Viktor Bernhard "Faffan" Jansson (1 March 1886 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

– 22 June 1958 in Helsinki) was a Finnish sculptor belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland.

Early life

Jansson was born in Helsinki in 1886 to Julius Viktor Jansson and Johanna Theresia (Karlsson). His father worked at the

Stockmann Stockmann plc is a Finnish retailer established in 1862. Stockmann's eight company-owned department stores are in Finland (six), Estonia (one), and Latvia (one). There also were an additional nine Stockmann-branded department stores in Russia ...

department store, later owning a

haberdasher __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing st ...

y store. His father died when Jansson was six. He married the illustrator Signe Hammarsten-Jansson and they had three children: the writer Tove Jansson, photographer Per Olov Jansson, and Lars Jansson, an author and comic strip artist. Starting from 1929 Viktor Jansson created several drafts for sculptures picturing young women, one of which is called Convolvulus. The other sculpture from the same series named Youth (Nuoruus) is situated in

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; ; ; or ''Croneburgum'') is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Kanta-Häme. It is located in the southern interior of the country and on the shores of Vanajavesi, Lake Vanajavesi. The population of Hämeenlinna is appr ...

. These two sculptures are united by attempt to create images of excellence and clarity through a somehow abstract form. He studied at Läroverket för gossar och flickor.

Works

*''Lahden vapaudenpatsas'' (the statue of liberty of

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

), 1920 *''Tampereen vapaudenpatsas'' (the statue of liberty of

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

), 1920 *''Kajastus'', 1930 (situated in

, Sorsapuisto park) *''Convolvulus'', 1931 (situated in

Kaisaniemi park Kaisaniemi park (, ) is a popular park, in the center of Helsinki, in the region of Kluuvi. The Kaisaniemi Park was named after Cajsa Wahllund, Catharina "Cajsa" Wahllund. Part of the park was given to the University of Helsinki in 1829, for garden ...

), which depicts a young woman. Convolvulus stands for lesser bindweed or field bindweed. In this masterpiece the woman raises her hand in a half-protecting, half-blessing gesture. This sculpture is often said to symbolize spring's arrival to the north. The sculpture was born as a result of a competition organised by Helsinki City in 1930–31 to decorate Helsinki with public works of art. It is made out of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

and is 240 cm high. Another version of Convolvulus is 120 cm high and stands on the grave of Bertel Hintze in the old part of Hietaniemi cemetery. *''Nuoruus'' (Youth), 1931 (situated in

center in Kirjaston puisto) is of bronze, measuring 177 × 50 × 47,5 cm, on a base of grey

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

71 × 50,5 × 58,5 cm The model for Kajastus, Convolvulus and Nuoruus was Tove Jansson, the daughter of the sculptor.

References

Sources

Helsinki Art Museum, Public Art SectionHämeenlinna Art Museum, Public Art Section

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jansson, Viktor 1886 births 1958 deaths Viktor Artists from Helsinki People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Swedish-speaking Finns People of the Finnish Civil War (White side) 20th-century Finnish sculptors