Sam Vanni (till 1941 Samuel Besprosvanni; 6 July 1908 – 20 October 1992) was a Finnish painter. He is considered to be the pioneer of

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

in Finland.Finnish National Biography
(in Finnish) Samuel Besprosvanni was born in Vyborg. His parents were

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

r Aron Besprosvanni and Rakel Stoler. Besprosvanni was multi-lingual since his early childhood. Of Jewish origin, his home language was

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

, but he went to a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

school and most of his friends were speaking Finnish. The Besprosvanni family moved to Helsinki in 1921 and in 1927 Samuel started studies in the Academy of Fine Arts.Sam Vanni's obituary
(in Finnish) Later he studied in the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence and was a private student of the sculptor

Wäinö Aaltonen Wäinö Valdemar Aaltonen (8 March 1894 – 30 May 1966) was a Finnish artist and sculptor. The Chambers Biographical Dictionary describes him as "one of the leading Finnish sculptors". He was born to a tailor in the village of Karinainen, Finla ...

.Artfact
/ref> In 1931 his works were displayed in an annual Finnish Art Society exhibition.Beenezit Dictionary of Artists
/ref> From 1938 to 1939 Vanni lived in London and Paris, where he attended the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

and Académie de la Grande Chaumière. In the 1940s Vanni started to move towards more abstract art. He was especially influenced by French artists like Henri Matisse and

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist ...

. Sam Vanni was an active painter until his death in 1992. He was awarded by the Pro Finlandia and invited in the

Academy of Finland The Academy of Finland ( fi, Suomen Akatemia, sv, Finlands Akademi) is a governmental funding body for scientific research in Finland. It is based in Helsinki. Yearly, the Academy administers over 260 million euros to Finnish research activities. O ...

in 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanni, Sam 1908 births 1992 deaths Artists from Vyborg People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish Jews Jewish painters Académie Julian alumni Finnish people of Russian-Jewish descent 20th-century Finnish painters