"Rootslasena oli ta meile võõram." Kunstiajaloo professori Helge Kjellini õpinguaastad ja kujunemine enne Tartut
Creators: name: Kangor, Eero
Publisher: name: Tartu Ülikooli ajaloo küsimusi
Year: 2020

description: In 1921, the assistant professor of art history at the Swedish University of Lund, Helge Kjellin (1885-1984), was invited to the chair of art history at the University of Tartu in Estonia. He arrived in Tartu in January 1922 and left the chair in June 1924. It would seem that his stay in Tartu was relatively short, however, the majority of foreign professors invited to the reorganised Estonian university during and just after the War of Independence, did not stay here for much longer. Kjellin had altogether about 100 art history students in Tartu during this period. Two of them have described their personal experience and relationship to the professor in their published memories. Elsbet Parek was quite critical and said that Kjellin seemed to look down on the Estonian students and considered them “too primitive to study art history.” In her opinion, the professor stressed his higher status by all possible means, for example travelling in a ship cabin on their expedition to the churches on the Estonian island Saaremaa while students had to travel on the deck. E. Parek concluded that the professor did not manage to develop a friendly relationship with his students. In addition he was always unsatisfied with the university council for giving scarce funds for the development of his chair. E. Parek’s sentence “As a Swede he was stranger to us” should be continued, because she was actually comparing Kjellin with the Finnish professor of archaeology – Aarne Michael Tallgren. The latter was much appreciated by the students and very friendly with them and he also had good relationships with the university council. Kjellin’s negative image among his students might have been one of the reasons for neglecting his work by Estonian art historians during the following decades. There are only a few articles written about him and his work in Estonia. However, much can be found out from the curriculum vitae he sent to the University of Tartu in 1920 and if the few biographic articles in Swedish and the materials in his personal archives are added the following can be summarised. Kjellin was born in a big middle-class family in Värmland, Sweden. The family moved to Stockholm where he went to a prestigious boys’ gymnasium that prepared students for higher education. He was interested in history and literature and even made his debut as a novelist before deciding to study literature at Uppsala University. However, meeting the art historian Johnny Roosval, might have been the reason to graduate as an art historian instead. Similarly to his professor Kjellin also took to the study of medieval church architecture. After graduation from Uppsala University in 1913 Kjellin started practicing art history at the National Museum of History in Stockholm where he managed to impress his supervisor and the director of the museum. After diligent work for the Hudiksvall church art exhibition, in 1914 he was sent to Malmö museum to reorganise the exposition. One thing was followed by another and he was asked to participate in the preparation of the Skåne church art exhibition. The curator of the exhibition was the director of the history museum in Lund - Otto Rydbeck who worked with the professor of literary and art history in Lund University - Ewert Wrangel. As a result Kjellin continued his academic studies in Lund. Kjellin was promoted Doctor of Philosophy with a thesis on the oeuvre of the 19th century Swedish artist Uno Troili. Kjellin seems to have aspired towards a cultural historical treatment of the subject, but as he delved into biographical minutiae of peripheral importance, his thesis was criticised by some prominent Swedish art historians for not being “scientific” enough. During this time period, however, art history was striving for academic independence in Swedish universities, and the question of making art history more “scientific” was very important. Before participating in the competition for the chair of art history in Estonia, Kjellin became assistant professor of art history at the Lund University. He not only held lectures and seminars primarily on medieval art history, but also did most of his research on the same topic. At the same time he was engaged with organising exhibitions at the university art museum. His experience of the museum work was probably the main reason for inviting him to Estonia. However, in Estonia he also continued his research on medieval churches. He could be considered the first art historian in Estonia who started to use modern methods to study the building history of medieval architecture. During the few years in Tartu he established the academic education of professional art historians in Estonia.
description: Tartu Ülikooli ajaloo küsimusi, Vol. 48 (2020): 100 aastaga pärisorjusest emakeelse ülikoolini