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Portraits
The 30 bronze portraits presented at the Didrichsen Art Museum in Helsinki have been made in the years 1955-2003. They include a great number of prominent persons and events that have influenced the sculptor. In this scale the collection is unknown to the large public.
Laila Pullinen is principally known as an informalist who abstracts her motif, but she has also sculpted portraits throughout her career. Their function in her work is more important than one could imagine. Having studied the art of Antiquity, she has, through her figures, come to the source of the mystery of the person: what makes us human beings? What makes a human being worth portraying? Is the person's social stature evident in his physical features?
Even if we donīt precisely know the identity of the individuals presented by the portraits, we still find their characteristics, their ideals, the person behind the portrait.
Laila Pullinen's figures are not traditional portraits, and only few of them are commissions. They have always originated from the inspiration Pullinen gathers from the person portrayed or by the historical event the person reflects.
Instead of striving for physical likeness, Pullinen has studied the person's thoughts, values and soul. The process is complicated and takes time: the sculptor needs to acquaint herself with the person portrayed, she needs to understand and respect her model.
Laila Pullinen does not name her portraits according to their proper names, but instead according to the person's spiritual qualities. Paradoxically, they become more humane when the burden of their name is removed, and the spectator is challenged to participate in the process of interpretation. Thus, to Pullinen, portraits primarily function as allegories.
The portrait Storyteller (the Soviet children's author, Academy member Sergei Mihailkov) is counterbalanced by that of the Arizonian (the American Ambassador Mark Ewans Austad). Together the two figures are placed in their historical and political context along with the portrait of President Urho Kekkonen (The Thought).
THE ARIZONIAN
Mark Ewans Austad
1974, Bronze, 50 cm
The artistīs collections
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THE THOUGHT
Urho Kekkonen
1975, Bronze, 87 cm
Helsinki City Art Museum
As a portrait The Thought does not solely depict a person ...
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