Joel Räsänen

Joel Viktor Räsänen (7 August 1905 – 19 November 1978) was a Finnish painter and graphic artist who also worked as a commercial artist, illustrator, and art teacher.

Räsänen was born to Matti Räsänen, a foreman, and Lydia Räsänen in Viipuri in the Grand Duchy of Finland. He went to grammar school and then studied art at the art school between 1919 and 1924. He trained further outside of Finland, at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig in Germany 1926–1927 and by making a study tour to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark in 1938.

His works were first publicly shown at an exhibition held in Viipuri in 1926. He participated in Finnish joint exhibitions; the Youth Exhibition in 1939, 1940, 1943, exhibitions in 1941, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1953, and the triennial exhibition in 1950. He held a solo exhibition in Helsinki in 1946. Outside of Finland, exhibitions of Finnish art he participated in were in Göteborg Sweden in 1939, Oslo Norway, Göteborg, and Stockholm in 1940. His works belong to the collections of Vyborg Art Museum and Lahti Art Museum. Räsänen worked as an art teacher at the department of graphic design at the Taideteollinen oppilaitos from 1953 to 1968. He was also a member of the , Viipurin taiteilijaseura (Viipuri Artists' Association), and Suomen Piirtäjäliitto (Finnish Drawer Union).