Väinö Ilmari Kunnas (12 April 1896 in

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

– 10 February 1929 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) was a Finnish

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

painter. During his brief career, he went from Expressionism to experiment with more abstract modern styles. His major works consist of portraits of cultural personalities and depictions of the urban environment.

Life

His parents were the painters Mikko Kunnas (originally Keränen) and Helena Varonen. Due to his mother's early death, his education was interrupted. After the family moved to

Sortavala Sortavala (; Finnish language, Finnish and ; ), previously known as Serdobol () until 1918, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finland, Finni ...

, he was able to attend an arts and crafts school, graduating in 1912.Brief biography
by Julia Donner @ Sininen Laulu When they returned home, he studied drawing at the Vyborg art school until 1917.
@ Kuvataiteilijamatrikkeli He also studied music with the composer

Toivo Kuula Toivo Timoteus Kuula (7 July 1883 – 18 May 1918) was a Finnish composer and conductor of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods, who emerged in the wake of Jean Sibelius, under whom he studied privately from 1906 to 1908. The core of Ku ...

. In the 1918

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

, Kunnas fought for the

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

. After the Battle of Vyborg, he was captured by the Whites spending two weeks in a prison camp. Kunnas moved to Helsinki in 1920, where he studied at the

Finnish Art Society The Academy of Fine Arts (; ) in Helsinki, Finland is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and provides the highest university-level theoretical and practical training in the country in fine arts. Academy The Academy was founded in 184 ...

drawing school from 1920-1921. After graduating, his economic situation was rather precarious and he had to take full-time work as an assistant to the architect Johan Sigfrid Sirén. He began to exhibit during these years, and also became a member of the art association "Nuoret" (Youth) as well as

Tulenkantajat Tulenkantajat (″The Flame Bearers″) was a literary group in Finland during the 1920s. Their main task was to find a way to take Finland from so-called backwoods culture to the new, modern European level of literature. They did not consider th ...

, a literary-cultural society. In 1924, he married the painter , and that year their daughter,

Kirsi Kunnas Kirsi Marjatta Kunnas (14 December 1924 – 8 November 2021) was a Finnish poet, children's literature author and translator into Finnish. Her oeuvre consists of poems, fairy tale books, drama, translations (e.g. Lewis Carroll, Federico Garcí ...

, was born. She became a well-known poet and children's book author. Väinö Kunnas died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

in 1929.

Works

* ''Maalaus Värtsilästä'' (View of Värtsilä), 1922 * ''Portrait of

Uuno Kailas Uuno Kailas, born Frans Uno Salonen (29 March 1901 – 22 March 1933) was a Finnish poet, writer, and translator. Together with Kaarlo Sarkia, Kailas was the most prominent Finnish poet of the 1930s. Life Kailas was born in Heinola. After his ...

'', 1924 * ''Portrait of

Katri Vala Katri Vala (1901–1944) was a Finnish poet, critic, school teacher, and central member of the literary group Tulenkantajat (The Fire Bearers) with Olavi Paavolainen, Elina Vaara, Lauri Viljanen, Ilmari Pimiä, Viljo Kajava, and Yrjö Jylhä. ...

'', 1925 * ''Kaupunkikuva'' (Cityscape), 1926 * ''Omakuva'' (Self-portrait), 1926 * ''Tanssit-sarja'' (Dance Series), 1927–1928 * ''Portrait of

Olavi Paavolainen Olavi Paavolainen (17 September 1903 – 19 July 1964) was a Finnish writer, essayist and poet. He was one of the prominent figures of the literary group Tulenkantajat (″The Flame Bearers″), and one of the most influential Finnish writers of ...

'', 1928 * ''Kirsin satunurkka'' (Kirsi's Fairy Tale Nook), 1928. * ''Harmaa tanssi'' (

The Grey Dance ''The Grey Dance'' is a painting by Väinö Kunnas, from 1928. Description The painting has dimensions 63.5 x 57 centimeters. It is in the collection of the Ateneum, Helsinki. Analysis The painting is a still life A still life (: still life ...

), 1928

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Kunnas.

Väinö Kunnas
@ the

Finnish National Gallery Finnish National Gallery (, ) is the largest art museum institution of Finland. It consists of the Ateneum, an art museum; Kiasma, a contemporary art museum; and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, a historic house and art museum. The organization's ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunnas, Vaino 1896 births 1929 deaths Artists from Vyborg People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish Expressionist painters 20th-century Finnish painters People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Deaths from pneumonia in Finland