Abstract

Otto Mäkilä's "Abstract" from 1948 offers a fascinating glimpse into the later career of an artist whose earlier works, as seen in collections like the Art Institute of Chicago, often grappled with intense themes of war, death, and human struggle. While his early drypoints and lithographs depicted stark realities and expressive figures, this piece, created just seven years before his death, suggests a shift towards non-representational forms. Mäkilä, also known as Otto Fredrik Mäkilä, was born in 1904 and died in 1955, making the creation of this work in 1948 entirely plausible within his active artistic period. Without specific details on the medium or dimensions, we can infer that this abstract work likely continued his exploration of form and emotion, albeit through a different visual language than his earlier, more figurative pieces like "Murder" or "Dead Soldier." This painting would have been created during a period when abstract art was gaining significant traction globally, and Mäkilä's contribution to this movement, as housed in the Finnish National Gallery, indicates his engagement with contemporary artistic currents.