The association’s second joint exhibition Two Faces of the Modern opened at the Amos Anderson Art Museum on 29 May 2009. The Curator of the exhibition was Mr Timo Valjakka, a renowned expert in the field of fine arts. Mr Valjakka’s book by the same name as the exhibition will be published at the opening ceremony.
Finnish art from the period between the world wars, the 1920s and 1930s, has not been much studied and is little known. Two faces of the Modern is a journey to a contradictory but fascinating epoch which began with the Tartu peace treaty in 1920 and ended with the outburst of the Finnish winter war in 1939.
There were many conflicting trends in Finland during those two decades: nationalism holding on to traditions and internationally orientated avant-garde, an emerging urban culture and an admiration of rural values. It took a long time until the emergent republic torn by a civil war and economic recession and its art found their identity.