Michael Schilkin (1900-1962)
ceramist and sculptor
Michael (Mikhail) Schilkin was born at Trubino in Russia on 19 May 1900. In the summer of 1921, his sailing boat was shipwrecked in Finnish waters and he was allowed to remain in Finland as an émigré. Before long, Schilkin enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts to attend the higher crafts course and to study at the department of sculpture from 1924 to 1928. He took part in the exhibitions of the Russian Art Society of Finland in the early 1930s, winning in 1936 the Society’s first prize for his sculpture Samson and Delilah. This work had been prepared at the Arabia Factory, where Schilkin worked in the evenings. In 1937, Kurt Ekholm, head of the factory’s art department, offered Schilkin permanent employment as an artist. Schilkin remained in the service of Arabia until his death in 1962.
Michael Schilkin is known for his appealing animal sculptures, expressive human figures and large mural reliefs. Animal themes and the world of animals were close to him. In the 1930s and 1940s he mostly made pieces representing wild animals; they were colourful, vigorous and even humorous. Humour was a distinctive feature of Schilkin’s oeuvre as a whole. He made his sculptures from chamotte with oxblood or celadon glazes. Exotic, dark-skinned ladies were also one of Schilkin’s favourite themes in the 1940s, and he made many variations on the theme of African women.
Schilkin represented Finland and the Arabia factory in the 1930s and 1940s in exhibitions in the Nordic countries and elsewhere abroad. He became extremely popular among the public and buyers of art particularly in Sweden. Schilkin’s exuberant expression, exoticism and Slavic origins appealed to Scandinavians. He was regarded as a natural-born talent who created ceramic works in his own way, without bowing to tradition. During the Second World War, his wild and bold animal figures were readily seen as symbols of Finland’s strength and desire to fight for its independence. These works included Lion, on show at an exhibition of Finnish applied art in 1941 at the Nationalmuseet in Stockholm. His animal works were also chosen as official gifts. In 1953, the City of Helsinki gave Schilkin’s Lynx sculpture as a gift to Stockholm, which was celebrating its 700th anniversary, and his Bear was a gift to the City of Moscow in 1958. In 1960, President Urho Kekkonen of Finland gave Schilkin’s Polar Bear as a gift to the King and Queen of Belgium.
Michael Schilkin was specifically invited to the Arabia factory to make works of ceramic art for international exhibitions. Ceramic sculpture was a topical genre of art in the 1930s, and Schilkin was a veritable find for Arabia in this respect. He was awarded Finnish citizenship in 1937 and was thus able to represent the Arabia factory and Finland at the Paris World’s Fair, where he received the gold medal. In 1938, Schilkin participated in an exhibition of the Arabia factory held at the NK department store in Stockholm. A later showing by the designers and artists of Arabia at NK in 1945 was the high point of Schilkin’s career. He participated in this exhibition with thirty works of sculpture and a large ceramic relief. Alongside his animal sculptures, the public and the critics noted Schilkin’s other works, which were often of a humorous character (Shivering Girl, Singer, Sumo Wrestler and The Rape of the Sabine Woman ).
Mural reliefs became a feature of the townscape at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s. Their purpose was to express the function of a building with the aid of reliefs on the outer walls. Schilkin made his first public mural reliefs for the 1943 building of the Arabia Factory. They are located on the south end wall, on the surrounds of the main entrance facing the courtyard, and in the staircase of the ground floor lobby of the head office. In 1945, Schilkin made a relief for the Fazer sweets factory, showing the process of making chocolate beginning with the growing of cocoa beans. A similar series of reliefs, presenting the growing, processing and consumption of coffee, was made in 1949 for the Paulig company in Helsinki’s Katajanokka. Both reliefs still survive, but they have been relocated in the new premises of these companies. In 1947, Schilkin prepared a relief with a maritime theme showing the Market Square of Helsinki for the restaurant in Helsinki City Hall. A year earlier, The Honour of Craftsmanship by Schilkin had been unveiled at the State Crafts Institute in Stockholm. Michael Schilkin made his best-known mural relief in 1949-1950 for the façade of the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration. This work depicts the themes of trade, industry, education and banking. Schilkin went on to make few individual reliefs in the 1950s, for example Mother and Child for the Maria Hospital in Helsinki in 1954 and the cross and emblems of the apostles for the Church of St. Elijah at the Orthodox Cemetery in Helsinki.
In 1950, Schilkin and his wife went on a combined study trip and holiday to South America. The natural environment and the culture of the Incas made an impression on Schilkin’s art. At the Milan Triennial of 1954, he exhibited delicate bird-themed sculptures that brought him a silver medal. These works were of a simplified and streamlined character in keeping with the spirit of 1950s design. Schilkin’s works of the late 1950s were influenced by Cubism and Primitivism. They were animal figures that were cast or made of cut pieces of chamotte with a matte glaze and earth colours. During his last years, Schilkin made highly simplified, boulder-shaped and angular animal figures with a prominent treatment of the surface. Michael Schilkin received the Pro Finlandia Prize in 1958. He died from a heart attack on 3 August 1962 in Helsinki.
Schilkin held his first solo exhibition at the Wärtsilä-Arabia exhibition rooms in the centre of Helsinki in 1952. In 1960, he staged a retrospective in Helsinki. His memorial exhibitions were held at the Wärstilä exhibition rooms and shop in Helsinki in 1965 and 1974.
Michael Schilkin was a Russian émigré who became a celebrated artist and figure of applied art in Finland. His artistic qualities have been described as follows: “There appeared to be no limit to Schilkin’s imagination and creativity. He is not held back by the conventional ideas of ceramic sculpture; instead he shapes the clay into figures that are almost shocking in their expressive and occasionally provocative appearance.” (Åke Stavenow, editor-in-chief. Form magazine, no 4/1941)
Auli Suortti-Vuorio
Bibliography:
Michael Schilkin 1900-1962. Tekstit: Tuija Tervo, Harri Kalha, Leena Ahtola-Moorhouse. Kuvat: Katja Hagelstam. Kustannus W. Hagelstam. Helsinki 1996.
Kalha, Harri, Balance between decorative and expressive. Michael Schilkin (1900-1962) – ceramic sculptor. Form Function Finland vol. 4 /1990.
Kalha, Harri, Modernin keramiikan mestareita. Published by Kyösti Kakkonen and the Savonlinna Art Museum. Savonlinna 2001.
Kalha, Harri, Muotopuolen merenneidon pauloissa. Suomen taideteollisuuden kultakausi: mielikuvat, markkinointi, diskurssit. Jyväskylä 1997.
Kumela, Marjut, Paatela, Kristiina & Rissanen, Kaarina, Arabia. Helsinki 1987.
Taidekeramiikka Suomessa. Toim. Åsa Hellman. Keuruu 2004
Photos:
Tiger (Oy Arabia Ab, ca. 1942)
Animal themes were typical of Michael Schilkin. Tiger was made around 1942, of chamotte. The glaze is copper oxide, also known as oxblood. Photo Pietinen / Design Museum
African Woman (Oy Arabia Ab)
Schilkin was fascinated by exotic women figures. He made several variations of the African woman theme. This piece is from the late 1940s. Height 64 cm. Photo Design Museum.
Doves (Oy Arabia Ab, 1953)
Birds were a major theme in Schilkin’s works of the 1950s. His sculptures were now more reduced, streamlined and perhaps subdued. Accordingly, they were good examples of contemporary Finnish design at many international exhibitions, such as H-55 in Hälsingborg, Sweden in 1955, the Modern Art in Finland touring exhibition in Great Britain in 1953-1954, and the Design in Scandinavia exhibition in the United States and Canada 1954-1957. The doves are also remembered from the magnificent Finnish department at the Milan Triennial in 1954. Photo Pietinen / Design Museum
Mural relief for the staircase of the Arabia Factory (Oy Arabia Ab)
Michael Schilkin made his first actual mural reliefs for the new building of the Arabia Factory in Helsinki in 1942-1943. He created a large work for the outer end wall of the building, presenting the painting of a vase and in reference to Ancient Greece. The surrounds of the main entrance are decorated with narrow reliefs. The reliefs shown here are from the staircase leading to the former head office of the factory. The figures exude a southern joie-de-vivre and faith in the future that was much needed in wartime Finland. Photo Design Museum
