Ristikko / Crosses

At Didrichsen Art Museum’s entrance hall is a red-bricked wall where a white wood relief work entitled Crosses by the artist Mauno Hartman hangs. It belongs to the artist’s later works but is crafted a religious wood technique which he already developed in the 1960s. For his creations, the artist adopted and experimented with ancient Finnish wooden handwork techniques.

However, the Crosses relief does not evoke any expression of earlier folk art. It is rather like a large Chinese letter character. The whiteness brings to mind summer buildings or marble reminiscents of southern European crosses. With its various connotations, it acts as a discourse for the museum collection, which includes treasures from East and West, from ancient to contemporary art.

The work is painted wood, is 100 x 125 cm and is part of the Didrichsen Art Museum’s own art collection.