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Time and Life and People are only glossy
magazines:
Kalevala and Vladimir FominTime
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Bob Hyper
Vladimir Fomin: Aino
Visited Akseli Gallen-Kallela's house
and was amazed by his drawing for the Kelevala. I think it was his ambition
to produce an illuminated Kalevala to rival the Book of Kells He relates
that as a young child, an old man came to the door of his house, with woven
birch shoes on his feet and a birch rucksack on his back. He proceeded to
sing softly at first and then gradually with more power and strength until
his voice was shaking with emotion, his feet beating time on the floor. At
this early age he understood he was hearing a song from
the
Kalevala which was passed on through the oral tradition, and his soul was
captivated by poetry.
In his house certain runes from the
Kalevala are illustrated... mostly naked young women floating on their
backs in the water with their hair splayed out like seaweed. I think he had
a thing about long hair.
The Kalevala has Väinämöinen singing a boat into
existance so he can persue and young girl who is trying to escape from him.
This reminds me of the Silmarillion where it is said that God sung the worlds
into existance, and where the devil was expelled from heaven because he
wanted to sing his own song. Tolkein who wrote the Silmarillion was a great
fan of the Kalevala but perhaps both have borrowed from the gospel of John
which says, in the beginning was the Word.
Now
what are words but the expression of thoughts. It was when God spoke that
he created the world. I wonder what God is thinking at the moment and what
will happen when he speaks.
Vladimir Fomin: Who is bringing the Word
Vladimir Fomin is a Russian Artist
who has done a series of paintings based on the Kalevala. They are bright
and luminous in style. When I looked at them my heart popped with joy. If
art can do that for you then it is good posted by Hyper Bob at 11:06
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