Jump to content

John Munsterhjelm

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Munsterhjelm
Self-Portrait, 1917 sculpture in bronze
Born
Johan Hjalmar Munsterhjelm

(1879-12-11)11 December 1879
Died16 August 1925(1925-08-16) (aged 45)
NationalityFinnish
Known forSculpting

Johan Hjalmar (John) Munsterhjelm (December 11, 1879 Tuulos[1] – 16 August 1925 Helsinki) was a Finnish sculptor.[2][3]

Biography

[edit]

He was born to painter Magnus Hjalmar Munsterhjelm and Olga Mathilda Tanninen in Tuulos. He first aimed to become an architect while studying at Helsinki Polytechnical Institute, but he became more interested in applied arts. He studied at a kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin 1902–1903. He went onto further study at the Royal School of Art in Berlin.[3] He ended up living in Berlin until 1911 while also making study tours in Scandinavia, Belgium, France and Italy. In 1909 he married German Hedvig Schneider.[3] The same year he sculpted a bust of Jean Sibelius.[4] He made decorative figurines out of bronze and granite, sculpted a city hall facade in Vaasa (showing Charles IX and the double portrait of the national rulers, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and Gustaf Mannerheim), a large number of portrait busts of prominent persons and medallions.[1][3] He acted as the vice president of The Artists' Association of Finland [fi] from 1913 to 1915.[3]

He died following complications from appendix surgery in 1925. Being German-influenced and slightly foreign to Finland's sculpting circles at the time, he never developed a substantial reputation in Finland.[3]

Works

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Various (1925). Nordisk familjebok. pp. 631–632. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  2. ^ Bullock, Philip Ross, ed. (2011). The Correspondence of Jean Sibelius and Rosa Newmarch, 1906-1939. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 57. ISBN 978-1843836834. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Reitala, Aimo. "Munsterhjelm, John (1879 - 1925)". Kansallisbiografia. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  4. ^ Jones, Evan Allan, ed. (2009). Intimate Voices: Debussy to Villa-Lobos. The string quartets of Debussy and Ravel. University Rochester Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1580463409. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  5. ^ "Suomen järvet". Tampere. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  6. ^ "Vapaudenpatsas takaisin kotipaikalleen". Yle. June 22, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2020.