Gun Lanciai facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gun Lanciai
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Lanciai in her workshop in Gothenburg, 1970
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Gunvor Westerberg
November 10, 1920 Borgå, Finland
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| Died | March 15, 2013 (aged 92) Helsingør, Denmark
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Gun Lanciai (born Gunvor Westerberg on 10 November 1920) was a talented Swedish-Finnish sculptor. She was born in Porvoo, Finland. Gun Lanciai passed away on 15 March 2013 in Helsingør, Denmark.
She also drew pictures for a Swedish school book called Vi på Solgård. This book helped younger students in Finland learn to read. Her friend, the writer Solveig von Schoultz, suggested her for the job. Gun Lanciai lived most of her life in Sweden, from 1955 to 2004. She was a Finnish citizen until 1965, then became a Swedish citizen.
Contents
Gun Lanciai's Life Story
Early Artistic Beginnings
Gun Lanciai created her very first sculpture when she was just 13 years old. This happened in 1934. It was a small faun figure made from clay.
In 1939, she was accepted into the art academy of Ateneum in Helsinki. There, she planned to study sculpture and ceramics. However, her studies were stopped because of the Winter War.
Life in Different Countries
In 1942, Gun married Aurelio Lanciai. He was a Finnish junior tennis champion. In 1952, she moved with him and their four children to San Isidro in Argentina.
In Argentina, she found a new art teacher named Esdras Gianella. He was also a sculptor. Another Swedish sculptor, Carina Ari, lived in San Isidro at the same time. Carina Ari was a famous ballet dancer who started sculpting when she was 42.
Gun Lanciai came back to Scandinavia in 1955. This was after the leader Juan Perón left power in Argentina. She settled in Gothenburg, Sweden, and started sculpting again.
She became very good at making figures of children using terracotta. She also created portraits in plaster. Some of her works were bronze sculptures. She made musicians using plaster and steel wire. Gun Lanciai also created sewn art and paintings.
Exhibitions and Later Years
From 1968, Gun Lanciai regularly showed her art. She had exhibitions in Sweden, Finland, Canada, and Denmark. In 1972, she showed her work in both Finland and Canada.
In 1976, she had her own special exhibition in Ottawa, Canada. There, she displayed sculptures, prints, and watercolours. In 1977, she moved to Stockholm with her husband.
She spent her last nine years living with her son Michael. Their home was near Elsinore in Denmark. In 2013, she held her final art exhibition. This was just one week before she passed away.
Gun Lanciai was also related to the architect and artist Harry Röneholm from Finland. He was her uncle.
