A selection of Come to Finland’s posters are exhibited at Café Kafka (Pohjoisesplanadi 2, Svenska Teatern) in the Helsinki city centre until the end of August. Come to Finland is available in Finnish and Swedish (joint edition), as well as in English, German and French from the Academic Bookshop (Keskuskatu 1) and Café Kafka, for example.

Come to Finland – Posters & Travel Tales from 1851–1965 is an interesting, informative and beautifully laid out coffee table book that presents a selection of Finnish travel posters that have lured travellers to Finland during a period of over a hundred years.

The first posters are from the time when Finland was still a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire, and the time span includes independence, war with the Soviet Union, and modern industrialisation.

In the early days Finland was marketed as being “off the beaten track”, but the Olympic Games in 1952 brought it into the world wide consciousness.

Period pieces

Although some of the posters may be shamelessly exotic and misleading in generalisation, as the foreword of the book suggests, the gradual changes in posters does reflect Finland’s change from an unknown rural outback into a modern industrial society.

Posters from the pre-war period represent the ”Finnish Riviera” in the Karelian Isthmus and the Arctic Ocean shore in Petsamo, Finland’s ”left hand,” which were both lost to the Soviet Union after Wold War II and are still part of Russia.

Helsinki, “The White City of the North”, and its architecture are presented as a modern gateway to an otherwise unrefined country. Posters also capture the transition to modern technology in which ships, trains and especially planes were seen as pioneers; Finnish State Railways (VR) and Aero airline (later Finnair) were some of the most eager advertisers.

Visual expression of the posters varies from 19th century romanticism to the functionalistic elegance of the 1930s and later on to the cheerfully exaggerated caricatures and technicolor-esque photos of the 1950’s.

The book presents works of art from some of the most respected Finnish artists of all time, such as Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who, in addition to his brilliant career as a painter, laid the foundation for applied graphics and poster art in 20th century Finland. On the other hand, some of the artists whose pictures reflect the Finnish mindset in these posters never actually visited Finland.

The posters are complemented by citations from old travel guides and the experiences of the tourists and travellers from the turn of the century. Brief portraits of all the artists are also included in the book.

Kati Hurme - HT