Hilkka Terttu Hilda Toivola (20 June 1909 – 19 September 2002) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

artist who created many

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

works, particularly for churches.

Biography

Toivola's parents were train engine driver Herman Frederick Toivola and Hilda Emilia Tammi. Both her mother and her older brother had also studied art in Turku. She studied at the Turku Art Academy (''Turun piirustuskoulu'') from 1932 to 1935, graduating with honours. Toivola also studied with glass painters Giovanni Toller in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

(1938) and

Pierre Gaudin Pierre Gaudin (1908–1973), son of Jean Gaudin (1879–1954) and grandson of Félix Gaudin (1851–1930) was a glass painter and mosaic artist. His studio executed mosaic designs and stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a mater ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(1951). At the Turku Art Academy she was a drawing instructor (1942–1945, 1964–1969) and later its rector (1969–1973). Toivola married the painter Otso Karpakka (1914-2005); both were involved in Ryhmä 9, a Turku-based artists' collective that functioned from 1951 to 1959. The couple were unusual in having worked alongside each other as artists for some 60 years, cooperating in the creation of several large

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es and stained-glass pieces. Nevertheless, they each had separate artistic careers. The

Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art ( fi, Wäinö Aaltosen museo, sv, Wäinö Aaltonens museum) or WAM for short, is an art museum in central Turku, Finland dedicated especially to modern art. The museum is located on the east bank of the Aura Rive ...

mounted a large exhibition featuring 600 Toivola and Karpakka works (2006–2007), and published a bilingual Finnish-Swedish book on the artist couple's lives and work.''Hilkka Toivola ja Otso Karpakka, Yhdessä elettyä.'' Wäinö Aaltosen museo, 2006. In 1943, she received a 10,000-mark prize in a mural competition sponsored by Helsinki art dealer Ivar Hörhammer. In 1970 Toivola was awarded the

Pro Finlandia Medal The Order of the Lion of Finland ( fi, Suomen Leijonan ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Lejons orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President ...

References

2002 deaths 1909 births 20th-century Finnish women artists Finnish women artists Women glass artists {{Finland-artist-stub