Traditional landscape familiar from Finnish visual art also appears among old stage scenes
22.08.2014
Type scenes from history depicting ideal Finnish landscapes can still be found on the stages of Finnish theatre associations.
Licentiate of Arts Rauni Ollikainen from Aalto University, who will defend her doctoral thesis in August, investigates the appearance of forest and landscape scenes on Finnish stages between 1860 and 1940 and their relationship with the landscape scenes in Finnish paintings. Ollikainen's dissertation reviews the early history of Finnish stage design.
'Already before the turn of the 19th century, Finnish forests and landscapes were painted on the type scenes of theatre stages. After that, the use of type scenes took hold in all Finnish theatres', Ollikainen tells.
Type scenes are standard pictorial stage props used by theatres; they were employed especially during the early phase of stage design before modern stage design. Today, it is hard to find any type scenes in professional theatres but painted scenes can still be found on the stages of theatre associations.
'Old type scenes representing illusory-style stage design are still used in surprising frequency by Finnish theatre associations. I documented theatre associations' traditional type scene stage designs as part of my Pelastakaa kulissit ('Save the Scenes') project, the results of which form the central material for my dissertation research. When doing my research on stage scenes, I also discovered some of their authors.'
In addition to the written part, the dissertation includes two exhibition installations constructed by Ollikainen and exhibited in Suomenlinna in 2002–2003. Both exhibits depicted a large scene which showed a typical Finnish landscape.
'My research shows that traditional Finnish forest and landscape scenes, by their subject matter and realization, belong to the same collection of ideal Finnish landscapes that was represented especially in Finnish painting, graphical art and photographs', Ollikainen sums up.
Public examination of the thesis
The public examination of the doctoral dissertation titled ‘Suomalainen ideaalimaisema näyttämön tyyppikulisseina’ (in English: 'Ideal Finnish landscape as a type scene for the stage') will take place on Thursday, 28 August 2014 at 12 noon, at the Aalto University School Arts, Design and Architecture in its Sampo Hall at Media Centre Lume, Hämeentie 135, Helsinki. Docent Pentti Paavolainen from the University of Helsinki will act as the opponent. The dissertation can be ordered from the online book shop of the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture: shop.aalto.fi, information: artsbooks [at] aalto [dot] fi, tel. +358 (0)50 313 7086.
Additional information:
Rauni Ollikainen
rauni.ollikainen [at] jippii [dot] fi