Artists and Letters presents the graphic design of books and magazines of the so-called Golden Age of Finnish art. Around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, international Art Nouveau inspired a desire to renew typography, making the printing of books a genre of art alongside architecture and the visual arts. Reformers of book art in Finland included Väinö Blomstedt, Albert Edelfelt, Albert O. W. Ehrström, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Albert Gebhard, Pekka Halonen, Hugo Simberg, Louis Sparre, among many other artists.

The revolution of printing technology in the late 19th century, the expansion of cultural pursuits and increased political activity during the so-called years of oppression, greatly multiplied the numbers of books, magazines and newspapers published in Finland . The reform-minded publishing industry and the emergence of nationalism led to the collaboration of writers and artists. Renowned artists of the period created the covers of graphic design of books by authors, such as Juhani Aho, Eino Leino and L. Onerva.

Dominated by the quest for a national style, the arts of the national-romantic period come to include graphic design and typography. The trade press actively discussed the elements and language of form to be used in the decoration of printed matter of nationalist orientation. This debate came to a height in a special number of the journal Kirjapainotaito (The Art of Book Printing) in 1914 presenting for the first time a series of initial letters and ornaments of a Finnish-national style, entitled Jorma .

Väinö Blomstedt, Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Louis Sparre, who had studied in Paris , applied new international examples in their printed works. Heavily marked contours and uniform planes of colour were prominent features of covers of the Nuori Suomi (Young Finland) Christmas album books (1893-1894) and the 1895 Christmas magazine of the Finnish Artists Society. These were early Synthetist works of Finnish art. Despite the change in style, artists also remained loyal to national ideals and the printed matter combines international impulses with Finnish nature motifs and Karelian ornament. In its graphic design, Ateneum (1898-1903), headed by Albert Edelfelt and Akseli Gallen-Kallela, was a leader among Nordic cultural magazines. It was produced in collaboration by a number of Finnish artists and the Tilgmann printing firm in Helsinki .

National literature bolstered faith in the nation's own culture. Albert Edelfelt made the illustrations to Johan Ludvig Runeberg's Fänrik Ståls Sägner (Tales of the Ensign Stål, 1898-1900), and Akseli Gallen-Kallela focused his efforts on illustrating themes from folklore and the Kalevala epic. Gallen-Kallela's version of Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers (1908) and his richly illustrated and decorated Kalevala from 1922 are classics of book art comparable to international works employing a total typographic concept.

Artists and Letters is based on the pioneering research of art historian and graphic designer Ms. Tuija Kuusela. The Finnish Literature Society will publish a book written and designed by Kuusela on the theme of the exhibition.

Gallen-Kallelan Museum