Akseli Gallen-Kallela (
1865-
1931) was born
Axel Valdemar Gallen,
April 26,
1865 in
Pori,
Finland. At age
13, he started to study at the
Finnish Art Association under
Carl Jahn. He also was taught by
Fredrik Ahlstedt and
Adolf von Becker, and
Albert Edelfelt. He is considered the
Grand Master of Finnish Design.
In 1884, he went to Paris for the first time, where he studied at the Academie Julian. He was good friends with the Swedish-Italian artist Louis Sparre. On May 20, 1890 he married Mary Slöör.
He exposed in the Finnish Pavilion at the Paris World Fair in 1900, after which he became a widely famous designer in Finland. He made paintings, sculptures and frescoes in addition to the industrial art of posters, flags, and logos. He created stained glass, illustrations, badges, uniforms and medals.
His most famed series was the Kalevala, and within the series, his most dramatic work was Lemminkäinen's Mother, painted in 1897.
He designed both of his studio-homes; one residence was built in the countryside at Ruovesi in 1895, and was made of logs. His other residence at Tarvaspää was built in 1913 in the form of a castle.
In 1909 and 1910, he travelled in Mombasa, Nairobi, Kenya and Egypt. In 1918, C.G.Mannerheim, the commander-in-chief of the White Army, took Gallen-Kallela in as chief of the map office and the painting office.
Kalevala series:
Aino Myth (1891)
The Forging of the Sampo (1893)
The Defence of the Sampo (1896)
Lemminkäinen's Mother (1897)
Kullervo's Curse (1899)
Lemminkäinen (1899)
Kullervo Departs for the War
He died of pneumonia March 7, 1931. For his funeral, Jean Sibelius composed Surusoitto.