Gun Lanciai (born Gunvor Westerberg on 10 November 1920 in

Borgå Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...

, Finland; died 15 March 2013 in Helsingør, Denmark), was a Swedish-Finnish sculptor. She was also the illustrator of the Swedish-language school book '' Vi på Solgård'', for reading for the lower levels in Finland by the suggestion of her lifelong friend the writer

Solveig von Schoultz Solveig Margareta von Schoultz (5 August 1907 – 3 December 1996) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish writer and teacher. She wrote poetry, children's novels, short stories, plays, and television and radio dramas. Biography Solveig von Schoultz was ...

. Gun Lanciai lived most of her life in Sweden (1955–2004), was a Finnish citizen until 1965, and from then on a Swedish citizen.

Biography

Lanciai made her first sculpture, a faun in clay at the age of 13 in 1934. She was accepted at the art academy of Ateneum in

Helsingfors Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

in 1939 for further education in sculpture and ceramics, which progress was interrupted by the Winter War. She married the half Italian Aurelio Lanciai in 1942, Finnish junior champion in tennis, and in 1952 moved with him and four children to San Isidro in Argentine, where she found a new teacher in the sculptor Esdras Gianella (1916–2010). At the same time another Swedish sculptress lived in San Isidro, the prima ballerina of Paris

Carina Ari Carina Ari (14 April 1897 – 24 December 1970) was the artistic name of Maria Karina Viktoria Jansson, a Swedish-born dancer. After a noted career of dance and choreography which spanned from 1913 to 1939, mostly in Paris, Ari married and moved t ...

, who left dancing at the age of 42 to instead commit herself to sculpturing. Gun Lanciai resumed sculpturing in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

at her return to Scandinavia in 1955 after the fall of Perón. She specialised in children's figures ( terracotta), portraits in plaster, some bronze sculptures, musicians in plaster and steel wiring, sown applications and paintings. She gave regular exhibitions from 1968 in Sweden, Finland, Canada and Denmark, in 1972 in both Finland and Canada. In 1976 she had a solo exhibition in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

where she exhibited both sculptures, graphics and water colours. She moved to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

with her husband in 1977 but lived her last nine years in the home of her son Michael close to Elsinore in Denmark. In 2013 she gave her last exhibition one week before her sudden death in heart failure and pneumonia. She was the niece of the architect and artist

Harry Röneholm Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

of Finland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanciai, Gun 1920 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Finnish women artists 21st-century Finnish women artists Finnish women sculptors Swedish women sculptors People from Porvoo Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish emigrants to Sweden Swedish expatriates in Denmark Finnish expatriates in Argentina People from Helsingør 20th-century Swedish women