Alex Federley

Alexander Thiodolf Federley (12 July 1864, in Turku – 17 November 1932, in Helsinki) was a Swedish-Finnish graphic artist who created political cartoons, posters, book illustrations and postcards. His works are generally signed AFley.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Biography

His father was a military judge. He studied at the drawing school of the Finnish Art Society (now part of the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki), from 1885 to 1888, then attended the Académie Julian in Paris from 1890 to 1893, where he studied with Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Tony Robert-Fleury.^[4]

In the late 1880s, he was already providing illustrations to the Swedish-language satirical magazine Spets [fi] (Nib), then to the Finnish-language equivalent, Velikulta [fi] (Dear Brother), published by the Young Finnish Party.^[4] During that time, he also became one of the first political cartoonists in Finland to sign his drawings. Among his best-known book illustrations are those for the multi-volume collection of historical short-stories, Fältskärns berättelser (The Surgeon's Tales), by Zachris Topelius.

In 1898, he became a regular contributor to Fyren (Lighthouse), published by the Swedish Party (forerunner to the Swedish People's Party of Finland) and remained associated with it until its demise in 1922.^[4] In 1907, he designed the party's election poster, which was used repeatedly and as late as 1966. During the 1920s, he was the party's representative to the Haaga Township Council.

In addition to his other activities, from 1894 to 1916, he was the Chief Curator for the "Finnish Artists' Association", and he taught at a boys' preparatory vocational school from 1900 until his death, serving as the school's Director after 1909.^[4] His wife, Sanny Hagelstam [fi], was also an artist.

Selected works

Postcard of lumber in the rapids near Kajaani
"Haven't I told you to keep your mouth shut when
talking to people?!"
Men representing various political parties, competing for the Finnish Maiden
Caricature of
Jean Sibelius

Books by Federley

Bilder och visor : små spånor och flisor – i färger och ord – från mitt arbetsbord Bildkonst, 1929 (Pictures and songs: small chips and splinters – in colors and words – from my desk; published in Finnish as Lauluja ja kuvia, lapsille huvia, suomentanut mukaillen A. L., Kuvataide, [1929]
Sagor om djur och fåglar, mest om fåglar, Söderströms, 1922 (Fairy tales about animals and birds...mostly birds.)

References

^ Reitala, Aimo (6 September 2001). "Federley, Alex (1864 - 1932)". Kansallisbiografia. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
^ "Alexander Federley 1864-1932". Come to Finland. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
^ "Alex Federley". Artist Register. Artists' Association of Finland. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Brief biography by Aimo Reitala @ Biografiskt Lexikon för Finland.