Jorma Hautala

Wing – Reflection, 2006
acrylic on canvas
120 x 200 cm

JORMA HAUTALA (1941–2025) was Finland’s leading classic names in colourist Concretism, carrying on the tradition of the Bauhaus and Russian Concretism in his art. In his works, Hautala made us remember and to feel the truth and significance of the fact that art can contain inalienable values: the tensed balance of form, the reverberation of colour, beauty and wisdom. Tradition was present in his art, its form but also the intellectual content and values of tradition.

Jorma Hautala studied at the Free Art School between 1959–1960 and at the Institution of Industrial Arts between 1962–1966. In 1989 Hautala was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal and in 2001 the decoration of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland. Alongside his long and respected career with painting and graphic art, Hautala designed murals, did graphic design, collaborated with architects, wrote, lectured and taught at the University of Industrial Art and the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. He held the position of artist professor from 1995 to 2000. In recent years Hautala’s work has been shown in several museum exhibitions and his work is found in numerous important collections in Finland and abroad, including the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., British Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Albertina Museum in Vienna, Gothenburg Art Museum, Alvar Aalto Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. Most recently, Hautala’s work has been shown at Hämeenlinna Art Museum (2024–2025), Kunstsilo in Kristiansand (2024–2025), EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art (2024–2025), and Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art in Vaasa (2023).

Haiku I, 2010
acrylic on canvas
120 x 75 cm

Wind and Cloud, 2010
acrylic on canvas
100 x 100 cm

From the Songs series, 2012
mixed media
29,7 x 21 cm

Chorus II, 2010
lithograph
64 x 82 cm

Night in Africa, 2010
acrylic on canvas
150 x 100 cm

Reflections – Agadir I, 2013
acrylic on canvas
83 x 145 cm

Beyond the Mask, 2010
acrylic on canvas
150 x 100 cm

Sketches and Other Works
10 Aug – 3 Sep 2017
exhibition view

On the Road to Cordoba II, 2009
acrylic on canvas
135 x 100 cm

BioCVExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

JORMA HAUTALA (born 1941) is Finland’s leading classic name in colourist Concretism. He carries on the tradition of the Bauhaus and Russian Concretism. Among Finnish artists, his predecessors have included Birger Carlstedt, Ernst Mether-Borgström, Lars-Gunnar Nordström and Sam Vanni, and Timo Aalto, Juhana Blomstedt and Matti Kujasalo are his close contemporaries.

Jorma Hautala is a living icon of modern art in Finland. And as befits an icon, tradition is present in his art, its form but also the intellectual content and values of tradition.

Charismatic and spirited, Hautala makes us remember and to feel the truth and significance of the fact that art can contain inalienable values: the tensed balance of form, the reverberation of colour, beauty and wisdom.

Jorma Hautala has the need, the will and the ability to paint in this genre like no one else in Finland. Therefore, his art is important, and that is why he is a classic.

Hautala has always worked systematically. He first thinks and plans. Then he draws the first sketch in pencil on graph paper, which may be followed by a drawing in coloured pencil. He then prepares a gouache sketch, and it is only after this stage that he makes the final painting in acrylic.

CV

download as pdf

J O R M A  H A U T A L A

Born 1941 in Helsinki

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2017
    • Sketches and Other Works, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2014
    • Songs and Other Motifs, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2011
    • 70th Anniversary exhibition, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2008
    • The Pulse of Space and Light, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2004
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2003
    • Galleria Orton, Helsinki
  • 2001
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Göteborgs Konstförening, Sweden
  • 1999
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
  • 1997
    • Institut Finlandais, Paris
  • 1996
    • Oulu Art Museum, Oulu, Finland
    • Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
    • Kunsthalle Helsinki
    • Galleri Krebsen, Copenhagen
  • 1994
    • Ars Libera, Kuopio
    • Deco Gallerii, Tallinn
  • 1993
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
  • 1992
    • Valkoinen huone, Tampere
    • Vaalgalerii, Tallinn
    • Galerii Sinimandria, Tartu, Estonia
  • 1991
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
    • Seinäjoki Art Hall, Seinäjoki, Finland
  • 1988
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
  • 1985
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
  • 1984
    • Kunstisalong, Tallinn
  • 1983
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
  • 1981
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
  • 1978
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
  • 1974
    • Kluuvi Gallery, Helsinki
  • 1971
    • Galleria Pintora, Helsinki
  • 1970
    • Finnish Painters’ Society, Helsinki

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2017
    • Real Celebration!, Rovaniemi Art Museum
  • 2014
    • Pajaveto, Kollamakasiini, Verla
    • Art as a Passion, Lahti Art Museum
  • 2013
    • Collector’s Gaze, Pori Art Museum
  • 2011
    • Ars Rauma 2011, Rauma Art Museum
  • 2010
    • Hautala-Kivijärvi-Osipow, Pori Art Museum
    • 15th Biennial – Petit Format de Papier, Nismes
    • 5e Bienal Internacional de Gravura, Douro
  • 2007
    • It’s About the Art of our Time, Pori Art Museum
    • Boogie Woogie, Kunsthalle Helsinki
  • 2006–2007
    • Maisema Kiasman kokoelmissa, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
  • 2003–2004
    • Turhat pojat – Lost Guys, Kunsthalle Helsinki; Lönnström Art Museum, Rauma; Mikkeli Art Museum
  • 2001
    • Konstruktive Kunst aus Finnland, Niebüll
    • The 12th Tallinn Triennial of Graphic Art
  • 2000
    • The World Festival on Paper, Kranj
    • Ludwig Museum, Saarlouis
    • Mondiale Echo’s, Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort
    • 11 Finnish Painters from the 70’s, Gallery Niklas von Bartha, London
  • 1999
    • The Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary
    • The 23rd International Biennial of Graphic Art, Ljubljana
  • 1998
    • Försmak–  Finnish Art from Pori Art Museum, Sundsvalls Museum
  • 1997
    • Fra Finland till Fredericia, Fredericia Kunstforening
    • Dimensio, State Russian Museum, Marble Palace, St Petersburg
    • Museum De Rietgors, Papendrecht
  • 1996
    • Dimensio, M6, Riga
  • 1994
    • Baltic Jubilee 94, Art Lab i Malmö
  • 1992
    • Gallery Test, Warsaw
    • Color, Form, Structure, Nordjyllands Konstmuseum, Aalborg
  • 1991
    • Galleri Garmer, Gothenburg
    • The 1st International Biennial of Graphic Arts, Györ
    • Galerie Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm
  • 1990
    • Hommage à Pythagore, Luxembourg
    • Finske rom, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Hövikodden
    • Kunstnergruppen Polaris, Copenhagen
    • Finland på Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
    • Finnland 1900–1990, Munich
  • 1989
    • Arte Sistematico y Constructivo, Madrid
    • The 8th Tallin Triennial of Graphic Art
    • Kunstnergruppen Polaris, Oslo
    • The 5th Biennial ‘Petit format de papier’, Couvin
    • Null-Dimension, Gmunden
  • 1988
    • Null-Dimension, Fulda
    • Konstruktivismus aus Finnland, Kaiserslautern
  • 1987
    • Art 87, Basel
    • Art of Today II, Budapest
    • 5 konstruktiva, Galleri Garmer, Gothenburg, Sweden; Galleri Sankt Olof, Nyköping & Galleri Walzinger, Saarlouis
  • 1986
    • 22 Finnish Painters, Jerusalem Theatre
  • 1984
    • Contemporary Finnish Graphics, Calcografia Nazionale, Rome
  • 1983
    • The 3rd Biennial of European Graphic Art, Baden-Baden
    • 24 Finske kunstnere, Statens museum for konst, Copenhagen
  • 1982
    • Moderne Finnische Grafik, Kunstverein Erlangen
  • 1981
    • The 1st Sapporo Triennial
  • 1980–1981
    • Form und Struktur, Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, Nurenberg, Lisbon
  • 1979
    • Finnish Constructivism, touring exhibition
  • 1978
    • The 6th Florence Graphic Arts Biennial
    • Five Artists from Today’s Finland, Kamakura, Kobe, Sapporo
  • 1977–1978
    • Contemporary Finnish Art, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Szczecin
  • 1976
    • Öga mot öga, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Bergen, Copenhagen, Reykjavik
  • 1975
    • Dimensio, Hässelby, Stockholm
  • 1974
    • Konstruktivism 1974, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
    • Festival International de la Peinture, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France
  • 1971
    • Scandinavian Art, Hässelby, Stockholm
    • The 2nd India Triennial, New Delhi
    • The 7th Paris Biennial
  • 1970
    • Nyköping Art Museum
  • 1969
    • I.D.A. Galleria, Copenhagen

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä
Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki
HAM Helsinki Art Museum
EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art
Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, Turku
Oulu Art Museum
Pori Art Museum
Rovaniemi Art Museum
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tampere
Turku Art Museum, Turku
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku
Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa
Hämeenlinna Art Museum
Aine Art Museum, Tornio
Pyynikinlinna Collection, Tampere
Jyväskylä Art Museum
Kajaani Art Museum
Kerava Art Museum
Kuopio Art Museum
Lahti Art Museum
Mikkeli Art Museum
Saastamoinen Foundation
Paulo Foundation, Helsinki
Henna and Pertti Niemistö Collection
af Forselles Collection
Heino Collection
Swanljung Collection
Vexi Salmi Collection
Arkiv för Dekorativ Konst, Lund
Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam
Foundation for Constructive Art, University of Calgary
Göteborgs Konstmuseum
Janos Pannonius Museum, Pécs
KUMU Estonian Art Museum, Tallinn
Kunsthalle Rostock
Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago de Chile
Museum Albertina, Wien
Nordisk Ministerråd, Copenhagen
Selskapet på arbeidsplassed, Oslo
Statens konstråd, Sweden
Tartu Art Museum, Estonia
The Brooklyn Museum, New York
British Museum, London
National Gallery (Wilanova), Warsaw
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2011 Colour design, Rovaniemi Concert Hall, Korundi
1995 Mural painting, Espoo parish centre; Decorations for staircases, apartment house company Myllytien Olympos, Helsinki
1993 Mural paintings, Opera staff restaurant, Helsinki
1991 Colour design, Aleksinpiha courtyard, Helsinki
1989 Ceramic tile decoration, Kuopio University Hospital
1989 Mural paintings, Kuopio University Hospital
1986 Brick decoration, Fastighets Ab, Tammisaari
1985 Environmental decoration, Malmi railway station, Helsinki; Mural painting, Setec Oy, Vantaa
1984 Mural painting, Tampere University of Technology
1983 Mural paintings, Kirkkojärvi School, Espoo
1984 Mural painting, Kuopio University Hospital
1976 Mural painting, Hanasaari Power Plant B, Helsinki

PRIZES AND AWARDS
2001 Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland
1995–2000 Artist Professor
1989 Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland
1975, 1972 State Art Award
Numerous prizes in mural painting and graphic competitions since 1973