Joseph Alanen

Otto Joseph Alanen (1885–1920) was a Finnish Art Nouveau painter. He produced over a hundred works depicting scenes from the Kalevala.

Biography In 1905, Alanen graduated from an industrial school in Tampere with training as an electrician. He studied drawing, painting, and anatomy under and continued his art studies in Stockholm. He also studied in Berlin and Dresden between 1906 and 1910; there, his teachers included Hans Dahl and Lovis Corinth.

In 1918, Joseph Alanen rented a studio in Helsinki together with and .

During the Finnish Civil War, Alanen actively supported the White Guard and illustrated a series of postcards intended to promote Finnish nationalism. He also designed the logo used by the Pohjan Pojat volunteer army led by Hans Kalm against Russian Bolsheviks in the Estonian War of Independence.

Alanen died of influenza in 1920.