Amos Valentin Anderson (3 September 1878,

Kimito Kimito (; ) is a former municipality of Finland. On January 1, 2009, it was consolidated with Dragsfjärd and Västanfjärd to form the new municipality of Kimitoön. Prior to the consolidation, it was one of the four municipalities located ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

– 2 April 1961, Dragsfjärd, Finland) was the owner of

's largest Swedish-language newspaper,

Hufvudstadsbladet ''Hufvudstadsbladet'' (abbr. ''HBL'') is the highest-circulation Swedish language, Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Its headquarters is located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name of the newspaper translates approximately into "Jo ...

, and a patron of the arts. Amos Anderson grew up in the Southwestern Archipelago of Finland and studied business in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

. He started his career in insurance, and spent two years in continental Europe studying finance and insurance. He started in press in 1905 by publishing a professional magazine for the insurance sector. His career with daily newspapers started in 1911, and in 1909 he founded a printing house together with Viktor Ek and J. O. Wasastjerna. Anderson was a Member of Parliament in 1922–1927 and a presidential elector in 1937, 1940 and 1943. The story has it that Amos Anderson had two sides to his personality: by day he was a determined businessman, and by night sensitive and sociable patron of the arts and culture. He sponsored refurbishments of churches in Turku,

Pargas Pargas () is a town and municipality of Finland, in the Archipelago Sea, the biggest archipelago in the world by the number of islands, 50,000. The big limestone mine in Pargas is the base of the main industry and except for the central parts, t ...

and Kimito, and repairs of the Swedish theatre in Helsinki. He collected 250 works of modern art, which he left in his will to a foundation he founded, Konstsamfundet. In 1913, Anderson commissioned architects Wäinö Palmqvist and Einar Sjöström to design a building on Yrjönkatu. The building would function as both Anderson's private living quarters and office space for his businesses. After Anderson's death in 1961, the building was converted into Amos Anderson Art Museum which opened its doors to the public in 1965. In the 1920s, Anderson acquired the

Tamminiemi Tamminiemi (; ) is a villa and Historic house museum, house museum located in the Meilahti district of Helsinki, Finland. It was one of the three official residences of the President of Finland, from 1940 to 1982. From 1956, until his death in 19 ...

villa on the western shore of Helsinki, which he donated in 1940 to the state to act as one of the official residences of the President of Finland. It served in this role until 1986, when, following the death of President

Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as prime minister ...

, it was converted to a museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Amos 1878 births 1961 deaths Finnish business executives Newspaper executives Finnish art collectors Museum founders Finnish patrons of the arts