidi Blomstedt. Courtesy of Finnish National Gallery. Photography: Hannu Pakarinen
Eight Pears, 1956, by Ina Colliander. Courtesy of Finnish National Gallery. Photography: Hannu Karjala
Still Life, 1959, by Kalle Eskola. Courtesy of Finnish National Gallery
Bottles, 1953, by Kyllikki Salmenhaara. Courtesy of Finnish National Gallery. Photography: Hannu Pakarinen
Courtesy of Finnish National Gallery. Photography: Hannu Pakarinen
Composition, 1956, by Zao Wou-Ki. Courtesy of Finnish National Gallery. Photography: Jenni Nurminen
Edge of the Forest, 1956, Mauri Favén. Courtesy of Finnish National Gallery. Photography: Jenni Nurminen
INFORMATION
‘Silent Beauty: Nordic and East-Asian Interaction’, until 6 October, Ateneum. ateneum.fi
ADDRESS
Ateneum
Kaivokatu 2
00100 Helsinki
-
Step inside Pauline Karpidas’ London home, a cabinet of curiosities filled with art and design treasuresThe British collector is selling the entire contents of her art and design-filled home: take a peek before it goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in September 2025
-
Boutique London rental development celebrates European courtyard livingLondon design and development studio Wendover unveils its newest residential project, 20 Newcourt Street, comprising nine apartments; we toured with co-founder Gabriel Chipperfield
-
Compact but far from cuddly, the Abarth 600e is a small but shouty EV with a sting in its tailAbarth’s second performance electric car, the 600e ramps up the branding to make a bold statement inside and out
-
Rolf Sachs’ largest exhibition to date, ‘Be-rühren’, is a playful study of touchA collection of over 150 of Rolf Sachs’ works speaks to his preoccupation with transforming everyday objects to create art that is sensory – both emotionally and physically
-
After decades capturing the world’s fashion-set, photographer Johnny Rozsa picks up a paint brushIn his first exhibition of paintings, the New York-based artist celebrates the vibrancy of Tangier while rediscovering a familiar creative outlet
-
Leila Bartell’s cloudscapes are breezily distorted, a response to an evermore digital world‘Memory Fields’ is the London-based artist’s solo exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery (until 25 July 2025)
-
Marlene Dumas’ charged, exposed and intimate figures gather in AthensThe artist’s work from 1992 until the present day goes on show at Athens’ Museum of Cycladic Art (until 2 November)
-
Get lost in Megan Rooney’s abstract, emotional paintingsThe artist finds worlds in yellow and blue at Thaddaeus Ropac London
-
Kaari Upson’s unsettling, grotesque and seductive world in DenmarkThe Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark is staging the first comprehensive survey of late artist Kaari Upson’s work
-
Inside the brilliant and short career of Paul Thek: 'The goal was to live a creative existence as a maker – and he lived in a saint-like fashion'Paul Thek's paintings are now viewable at Thomas Dane Gallery in London, in an exhibition curated by Kenny Schacter and Jonathan Anderson.
-
Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska’s new show at Kettle’s Yard will uncover the missing narratives in everyday life storiesThe artists and partners in life are collaborating on an immersive takeover of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, in an exhibition that delves into a lost literary legacy
