Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman (1894-1973)


ceramic artist

Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman was born in Helsinki on 23 May 1894. She matriculated from high school in 1912, and went on to study languages in Paris. She took up porcelain painting and studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Helsinki for one academic year. In the early 1920s she was given the opportunity to study and work at the Lachenal ceramic studio near Paris. After returning to Finland, she immediately arranged in 1921 an exhibition at the Galerie Hörhammer in Helsinki that aroused attention with its elegant pieces.

A goal-oriented and bold woman, Greta Lisa sought work in the autumn of 1921 at the Arabia factory in Helsinki, and was hired as an “independent artistic assistant”. She had a dual job description. She designed advertising signs while decorating mass-produced ceramic objects and assisting the artist and designer Thure Öberg. But she was also given the use of an own studio where she was able to make items of art ceramics. She worked at Arabia until 1937, and the factory established, upon her initiative, its department for “more beautiful everyday ware” in 1929. The department made reasonably priced utility and ornamental objects that were nonetheless of high aesthetic standard. The decorations on these objects were painted by hand and Greta Lisa also employed students of the Central School of Arts and Crafts as painters. The department’s Koti (Home) service appeared in 1932. Consisting of numerous parts, it was available in table, coffee, tea, breakfast and evening-snack versions. Available decoration themes included tulip, rooster, male and female motifs.

Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman designed several new ceramic services for Arabia and modernized existing ones. New models included the ML and LB services. She also designed many decal and stripe ornaments. The motifs that Greta Lisa liked to use were oriental themes typical of the classicism of the 1920s: Chinese pagodas, birds, fish and plants. She knew how to simplify and characterize these themes into elegant patterns. Jäderholm-Snellman was also Finland’s well-nigh only ceramist working in the Art Deco style. The black glazes and gold colouring of Art Deco were also present in her one-off works.

In addition to her work at Arabia, Jäderholm-Snellman also taught porcelain painting at the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1929 to 1937. She was a well-liked teacher with a brisk manner. Her husband, the painter Eero Snellman, was the commissioner of the Finnish department at the Paris World’s Fair of 1937, and the family moved to Paris, where Jäderholm-Snellman worked at the Sèvres Porcelain Factory from 1937 to 1938. She experimented with new glazes, producing blue and yellow hues of a marked character. In December 1938, Eero Snellman held a successful exhibition in Paris, with ceramics by Greta Lisa as decorative items. They returned to Finland in early 1939 and during the Finnish-Soviet Winter War of 1939-1940 they worked actively to obtain humanitarian aid for Finland from Sweden and England.

Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman held numerous exhibitions in Finland and abroad. In the early 1920s she staged three showings at the Galerie Hörhammer in Helsinki. Together with her husband, she held several exhibitions in the 1920s and 1930s in different parts of Finland, in Helsinki, Tampere, Viipuri, Turku and Pori, among other cities. The artist also hoped to improve the tastes of the common people through her exhibitions. Nor did she hesitate to go abroad to display her works. In December 1933, she opened her exhibition at L’Atelier 75 in Paris, which specialized in modern design, and in 1937 she had an extensive showing at the Mansard Flat Gallery of the Heal & Son department store in London. This exhibition was widely noted in the British press, and Jäderholm-Snellman’s elegant coffee and tea services, ceramic tea tables and trays were commended. In the following year, she was invited to London to participate in a joint exhibition of four women artist-designers.

After the war, Jäderholm-Snellman no longer made ceramics but concentrated instead on glass design and experimented with new materials, such as copper and wire. She designed pieces for the Riihimäki glassworks from 1937 until 1949 and in the 1950s and 1960s for the Iittala glassworks. The designed items were services, vases, containers and lampstands. In the 1950s, Jäderholm-Snellman held showings of lamps and light fixtures at her home in Lutherinkatu street near the centre of Helsinki. In addition to lampstands, she also designed elegant lampshades. The Stockmann department store in Helsinki regularly held showings of her works, and table-setting exhibitions were also among her bravura achievements.

Greta Lisa was a spirited writer and for many years she was a regular contributor to The Studio Yearbook, published in England, to which she sent information and articles on Finnish design. She also wrote about cultural and society events for women’s magazines. After retiring she would regularly visit Paris, from where she sent articles on art and cultural events to Finnish newspapers and magazines.

Basing on an idea proposed by Eero Snellman, the Cité International des Arts was established in Paris to provide an international centre permitting artists from different countries to work there. Along with her husband, Greta Lisa enthusiastically worked for this scheme and served on the board of governors of the organization for many years. The foundation for the Cité International des Arts attended to the matters of artists travelling from Finland to Paris, and Jäderholm-Snellman was an active member of its board from 1960 until 1973.

Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman was an energetic and enthusiastic personality brimming with new ideas. She died in 1973 in Spain, at the home of her daughter, the artist Christina Snellman.

Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman’s former pupil, the ceramist Selja Louhio-Sarvimäki described her as follows: ”Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman was quintessentially French in character. She was a charmingly energetic woman, ladylike in an unforced manner and accustomed to moving in the circles of diplomats and artists. She would come from the Arabia factory to hold her classes, in a hurry, running late and always taking a taxi. Contact with her during the classes was comradely, amusing and informal. She would often talk about her work and exhibitions. She did not accept outright the ornamental motifs for ceramics that were made during the design classes. Instead, they had to be simplified and applied to her style in porcelain painting. Despite her light elegance, Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman was a goal-oriented, hard-working woman, assured in her style and with command of her profession.”

Auli Suortti-Vuorio


Bibliography:
Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman 1894-1973. Keramiikkaa ja lasia. Keramik och glas. Näyttelyluettelo. Taideteollisuusmuseo 1981.
Keramiikka ja lasi. Arabian 90-vuotisjulkaisu 1964.
Nyman, Hannele, Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellmanin kaunis arki. Glorian antiikki 4 / 2004.
Selja Louhio-Sarvimäen haastattelu 1987. Haastattelija Auli Suortti-Vuorio. Designmuseon arkisto.
The Greta Lisa Jäderholm-Snellman collection in the archives of the University of Art and Design Helsinki.


Photos:

Tableware

Table lamp

Table

Urn