The Tales of the Ensign Stål

25.10. - 23.11. 2003

In my experience, many good ideas - not to mention poor ones - come about when the evening has not quite drawn to a close.

A couple of years ago I was in a restaurant somewhere in South Helsinki with my friend Katri Wanner, head of public relations at WSOY publishers. We talked and contradicted one another about all kinds of things. Katri noted the coming bicentennial of the birth of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finland's 19th-century national poet who wrote in Swedish, and said that someone should think of a new and fresh way to celebrate this important literary mummy and to present him to our nation of readers. I thought it would be wonderful to stage after a long interval a showing of Ernst Billgren's works at the gallery, but Ernst's position being what it is, he couldn't really be invited to hold an "exhibition". Instead, I had to think of something more challenging, "an offer he couldn't refuse".

Trouvé!

When I suggested to Ernst Billgren the idea of making new illustrations to Runeberg's anthology "Fänrik Ståls sägner" (The Tales of the Ensign Stål) it was as if hadn't proposed anything new, only opened a door to rooms that he already knew, full of mythical and metaphorical imagery: paintings, sculpture, paper cuttings, vignettes, drop capitals...

WSOY is now publishing a magnificent new edition of Runeberg's book, with Mika Tuominen's precise, versatile layout design in the spirit of Ernst Billgren. This work of poetry is connected in many ways to the literary, cultural and political history of Finland.

Billgren has painted, drawn and sculpted as he only can: consummately, gracefully and with surprise. The results show that he not only knows Runeberg's work, but has lived it, participating and commenting on the tales. He lends encouragement to the conquered and gives them unanticipated strength; he is compassionate and tempers pathos with gentle humour; he celebrates nature, vitality and humanity, and courage.

It was as if Billgren's original paintings and drawings just made their way into the book and assumed their places to become such an integral part of the text, typography and design that the opus turns into a separate total work of art of a kind seldom seen.

Billgren's original works will be on show at Galerie Anhava. The paintings are of a form typical of Billgren, but their content stems from an understanding and interpretation of Runeberg. The paper cuttings in front of the watercolours refer to an earlier imagery in the minds of viewers, mainly to the almost canonized illustrations of Fänrik Ståls sägner by Albert Edelfelt. They are three-quarters Edelfelt and one-quarter Billgren or Disney.