Seahorse

The sea, and water as an element, were an important source of inspiration for many of Eronen’s sculptures and sketches. The happiest years of his childhood, before World War II, were spent with his widowed mother and older sister at the family villa in Terijoki in Finnish Karelia, where they enjoyed the lively, international atmosphere of the coastal town.

Eronen visited Capri in the early 1970s and bought a souvenir there: a dried seahorse. Grotta Azurra, the island’s spellbinding blue sea cave, enthralled him and left an indelible memory. For years, Eronen kept the seahorse on the bookshelf in his studio. There was something mesmerising about it. One day it became clear:

‘This is what I want to sculpt!’

The resulting composition includes a seahorse, several starfish and seaweed dancing in the currents.

In his eighties, Eronen spent almost two years hand-carving the relief. He worked feverishly and the fine wood dust caused him chronic bronchitis that lasted eight months. A true sculptor, he refused to lay down his chisel.

Douglas pine from Canada was used. Forty years before, Eronen also ordered a block of the same wood for the Järvenpää church crucifix (1968). The wooden relief is 1.10 m wide and 2.40 m high.

About the artwork

Theme(s): Animals
Material(s): Douglas pine, Wood
Art form(s): Relief
Object type(s): Wall object

Details

Exhibit Number: 35
Date: 2003
Height: 240 cm
Width: 110 cm

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Related works of the art form: Relief