Professor Aimo Kanerva was born in 1909 in Lahti. He studied art in Helsinki in the years 1931-1934 at the Central School of Industrial Arts and between 1934-35 and 1937 at the Finnish Art Society art school. He put his works on exhibition for the first time in 1933 and his artistic “break- through” occurred in the middle of the 1940s when he was a staunch member of the expressionistic October Group.
The oeuvre of Aimo Kanerva was shown in almost all Finland and after the Second World War have been often on view outside the borders of Finland, first in the Scandinavian countries and later also in Central Europe, the Soviet Union and China.
Aimo Kanerva’s awards and Honors include:
1st Prize, competition for young artists, 1946; 3rd Prize, State art competition, 1946; Prize at the Fine Arts Academy of Finland’s triennial exhibition, 1956, 1969 and 1962; Helsinki Prize, 1965; Kalevala Society, award of merit, 1971 and 1989; Cultural Workers’ Union, award of merit, 1974; Finnish Cultural Fund, award of merit, 1978; State prize for visual art, 1982.
Pro Finlandia 1958; Order of the White Rose of Finland, 1st class, 1963; Order of the White Rose of Finland, Commander, 1983; Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, 1984; Honorary professor, 1969.
He died in Helsinki on December 16th, 1991.
