The Lars-Gunnar Nordström Fund has donated Nordström’s extensive collection of jazz music to the Finnish National Library. The collection comprises 15 000 recordings, literature and music players that represent jazz culture from the 1940s to the 21st century, amassed by painter, sculptor and graphic artist Lars-Gunnar Nordström.
“The collection is a tangible illustration of Nordström’s life-long passion for jazz music. Despite the fact that he was always cautious not to mix music with painting, jazz made a big impact on his art”, says Mauri Niemi, the president of the fund. “In addition to working to further the visibility of contemporary art, the fund wishes to preserve the artist’s music collection as one entity and also to make it accessible to the audience. This is what has been aimed by donating the collection to the Finnish National Library.”
The collection will bear the name “Lars-Gunnar Nordströmin jazz -kokoelma (Lars-Gunnar Nordström’s Jazz Collection). It will be made available to customers in 2016 and it can be accessed in the library.
“This donation is a generous deed in favour of culture. The collection will enable the National Library to serve Finnish musicologists and enthusiasts better. It testifies to its collector’s great expertise and it has had legendary reputation among friends of music”, says Kai Ekholm, the director of the Finnish National Library.
Lars-Gunnar Nordström (1924-2014) is one of the most notable figures in the field of concrete art in Finland. He is known for his large paintings rich in colour and constructivist steel sculptures.
Espoo Museum of Modern Art hosts a commemorative exhibition to celebrate Nordström’s oeuvre this June. The exhibition forms a part in a series which presents pioneers of Finnish modernism. The exhibition will be followed by a book dealing with Nordström’s life work.