Silent Beauty -Nordic and East Asian Interaction

Published for Silent Beauty – Nordic and East Asian Interaction, an exhibition held at the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki in 2019 to mark the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Finland.

The exhibition brought together works from the Nordic countries—primarily Finland and Sweden—and East Asia, with a focus on Japan as well as China and Korea. Centering on painting, ceramics, glass, textiles, and architecture from the postwar period onward, it explored shared qualities and points of exchange such as the beauty of everyday life, relationships with nature, sensitivity to materials, and a simplified visual language.

The installation was particularly compelling, with works arranged by theme in each room and section, often making it difficult at first glance to tell which country a given work came from.

The catalogue includes essays such as Silent Beauty - Interaction Between East Asia and the Nordic Countries During the Twentieth Century, Mingei Movement and Nordic Japonisme, Introducing Bernard Leach: Artist Potter, A Changing Landscape, A Sense of Materiality, Simplification and Ascetic Minimalism, Inspiration, Infuences, and Parallel Tracks:Japanese Aesthetics and Swedish Modernist Visual Arts, The Beauty of Simplicity: Sweden and Japan, A Genealogy of Tranquility - With Reference to The Night Pictures, a Series by Samiro Yunoki, Japaneseness in Finnish Architecture, Thoughtful and Harmonious - Aulis and Heidi Blomstedt as Designers

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Among the principal exhibiting and related artists from Japan are Shoji Hamada, Yoshio Aoyama, Kiyoko Kusuda, Bernard Leach, Kanjiro Kawai, Samiro Yunoki, Shigeo Suzuki, and Tadao Ando. In addition to works from the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, the exhibition also included loans from the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama.

From Finland, featured artists include Kimmo Kaivanto, Alfred William Finch, Kyllikki Salmenhaara, Kaj Franck, Ulla Rantanen, Lea Ignatius, Aimo Kanerva, Reino Hietanen, Helene Schjerfbeck, Einar Ilmoni, Mikko Laasio, Ahti Lavonen, Heidi Blomstedt, and Alvar Aalto.

From Sweden, the exhibition included Rune Hagberg, Rune Jansson, Karl Axel Pehrson, Tom Kresteesen, Olle Carlström, Olle Bonnier, Berndt Friberg, Wilhelm Kåge, and Ingegerd Råman.

Artists introduced from China and Korea included Zao Wou-Ki and Lee Ufan.

Deadstock.