Rut Bryk studied at the department of graphic design of the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Helsinki, graduating in 1939. She went to work at the art department of the Arabia factory in 1942. Rut Bryk became one of the reformers of modern ceramic art and design in Finland. Her works of the 1940s and 1950s are naivistically colourful and painterly bowls, platters and ceramic tiles, often with animal or plant motifs and religious themes and also everyday matters. In the 1960s, Bryk began to make architectonic, mosaic-like works with tiles, in brownish or extremely light tones. Many of these works are in public facilities. One of Bryk’s best-known large works is Jäävirta (Ice Flow), which was completed in 1991 and placed in the official residence of the president of Finland at Mäntyniemi in Helsinki.
Bryk designed wallpapers for the Pihlgren and Ritola company, and her Seita printed fabrics designed in the 1960s for the Vaasan Puuvilla cotton mills are classics in their own right.
Rut Bryk held several solo exhibitions since 1949 both in Finland and abroad. In 1970, for example, she exhibited at the Stedelijk museum in Amsterdam and in September 1980 she held a showing entitled ”Landscapes of the Tile” at Helsinki City Hall. Bryk also participated in numerous international exhibitions held by the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design and other showings abroad. In the summer of 2001, the Arabia Museum staged a major exhibition of Rut Bryk’s works.
Rut Bryk was an internationally recognized artist and designer who was awarded many prizes. She received the grand prix at the Milan triennial of 1951 and the grand prix at the international Vallauris ceramics competition in 1972. In 1954 Bryk was awarded a diploma of honour at the Milan triennial and in 1972 she received the Exempla prize in Munich. She was awarded the Pro Finlandia medal in 1962, the Finnish State Design Prize in 1974 and the Medal of the City of Helsinki in 1978.
Rut Bryk’s best-known public works are: Gethsemane (Sipoo Funeral Chapel, 1972), City in the Sun (Helsinki City Hall, 1976), Tree (Bank of Finland, 1981), The Coming of Spring in the North (Embassy of Finland, New Delhi, 1985) and Ice Flow (Mäntyniemi, 1991).
Auli Suortti-Vuorio
Bibliography:
Rut Bryk. Ed. Juhani Pallasmaa. Exhibition catalogue. Exhibition at the Amos Anderson Art Museum and the Rovaniemi Art Museum, 1986.
Articles in Form Function Finland:
Pallasmaa, Juhani, Rut Bryk. Journey to landscapes of tranquillity. FFF vol. 2/1983.
Pallasmaa, Ullamaria, An adventure in the land of harmony. FFF vol. 4/1986.
