Ateneum is investigating whether another Reidar Särestöniemi forgery that was in the exhibition was found

Artist Reidar Särestöniemen (1925–1981) exhibition had opened in Kouvola’s Vuohijärvi in ​​June. Kumpula was preparing for a business trip from the Särestöniemi Museum in Kittilä to Vuohijärvi to talk to those interested in Särestöniemi there.

He looked at pictures of the opened exhibition with Koskamo. Then Koskamo and Kumpula noticed from the photo:

“In this work, the surface is messy. The colors didn’t match. No, it just didn’t feel good,” Koskamo says on the phone.

Särestöniemi’s handprint was unique and the use of colors was masterful, says the museum director. Just a photo of the “Särestöniemi” board was enough for Koskamo to notice that something was wrong.

So the Särestöniemi Museum was in contact with the Vuohijärvi Culture House. Executive Director Tuomas Hoikkala announced on Monday that the suspected forgery has been removed from the exhibition and delivered to the National Gallery for examination by professionals.

Next At the office of the National Gallery in Ateneum, it will therefore be determined whether the work was really a hoax imitating Särestöniemi. The painting was examined by an art historian, a conservator and a materials scientist.

Särestöniemi’s original work, called Stalin in the galactic time senseis turquoise in color and measures 112 by 112 centimeters. The work, now removed from the exhibition, is more reddish in color and smaller in size, 46.5 by 38 centimeters.

The suspected forgery in Vuohijärvi’s Särestöniemi exhibition ended up from a private art owner. This, in turn, had acquired it from an international auction.

Organizers In Vuohijärvi, when planning the exhibition, they had looked at a photo of a reddish board purporting to be Särestöniemi, and did not see it with their own eyes, says Tuomas Hoikkala, executive director of the Vuohijärvi cultural center.

“I made the choice,” he says honestly but calmly on the phone.

Hoikkala knew that the work had passed two Finnish but international auctions. Art professionals evaluate the authenticity of the works in connection with the auction. So, for Hoikkala, the work seemed as it should be.

Now he has heard from the parties investigating the matter that there is a very strong suspicion that the work is not Särestöniemi’s.

“It’s the first time I’ve dealt with fakes,” Hoikkala says and reveals that she’s not formally a visual art professional, although she’s a big fan of Särestöniemi’s work:

“I’m a saxophonist.”

Hoikkala is also known as the founder and executive director of Mäntyharju Art Center Salmela.

The National Gallery people are on summer vacation now. When even the last professionals have time to examine the painting after their vacations, the work may be officially found to be a forgery.

If that were to happen, the police would confiscate the board, so that it could no longer accidentally circulate on the market. The art market would be “cleaned up” when one fake was removed.

The previous Särestöniemi fake suspicion was revealed last year in Helsinki’s Kuusisaari. A work was taken from the Didrichsen art museum located there, which was transferred to the Central Criminal Police (KRP) for investigation because it was suspected to be a forgery.

HS reported at the time that the work was suspected to be a well-known art forger Brother Sepän (1947–2022) made.

Could the now revealed suspected forgery also be the forgery of the late Veli Sepä?

KRP: n retired crime station constable Kimmo Nokkonen studied Sepä’s forgeries in the last ten years of his career. He also befriended Sepä during his last years.

Nokkonen has written a book about art forgeries Operation Fake (2024). On its pages, he says that Reidar Särestöniemi was the artist most forged by Veli Sepä, Finland’s most prolific and famous art forger.

Nokkonen answers the phone from retirement and summer cottage. He has only seen a photograph of the latest suspected forgery.

Even with this reservation, he dares to say:

“I think it’s very possible that it’s Veli Sepä’s work.”

According to Nokkonen, the answer can be found by comparing the traces of the work under study after Veli Seppä and examining whether its materials are the same that Seppä used.

“I have the kind of memory that Seppä has made replicas of this same male figure, which have turned out to be fakes. Yes, I consider him quite a worthy actor for this work.”

The Ateneum professionals will find out what the situation is in reality after they return from the summer holidays.

The multi-year and extensive Reidar Särestöniemi Experience exhibition can be seen in the former church of Vuohijärvi in ​​Valkeala, Kouvola.

Helsingin Sanomat told the personal story of art forger Veli Sepä in an extensive article in Kuukausiliitte 2/2017. You can also read the article online.