Kari Suomalainen
Encyclopedia
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
- August 10, 1999) was Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
's most famous political cartoonist. His first cartoon appeared in the start of the year 1950, showing an infant boy (the symbol of the New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
) contemplating two toys: a tank and a dove carrying an olive branch. The boy is saying: "Tank... or dove? I want them both!"
Suomalainen started drawing daily political cartoons in Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. In 2008, its daily circulation was 412,421 on weekdays and 468,505 on Sundays...
in the year 1951, during Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi was the seventh President of Finland . Representing the Finnish Party and the National Coalition Party, he also served as Prime Minister of Finland , and was generally an influential figure in Finnish economics and politics for over fifty years...
's presidency. His cartoons soon became popular throughout the nation. While most of them comment on current politics, some are based on every-day life.
One of Suomalainen's most favourite characters was Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen , was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland and later as the eighth President of Finland . Kekkonen continued the “active neutrality” policy of his predecessor President Juho Kusti Paasikivi, a doctrine which came to be known as the “Paasikivi–Kekkonen...
, whom he drew as a bald man with an angular chin and huge eyeglasses. When Kekkonen became president in 1956, Suomalainen stopped, for a while, using the character, due to an "unwritten law" forbidding caricaturing the president. Suomalainen published a cartoon of himself weeping at Kekkonen's portrait, saying he "felt like a man who has just lost a gold mine". Later, Suomalainen continued using the Kekkonen character.
Other famous Suomalainen characters include president Mauno Koivisto
Mauno Koivisto
Mauno Henrik Koivisto is a Finnish politician who served as the ninth President of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as Prime Minister 1968–1970 and 1979–1982...
(a man with thick eyebrows and a strand of hair pointing upwards), prime minister Kalevi Sorsa
Kalevi Sorsa
Taisto Kalevi Sorsa was a Finnish politician who was Prime Minister of Finland four times: 1972–1975, 1977–1979, 1982–1983 and 1983–1987 and at the date of his death still held the Finnish record of most days of incumbency as prime minister...
(a cross between a man and a duck - in Finnish, "sorsa" means "duck") and the artist himself (a short, rotund man with long, black hair and a mushroom-shaped hat).
Suomalainen was known of his political cartoons and he often drew his characters by political party category. They were:
- A fatObesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
priestPriestA priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
with a militaryMilitaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
helmetHelmetA helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...
on his head represented the National Coalition Party. - A skinnyUnderweightThe term underweight refers to a human who is considered to be under a healthy weight. "Underweight" means weighing less than what is expected to be a healthy person . The definition is usually made with reference to the body mass index . A BMI of under 18.5 is usually referred to as underweight...
worker dressed in an overall represented the Social Democratic Party of FinlandSocial Democratic Party of FinlandThe Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...
. - A fatObesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
, red-nosed yokelYokelYokel is a derogatory term referring to the stereotype of unsophisticated country people.-Stereotype:In the US, it is used to describe someone living in rural areas...
with stubble in ragged clothes and a kerchiefKerchiefA kerchief is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the head or around the neck for protective or decorative purposes...
around the neck represented the Communist Party of FinlandCommunist Party of FinlandThe Communist Party of Finland was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.SKP did not participate in any elections with its own name. Instead, front organisations were used...
. - A fatObesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
landlordLandlordA landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
/farmerFarmerA farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
represented the Agrarian Union and when it changed its name to Centre PartyCentre Party (Finland)The Centre Party is a centrist and Nordic agrarian political party in Finland. It is one of the four largest political parties in the country, along with the Social Democratic Party , the National Coalition Party and the True Finns , and currently has 35 seats in the Finnish Parliament...
, he drew the character with collared shirt, tie and a fedora hat. - Small parties were drawn with short and skinny characters.
- The People's Party (liberals) were drawn with a ridiculously exaggerated white collarWhite collarWhite collar could refer to:* White-collar worker, a salaried professional or an educated worker who performs semi-professional office, administrative, and sales-coordination tasks, as opposed to a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
. - The Swedish People's Party was a small snob with a moustache, in a suit and with a bowler hat.
- Veikko VennamoVeikko VennamoVeikko Emil Aleksander Vennamo was a Finnish politician. In 1959, he founded the Finnish Rural Party , which was succeeded by the True Finns in 1995. He had originally been the leader of a faction of the Agrarian League...
himself often represented his own party, as did Emil Skog and Aarre Simonen.
- The People's Party (liberals) were drawn with a ridiculously exaggerated white collar
Initially they were drawn with realistic proportions, but then they became exaggerated into cartoonish proportions. He also used the same motifs to draw a variety of characters; for example, the skinny guy and the fat guy in the city.
A top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
over a character used to refer to the incumbent cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
and minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
s.
Suomalainen received many awards for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society (USA) award in 1959, Puupäähattu in 1984 and Pro Finlandia in 1989. He was also appointed honorary professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
in 1977 by president Kekkonen.
Suomalainen stopped making daily cartoons in 1991, after Helsingin Sanomat refused to publish his cartoon criticizing immigration, but kept on drawing even after that. "Suomalainen" is also the Finnish word for a Finn.
A film, "Kari ja hänen 9 presidenttiään" was made by documentary filmmaker Juho Gartz in 1994.
Suomalainen died in 1999 at the age of 78.
External links
- Suomalainen -the legendaryFinnish Cartoonist-ex Virtual Finland-2007-Archived at Wayback MachineWayback MachineThe Wayback Machine is a digital time capsule created by the Internet Archive non-profit organization, based in San Francisco, California. It is maintained with content from Alexa Internet. The service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the Archive calls a "three...