Hilkka Terttu Hilda Toivola (20 June 1909 – 19 September 2002) was a
Finnish artist who created many
stained-glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
works, particularly for churches.
Biography
Toivola's parents were
train engine driver Herman Frederick Toivola and Hilda Emilia Tammi. Both her mother and her older brother had also studied art in Turku.
She studied at the Turku Art Academy (''Turun piirustuskoulu'') from 1932 to 1935, graduating with honours. Toivola also studied with glass painters
Giovanni Toller Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
(1938) and
Pierre Gaudin
Pierre Gaudin (1908–1973), son of Jean Gaudin (1879–1954) and grandson of Félix Gaudin (1851–1930) was a glass painter and mosaic artist. His studio executed mosaic designs and stained-glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
(1951). At the Turku Art Academy she was a drawing instructor (1942–1945, 1964–1969) and later its rector (1969–1973).
Toivola married the painter
Otso Karpakka (1914-2005); both were involved in
Ryhmä 9, a Turku-based artists' collective that functioned from 1951 to 1959. The couple were unusual in having worked alongside each other as artists for some 60 years, cooperating in the creation of several large
fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es and stained-glass pieces. Nevertheless, they each had separate artistic careers. The
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art mounted a large exhibition featuring 600 Toivola and Karpakka works (2006–2007), and published a bilingual Finnish-Swedish book on the artist couple's lives and work.
[''Hilkka Toivola ja Otso Karpakka, Yhdessä elettyä.'' Wäinö Aaltosen museo, 2006. ]
In 1943, she received a 10,000-mark prize in a mural competition sponsored by Helsinki art dealer
Ivar Hörhammer
Ivar Gabriel Hörhammer (11 February 1884 – 3 February 1953) was a Finnish art dealer, journalist and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland 1909–1911 for the Social Democratic Party of Finland, Social Democratic Party. Afte ...
. In 1970 Toivola was awarded the
Pro Finlandia Medal.
See also
*
Langinkoski Church
Langinkoski Church ()) is one of five Kymenlaakso-region Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Lutheran churches in Finland's Kotka-Kymi parish union. Located in the Metsola (Kotka), Metsola district of Kotka, the rectangular church was designed ...
References
2002 deaths
1909 births
20th-century Finnish women artists
Finnish women artists
Women glass artists
{{Finland-artist-stub