Hugo Simberg

Hugo Simberg

Hugo Simberg in his garden, 1907.
Born 24 June 1873
Hamina, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire (now Finland)
Died 12 July 1917 (aged 44)
Ähtäri, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Republic (now Finland)
Nationality Finnish
Known for Painting
Movement Symbolism

Hugo Gerhard Simberg (24 June 1873 - 12 July 1917) was a Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist.

Life

Hugo Gerhard Simberg was born in Finland on 24 June 1873, at Hamina (original Swedish Fredrikshamn) in Finland, the son of Colonel Nicolai Simberg and Ebba Matilda Simberg (born Widenius). In 1891, at the age of 18, he enrolled at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art, and also studied at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Association (Suomen Taideyhdistys) (1893–1895), but in 1895 decided to become the private pupil of Akseli Gallen-Kallela at his wilderness studio Kalela in Ruovesi. Between 1895 and 1897 he studied with Gallen for three periods.

In 1896 Simberg went to London, and in 1897 to Paris and Italy. During these years he exhibited several works at the Finnish Artists' autumn exhibitions, including 'Autumn, Frost', 'The Devil Playing Music' and 'Aunt Alexandra' (1898), which were well received. Critical success led to his being made a member of the Finnish Art Association, and to his being appointed to teach at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art.

In 1904 he was commissioned to decorate the interior of Saint John's church in Tampere (now Tampere cathedral), a project which he carried out with Magnus Enckell between 1904 and 1906. This is still available to see at the St Johns Church (Or Tampere Cathedral).

From 1907 to 1917 Simberg taught at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Association.

He died at Ahtari on 12 July 1917.

Simberg's paintings emphasize mainly topics macabre or supernatural. A good example of this is his painting Kuolema kuuntelee ("Death Listens"). The painting depicts Death, personified as a skeleton wearing a black coat, listening with a bowed head as a young man plays the violin. In the background, there is an old woman lying on a bed, pale and apparently sickly. There is a suggestion that Death is there for the old woman, but that he is pausing so the young man, possibly the dying woman's son, can have time to finish his violin playing.

Hugo Simberg's frescoes at the Tampere Cathedral

Simberg's famous painting The Wounded Angel, too, is somewhat gloomy, its titular character appearing in the shape of a winged angel with a bandaged head, borne on a stretcher by two somberly dressed boys, one of whom looks toward the viewer with a serious expression. The painting is the best known of the artist's works and is especially famous in Finland. The Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish released on 11 August 2007 their latest music video, "Amaranth", which is based on this particular painting.

Simberg was a print-maker and photographer as well as a painter. One of his early photographs, named 'Guido, Fish Boy', shows a boy sitting on a rock, looking out to sea. He made photographs and drawings of naked pre-pubesent boys, some carrying large wreaths. Images of wreath-carrying boys (frontal nudity not quite visible) are a motif of Simberg's frescoes in the Tampere Cathedral, painted between 1905 and 1906.

Some paintings and prints

The Wounded Angel, 1903, voted Finland's "national painting" during 2006.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hugo Simberg.