Eva Anttila

Eva Anttila (1894-1993) was a pioneer of Finnish textile art, creating tapestries that challenged the boundaries between painting and textile art. Anttila began her career as a freelance artist and as a designer of interior and domestic textiles. She qualified as an artist and industrial designer in the 1910s, but it was not until the following decade that she discovered the art of weaving. In the 1920s, Anttila founded her own company where she created several models for the Friends of Finnish Handicrafts and at the same time worked as the first textile art teacher at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Helsinki.
During the 1930s, Anttila's position as an independent artist began to strengthen, and at the same time, she began to focus on the tapestry technique, which she saw as her own form of expression.
Anttila created her tapestries herself from start to finish, from sketching to dyeing the yarns and weaving the artwork. She always tried to create a vivid surface by varying shades and using different thicknesses of yarn, which gives her work an original look.
In terms of motifs, the artist chose certain themes throughout her career. One of the recurring themes throughout her career is various celebrations and festivities, from carnivals to court life - a theme that also has a long tradition in the history of textile art.