The most beutiful route

S4. Adolf Bock, 1928.

Place your order by e-mailing posters / at / cometofinland.fi. Please state the signum S4 and the amount. The bill is then e-mailed to you via PayPal, and it can be paid either by VISA / Master Card or thru your PayPal-account. We ship from Helsinki by Priority Mail usually within 1 day after receiving your payment.

About the poster

The Heinävesi-Route, running from Savonlinna to Kuopio, is truly the most beutiful lake route in Finland (as the slogan says in Finnish and Swedish). For over a century travellers have been able to follow the endless landscape of lakes, forrest and lakes again (oh, some occasional cottages as well) during the 11 hour trip. The steam ship serving the route still look exactly as on the poster, so this is really a treat. So, go ahead, do something different next summer. Here you can find more information about the route (Come to Finland recieves no sponsorship what so ever from this company, we're just in love with the area...)

About the artist

The German artist Adolf Bock (1890-1968) may be considered one of Europe’s foremost marine painters. Because of his extensive knowledge about ships, he attracted a great deal of attention from both nautical and artistic circles alike. As a sailor in the German navy, Bock had a trained eye for details. His obituary reads:

‘Professor Bock had no difficulties when it came to obtaining a thorough knowledge of the conditions he wished to convey: ships with sails, in storm, in calm, in fog and in sun. He was well acquainted with the richness of detail in the rigging and functions of sailing ships. He sailed with them and learned to portray the ships as well as the sea in a true-to-life manner, and yet with the air of romance associated with sailing-ships.’
(From the magazine Finsk Sjöfart, 1968)

Adolf Bock also produced a large number of postcards. In Finland, most of these postcards were published between 1932 and 1936 by the Tilgmann publishing house, Kuvataide Oy. However, they were also published abroad.

Bock was frequently commissioned as an illustrator of German, Swedish and Finnish magazines and books. For example, in 1926, the Finnish magazine, Suomen Kuvalehti, published his drawings of the maiden voyage of the Finnish icebreaker Jääkarhu.

As a member of Verein Berliner Künstler (the Association of Berlin Artists), Bock was given the title of Professor in 1944.

Hungry for more?

The above text and the poster can be found in the book Come to Finland. It's a quality coffee table book filled with vintage travel posters from Finland – and many travel tales and historical anecdotes. The book is the result of a long and successful cultural history project. You can order the book here.

Back to the Special posters
Or see the full range of posters in our Poster Shop