ABSTRACT
This chapter, authored by Timo Huusko, connections between concepts of “national” modern art in Finland and expressionist art theories in Germany are explored, with a focus on the 1910s and 1920s. The emphasis is on the reception of expressionism, with the November Group and specifically the painter Tyko Sallinen (1879–1955) being introduced as its main proponents in the field of art. The chapter, authored by Tutta Palin, takes a look at a second generation, by way of sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen and the October Group, the latter joining the scene in the 1930s, with expressionist vocabulary as a standard feature of the high modernist artist’s toolbox. Like the German discourse on transcendental national expressionism, Wennervirta’s statement, with its arguments in favor of a national expressionism, offers a key for understanding just who the people in Finland were that desired to strengthen their identity and social status.
