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The Face of Ambition

Kalle Kultala (1924–1991) Paavo Väyrynen at the opening of Parliament season, 1976, gelatin silver print. This print belongs to a collection acquired by the Finnish State and donated in 1995.

Minister of Education Paavo Väyrynen was only 30 years old, but already an experienced politician. He was President Kekkonen’s trusted ally, and his career was predicted to continue its meteoric rise. A prediction, which later became reality as Väyrynen has held eight different minister’s portfolios. Kalle Kultala was ‘Kekkoslovakia’s’ number-one photographer, and his camera followed the President along forest tracks and on long-distance journeys. Press photographer Kultala was at his best when working among politicians and other wielders of power. So it is hardly a surprise that he was rewarded for his achievements with the Pro Finlandia medal, or that 200,000 of Kultala’s photographs were archived on the initiative of the Ministry of Education.

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More on the subject

Age is just a number

Collection pick
Photographer Hanna Weselius (b. 1972) wanted to challenge our antiquated notions of age, and our expectations of what elderly life is all about.

Elvis Was Here

Collection pick
Two photographs printed in the magazine bear witness to the megastar’s visit. Negatives found in photo agency Valokuvaamo Foto Jatta’s archive reveal how these pictures were made: photos of an unknown assistant and of Elvis Presley were combined using reprography, cutting and pasting.

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.