Kalapoika / Fishboy

Boy holding a large fish was completed in 1953, but the motif had clearly intrigued Hovi for a long time before this; in 1924, he sold a similar sculpture of the same name to the city of Vyborg (now in Russia, taken by the Soviet Union in World War II). Hovi trained as a decorative artist and held his first exhibition in 1915, but considered himself more a labourer than an artist until 1939, when the war broke out, giving Hovi an opportunity to concentrate on his art. The 1940s and 50s were very productive decades for Hovi. Contacts with foreign cultures and especially the art of Egypt and Mexico gave him renewed confidence in what was his own artistic style. His style became increasingly contemplative and allusive, while retaining its earlier massiveness and primitive shapes.

The work doesn’t belong to the City of Helsinki’s art collection, which is managed by HAM.