KUMMA’s collections include: Kuopio Art Museum Collection, Kuopio City Collection, Osk. Huttunen Collection, Leonardo Da Vilhu Collection, Pekka Halonen Collection, The Kuopio Naturalists’ Society Collection, J. Fr. Tuhkanen Collection and Walter Wahl Collection. The collections contain over 8000 works and include works of well-known artists as von Wright brothers, Pekka Halonen, Juho Rissanen and numerous artists currently active in the area.
The museum’s mission is to preserve, present, study and promote art. KUMMA takes care of its collections by cataloguing, researching, lending, conserving, framing and maintaining them. The collections are used for many purposes and are an important part of the study of the history of Finnish art. The works are variously on display in the museum’s exhibitions and on loan and on view in other museums.
Kuopio art museum collection
KUMMA, formerly Kuopio Art Museum, started acquiring its own art collection in 1981 – a year after the museum was founded. Today, the collection consists of around 1240 works.
The collection consists mainly Finnish art and many of the acquisitions are made from exhibitions held at the museum. The Art Museum collection is built up through donations and annual purchases. Each new purchase is justified and in line with the KUMMA’s collection policy.
Photo: Reijo Kärkkäinen, The Freshwater Eels of Europe (2019).
kuopio city collection
The City of Kuopio started systematic acquisition of art in the late 1940s, and in addition to purchases, various donated art pieces were added to the collection. In 1985, the city’s collection was transferred to KUMMA. Today, the collection includes nearly 2090 works.
The collection includes art acquired and housed in Kuopio’s agencies and institutions. The collection also includes public works of art, which are housed in the city’s outdoor and indoor spaces. Kuopio City collection is a valuable cultural heritage of Kuopio and its citizens.
Kuopio follows a percentage principle in its construction work: art is acquired to the collection to be displayed in spaces constructed by the city.
Photo: Juho Rissanen, Rauta kaulassa, Iron around the neck (1900).
Osk. Huttunen collection
Oskar Huttunen, who worked in Kuopio, donated his collection to the City of Kuopio as a bequest “for the beginning of the Savo Art Museum” in 1955. Today, the collection belongs to KUMMA and contains 93 works. The most famous works in the collection include Albert Edelfelt’s Valkopukuinen nainen, Woman in White (c.1905), and Arvid Liljelund’s Lähtö Pariisista, Departure from Paris (1884).
The collection includes portraits and paintings of birds and landscapes. The collection reflects important issues for Huttunen: love towards his home region and home country as well as understanding of Finnish culture and religion.
Photo: Vera Cronhjelm, Minna Canth (c.1940).
Leonardo Da vilhu collection
Leonardo Da Vilhu collection is collected by artist Risto Vilhunen and it has been deposited at KUMMA by the Vilhu Foundation since 1997. After the foundation ceased its activities in 2010, the ownership of the works was transferred to KUMMA. The total number of works in the collection is 3274 and the oldest of which date back to the 17th century. However, most of the collection consists of art from the early 20th century.
Vilhu collected especially Finnish prints and drawings, as he considered drawing to be the most authentic art form and was concerned about the fate of Finnish drawing. Vilhu received a significant part of the works in the collection as a donation from the artists themselves.
Photo: Ellen Thesleff, Nainen ja lapsi, Woman and Child (1923).
Pekka Halonen collection
Pekka Halonen is a private art collector originally from Kuopio. He deposited his collection to the art museum in 2008 and it includes 151 works of art.
The works are mainly from the 1980-1990s and represent both domestic and international contemporary art. Halonen’s main interest is painting and he actively follows visual art. This interesting collection documents the development and internationalisation of Finnish visual arts and the visual arts field.
Photo: Jan-Erik Andersson, Kolmio, neliö ja ympyrä tapaavat grillikioskilaivan, Triangle, square and circle meet barbecue kiosk ship (1988).
The Kuopio Naturalists’ Society Collection
The Kuopio Naturalists’ Society donated its collection to the art museum in 1995. The collection consists of a total of 622 catalogued works: paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, sketches and photographs. The collection includes some more valuable works such as paintings by Pekka Halonen, Matti Karppanen, S.A. Keinänen and Ferdinand von Wright.
The works are mainly related to Finnish nature as well as national culture and identity.
Photo: Ferdinand von Wright, Teeriä huurteisella rannalla, Black Grouses on a Frosty Shore (1898).
J.Fr. Tuhkanen collection
In her will, Helmi Kustaava Tuhkanen donated almost her entire estate to the City of Kuopio for the construction of the Art Museum. The art collection, which she had inherited from her father, 259 works, was also donated to the art museum after Tuhkanen’s death in 1965.
The works are mainly related to Finnish nature, animals, landscapes and people. Almost two hundred paintings in the collection were painted by Tuhkanen’s father, Kuopio-based amateur painter J.Fr Tuhkanen.
Photo: Johan Fredrik Tuhkanen, Ranta-aihe Maaningalta, Coast Topic from Maaninka (1915).
Walter wahl collection
The Finnish Art Society deposited Walter Wahl collection to the art museum in 2000. The collection consists of 11 works of art, mainly oil paintings.
The most famous artists in the collection are Eero Järnefelt and Albert Edelfelt, whose works complement the Finnish art of the turn of the century in the museum’s collections. The collection also includes a few Italian and one Dutch oil paintings from the 17th century.
Photo: Eero Järnefelt, Maisema Kolilta, Landscape from Koli (1930).