Niilo Hyttinen

The paintings of Niilo Hyttinen (1940–2010) remain startlingly relevant to contemporary audiences in their deep understanding of what it means to be human. His art is characterized by its honesty and experimentalism, imparting a moral message with sparkling wit. Kainuu-born Hyttinen was an early pioneer of Finnish pop art. He was a satirist and remembered for his insightful portrayals of Finnish masculinity. He always took the side of the weakest, without ever stooping to pathos or humourless opprobrium, and all his paintings evince his deep empathy for humanity. He is also remembered for his portrayals of rural folk in the grips of structural change, for which he received the Finnish state prize for art in 1970.

Kajaani Art Museum received a valuable donation from the Hyttinen estate in 2022, which rounds out the museum’s existing collection and the overall picture it presents of the artist. This book about the works in the collection opens up new perspectives on Niilo Hyttinen’s life and work. It sheds additional light on what kind of person the son of a six-child small farming family was, who grew up to become a global citizen and artist who, in his production, collided Kainuu-like subjects with the canon of classical art. The articles also tell about the importance of the humane values of the artist’s childhood family to his production and describe the everyday life of the artist’s family both in the studio house in Nalkinkylä and on trips to Rome, London or Florence.