Children of Mother Earth
Tolstoyism in the Cultural History of Finland
5 June – 29 August, 2010

Opening hours:
Daily 11–18.

Guided tours in English 27.6, 25.7, and 29.8.
at 2 pm.

Guided tours in Russian 4.7, and 1.8. at 2 pm.

Tickets:
Adults 8 €
Seniors 6 €
Holders of S-etu
benefit card 7 €
Students 4 €
Free entrance for children and persons under 18.

In association with:

Children of Mother Earth is an exhibition on the influence of Tolstoyism in Finland during the lifetime of the Russian author Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). Tolstoyism influenced not only literature and the visual arts in Finland but also theosophy, the rural youth movement, the workers' movement and the peace movement. The exhibition focuses on the manifestations of Tolstoyan thought in Finnish art. In the works on display, this ideology is evident in interpretations of vernacular Christianity, agricultural themes and depictions of the common people. Exhibits include works of art, photographs, correspondence previously unknown in Finland, and personal objects belonging to Leo Tolstoy.

In his time, Leo Tolstoy was known as a critical thinker who spoke out about the faults of society, although he is now known more for his great novels. Tolstoy developed his own interpretation of Christianity, which was reflected in practical life far beyond his own close circle. He addressed the role of art in the human community, criticizing the elitist institution of art. His ideas were influential and spread throughout the world, including Finland. Many of Tolstoy's writings were censored in Russia, including the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, but they were distributed in secret and acquired in translation, for example from Sweden.

Leo Tolstoy's thinking was made known in Finland especially by the author and lawyer Arvid Järnefelt (1861–1932). The Järnefelt family read Russian literature in the original and translated it into Finnish. An important figure was Elisabeth Järnefelt, the mother of the author Arvid Järnefelt and his brothers the composer Armas, the painter Eero and the art critic Kaspar Järnefelt. Elisabeth's sister, Olga Clodt von Jürgensburg, belonged to Tolstoy' close circle and passed the author's works and ideas on to her sister's family in Finland. Of contemporary Finnish authors, the exhibition features, among others, Juhani Aho and Minna Canth, who knew the Järnefelt family well.

Communities living according the precepts of Leo Tolstoy were founded in Russia and Europe. Utopian colonies influenced by Tolstoyism were established in the United States. No actual communities of this kind, however, were founded in Finland, where Arvid Järnefelt's Rantala property and Akseli and Eelo Isohiisi's Eelola farm in Iitti were ideological centres of the movement. The exhibition presents the tragic fate of the brothers Akseli and Eelo Isohiisi who had chosen a Tolstoyan way of life. They were executed during the Finnish civil war of 1918 for refusing to take up arms.

In the visual arts, Tolstoyism was manifested as an ideal of self-sufficiency in the daily lives of artists, and as choices of themes and their treatment. The exhibition focuses on the attitudes of artists to the issues addressed by Tolstoyism: criticism of the state church, military conscription and national defence, pacifism, the ownership of tilled land and the education of the peasantry. Children of Mother Earth presents Tolstoyism as an ideology and a way of life, an ideological current in the cultural landscape within which Finnish artists worked around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Featured artists: Emil Cedercreutz, Olga Clodt von Jürgensburg, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Nikolai Ge, Pekka Halonen, Akseli Isohiisi, Arvid Järnefelt, Eero Järnefelt, Kasper Järnefelt, Aleksander Moravov, Ilya Repin, August "Gutten” Soldán, Venny Soldan-Brofelt and Werner Åström.

Maaemon lapset (in Finnish) is a book presenting a multidisciplinary view of Tolstoyism from the perspectives of the history of ideas, literature, art history and comparative religion. The contributors are Galina Alekseyeva, Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff, Tamara Burlakova, Ben Hellman, Pertti Karkama, Riitta Konttinen, Ritva Kava, Maija Salonius-Hatakka, Mervi Tuomikoski and Tuija Wahlroos. The book is published by the Finnish Literature Society.

Children of Mother Earth will feature three special theme days: 6 June, 8 August, and 15 August. In July there will be a Summer course. The course programme, dates and price to be announced later. In addition, the exhibition will feature following two days:

Espoo Day, 27 August
Free entrance the Gallen-Kallela Museum in honour of Espoo Day. Free guided tours and non-stop sessions of the Akselin aarteet (Akseli's Treasures) board game in Finnish from 3 to 5 pm.
Guided tours for the public:
Children of Mother Earth at Noon and 4 pm in Finnish.
Children of Mother Earth at 2 pm in Swedish.

Family weekend, 28.–29.August
Museum entrance fee. Children and young people under 18 always free of charge.
28.8. Saturday for Children: workshop and guided tours, readings of children's stories by Tolstoy. Guided tour for children (in Finnish) at Noon, workshop from 1 to 3 pm.
29.8. Picnic concert, guided tour in Finnish at 1 pm, in English at 2 pm.

Tarvaspään Lukutupa – The Tarvaspää Reading-Room (in Finnish) will be open on Thursdays from 4 to 6 pm to present literature related to the exhibition and for discussion on the read works. Museum entrance fee.

In association with:
Russia Programme in the Arts and Culture / Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture
The State Leo Tolstoy Museum, Moscow
The State Leo Tolstoy Museum Property of Yasnaya Polyana
The Finnish Embassy in Moscow
The Arvid Järnefelt Society
The Eero Järnefelt Society
The Finnish Literature Society
Zontik Oy