Images of the Cultural Revolution
Karl-Gustav [K-G] Roos, China, 1967, gelatin silver prints Donated in 1986
An entire 36-frame roll of 35mm film has been printed onto a contact sheet. A ‘contact’ is a photograph made by printing the negative directly onto paper without enlarging it. This is intended to make it easier to look for and select frames to be printed as finished enlargements.
This photograph, taken in the workshop of a factory that made statues of Mao, is one of the frames of the film printed on the contact. In 1967, K-G Roos (1937–1976) was among the first western journalists in China after the start of Mao’s Cultural Revolution.
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A holiday in Mongolia
Collection pick
The linguist G.J. Ramstedt and the archaeologist Sakari Pälsi (1882–1965) made an expedition to Mongolia in 1909. A gifted amateur photographer, Pälsi was there not only as an archaeologist, but also in the capacity of photographer.
From Zero to Sixty
Collection pick
“Showing movement means both man and camera have to be ready for action,” photographer, non-fiction author and researcher Vilho Setälä (1892–1985) writes in his book Valokuvaus tieteenä ja taiteena (Photography as Science and Art, 1940).
May Day Masquerade
Collection pick
Carnivals are rare in Finland, but on May Day people go out into the streets and squares in droves. Dressing up and wearing masks is all part of the fun, as this Merja Salo's photograph proves.
The Museum's collections
Collections
The collections of the Finnish Museum of Photography include more than two million photographs. The collections focus on 20th-century Finnish photography, and are made up of both selected works by photographers and images from extensive photographic archives. The museum's collection of objects includes thousands of photography-related artefacts. The museum also has a paper archive and a photographic library.