Toivo (Topi) Alarik Vikstedt (1891-1930)
draughtsman, illustrator, book designer
The artist and designer Topi Vikstedt was born in Viipuri on 12 June 1891. He completed the intermediate level of the Viipurin Suomalainen Reaalilyseo secondary school, receiving his leaving certificate in 1908. Vikstedt attended the evening classes of the School of Drawing of the Viipuri Friends of Art Association from 1904 until 1909. He was a boy who always wanted to draw. He was highly talented and continued his studies at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Helsinki, from which he graduated with excellent grades in the spring of 1912. His studies were rewarded with a grant requiring a year’s stay abroad. Topi travelled to Denmark, Germany and Italy with his friend Carl Wilhelms.
After the long study trip it was necessary to seek work. Although Vikstedt was a highly skilled draughtsman and even described as a genius, it was very difficult to support oneself by drawing alone in Helsinki in the 1910s. The young man was first able to sell his drawings to newspapers in Viipuri and some other publications. In Helsinki, he was hired to draw cartoons for the respected satirical magazine Tuulispää, which would at times express sharply critical views of contemporary cultural and other phenomena. For a few years, these drawings were Vikstedt’s principal source of income. The contributors to Tuulispää included leading literary names, such as Eino Leino, L. Onerva and Larin Kyösti. After Tuulispää was discontinued, Vikstedt was appointed editor-in-charge of Kerberos, a new satirical magazine appearing in the Swedish language. It, too, folded, as early as 1921. Vikstedt boldly and gullibly launched his own satirical magazine entitled Puntari in 1925, but soon noticed that it was simply not economically viable. In the 1920s, he drew illustration for the magazines Garm and Joulukärpänen.
Around 1913 Topi Vikstedt and his fellow students Bruno Tuukkanen and Harry Röneholm founded an illustration office called, in Swedish, “De Tre” (The Three). In Finnish, it was known as ”Kolmikko” (The Trio), ”Kolmio” (The Triangle), or simply as ”3”. The office produced advertisements and advertising posters. The trio collaborated for two years, after which each of the partners had new professional challenges.
In 1916, the Finnish Artists Association appointed Vikstedt as its intendent, or keeper. He served in this position until 1918. After leaving demanding position, which included a great deal of responsibility, the artist again had more time for creative work. Although he did not find regular employment, various publishers wanted his drawings and illustrations. He worked as an illustrator for Werner Söderström Publishers for a short period in 1919. Gummerus Publishers commissioned Vikstedt to draw illustrations and prepare the book design for an edition of the Finnish author Aleksis Kivi’s play Nummisuutarit. The work, Vikstedt’s first major book illustration project, was favourably received by critics.
Topi and his wife Karin (née Westling) ran a joint illustration and drawing office amidst their family concerns and the artist lifestyle of the 1920s. In the summer of 1921 Topi went on a two-month study trip to Paris, where he also worked actively on commissions. At home, Karin attended to the most hurried assignments. She was a textile designer and skilled in drawing. Commissions from publishing firms and other orders provided more than enough work for both husband and wife.
Topi Vikstedt designed a large number of book covers for Otava Publishers. A well-known illustration project by him was for a collection of humorous newspaper columns by Väinö Nuorteva, featuring the ”black-bearded man”, a small, mischievous figure fighting to improve everyday life, taking the side of ordinary people against bureaucracy. Other major book illustration projects by Vikstedt the early 1920s were U.T. Sirelius’s Suomen Ryijyt, an ethnographic study of Finnish rya weaves and Aino Kallas’s novel Reigin pappi (The vicar of Reigi).
In the summer of 1923 Topi Vikstedt and Bruno Tuukkanen painted murals for the historic Round Tower of Viipuri, which had been converted into a café according to designs by the architect Uno Ullberg.
In the autumn of the same year Vikstedt entered the permanent employ of Otava Publishers, being responsible then on for the artistic design of books published by the firm. It was in the summer of 1927 at the latest when Vikstedt visited an exhibition of international book art in Leipzig, that he noticed that he represented the top European level of this field. At the time, he was the undisputed leading figure of book art in Finland, and a master draughtsman appreciated and respected by colleagues and the public alike. His style was classicist, light and uncluttered. In the mid-1920s, functionalism began to extend its influence to book art in addition to architecture and other areas of applied art. Although Topi Vikstedt never gave up classicism completely, he produced a few fine cubist cover illustrations. These include an impressive cover design in black and silver for Jääpeili, an anthology of poems by Aaro Hellaakoski.
In 1926, Vikstedt began to illustrate Aitta, a cultural album published by Otava. Its main illustrators were Martta Wendelin, Germund Paaer and Eeli Jaatinen. Vikstedt drew covers for Aitta as well as hilarious cartoons of contemporaries and current affairs. Aitta was discontinued in the early 1930s when the worldwide depression affected Finland.
Topi Vikstedt’s versatile professional career included teaching at the Central School of Applied Art. In the autumn of 1921 he began to teach the drawing of live models, and he was involved in founding the school’s department of graphic design in 1926. Topi Vikstedt was a capable, inspiring and well-liked teacher.
Topi had felt symptoms of cardiac disease for many years, but he did not care about them and continued his fast pace of work. Topi Vikstedt’s heart finally gave out and he died on 6 May 1930, not long before his 40th birthday.
Auli Suortti-Vuorio
Bibliography:
Honkanen, Helmiriitta, Placatista julisteeksi. Keuruu 1983.
Puokka, Jaakko, Topi Vikstedt, 1920-luvun taiteilija ja hänen maailmansa. Keuruu 1983.
Tirranen, Hertta, Topi Vikstedt. In: Suomen taiteilijoita. Porvoo 1955
Photos:
Advertising poster for bread: Osuusliike Elanto. Näkki- ja ruokaleipää. 1914. Photo Design Museum
Cubist cover illustrations by Toivo Vikstedt. In: Puokka, Jaakko, Kolmipäinen koira. Topi Vikstedt, 1920-luvun taiteilija ja hänen maailmansa. Keuruu 1983.
Initials
Topi Vikstedt was a book artist and a designer of typeface. Initials for the Alvar Renqvist festschrift, 1928. (Jaakko Puokka, Kolmipäinen koira, s. 129)
Cartoons
Examples of cartoons by Topi Vikstedt. (Jaakko Puokka, Kolmipäinen koira, p. 169)
