June 5 – August 29, 2010Children of Mother Earth
Children of Mother Earth is an exhibition on the influence of Tolstoyism in Finland beginning in the late 19th century. The Russian author Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) developed his own interpretation of Christianity, which was reflected in practice far beyond his own close circle. Tolstoy considered the role of the arts in human society, and was thus also influential as an art critic. His influential ideas spread throughout the world, including Finland especially in the 1880s–1890s. Tolstoy's ideas were particularly disseminated in Finland by the lawyer and author Arvid Järnefelt (1861–1932), in whose near circle Tolstoyan ideas influenced visual art. Children of Mother Earth places its focus on Leo Tolstoy and Arvid Järnefelt. Finnish authors featured in the exhibition include Juhani Aho and Minna Canth. The exhibition also presents the tragic fate of the brothers Akseli and Eelo Isohiisi, who chose a Tolstoyan way of life. Visual artists did not completely follow a Tolstoyan way of life or directly illustrate Tolstoy's ideas. For them, Tolstoyism was expressed as the ideal of self-sufficiency in everyday life and in art at the level of choices of subjects and their execution. Among others, Emil Cedercreutz, Arvid, Eero and Kasper Järnefelt, Pekka Halonen, Akseli Isohiisi, Venny Soldan-Brofelt and Akseli Gallen-Kallela represent Finnish artists in the exhibition. Children of Mother Earth presents Tolstoyism as both ideology and practice. On display are works of art and cultural-historical material. The exhibition explores in closer detail the attitudes of artists regarding the issues addressed by Tolstoyism: criticism of the state church, military conscription, national defence, pacifism, the ownership of farmed land and the education of the peasantry. This exhibition views of the currents of ideological history in the cultural landscape within which Finnish visual artists of the turn of the century worked. Appearing in connection with the exhibition is a book published by the Finnish Literature Society and presenting a multidisciplinary view of Tolstoyism from the perspectives of literature, art history and the study of comparative religion. The book and the exhibition have been produced through the collaboration of Finnish experts and those of the Tolstoy museums of Russia (Yasnaya Polyana, Tula and the State Tolstoy Museum of Moscow).
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