Strike a Pose – Scenes from Our Collections

The third and final instalment in an exhibition series, Strike a Pose – Scenes from Our Collections again turns to the artworks held in the Hämeenlinna Art Museum collection to explore myths, ideologies, social norms, turning points in history, the great narratives of the human condition and the way our identities are constructed. What roles have the featured artists inhabited in order to present us with their ideas? Who are some of the major characters in art, and what kind of poses do they strike for us?

Art and artists have a distinct role to play in conveying the great narratives to us. We need artists to tell us something significant and essential about our attitudes and the society we live in; who we are, where we have come from and where we are headed.

Artists inhabit many roles: they are observers, illustrators, narrators, creators, moral guardians, teachers, historians, philosophers, truth seekers and revealers of the power dynamics and hidden norms that shape our lives. This exhibition asks what kind of roles we can discover within art and what remains of them when the costumes come off.

Strike a Pose – Scenes from Our Collections will feature works by the following artists:
Aleksanteri Ahola-Valo, Taisto Ahtola, Martti Aiha, Emma Ainala, Henni Alftan, Ernst Billgren, Stefan Bremer, Kalle Carlstedt, Albert Edelfelt, Anne-Karin Furunes, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Hannaleena Heiska, Ester Helenius, William Hogarth, Franz M. Jansen, Eero Järnefelt, Kimmo Kaivanto, Pekka Kauhanen, Unto Koistinen, Kuniyoshi, Marjo Lahtinen, Juhani Linnovaara, Antti Oikarinen, Pauno Pohjolainen, Ulla Rantanen, Anni Rapinoja, Aurora Reinhard, Helene Schjerfbeck, Kimmo Schroderus, Hugo Simberg, Mari Sunna, Pilvi Takala, Kain Tapper, Esko Tirronen, Toyokuni III (Kunisada), Marjukka Vainio, Viggo Wallensköld and Henry Wuorila-Stenberg

This exhibition series, housed in Hämeenlinna Art Museum’s red-brick Lohrmann Building is designed to shift its perspective in response to and in reflection with new exhibitions launching in the museum’s Engel Building.

Strike a Pose – Scenes from Our Collections (14 October 202–5 April 2026) is the third and final instalment in the series. It follows Abstracting the Ordinary – Art from the Everyday (10 October 2024–13 April 2025) and Spirit and Passion – Art as Ecstasy (6 May–21 September 2025). At the core of this series is the Niemistö Collection, on long-term deposit to the museum and comprising Finnish and Nordic art from the 1950s to the present day.