A Glimpse of Helsinki – Volker von Bonin’s photos

The Volker von Bonin photo exhibition will give visitors a rare glimpse of Helsinki as it was decades ago. The retrospective exhibition is compiled from the Helsinki City Museum’s collections, featuring both the photographer’s most iconic photos of Helsinki and some of his less frequently seen shots. Von Bonin is known as a humanist photographer whose photos highlight the everyday moments of ordinary people and their urban environment. He also captured plenty of Helsinki’s old buildings and landscapes for prosperity.

Volker von Bonin (1924–2006) was a skilled photographer of the city of Helsinki, whose photos are known today far better than the man himself. Von Bonin settled permanently in Finland in the 1950s, having been hired as a photographer by the printing house Tilgmann Oy. In addition to his work duties, he captured Helsinki and its people in photos. Over the course of a few decades, von Bonin took thousands of photos and created some twenty photo books focusing on Finland and its capital city.

In association with the opening of the exhibition, Helsinki City Museum and Parvs Publishing Ltd will collaboratively publish a biography of Volker von Bonin featuring his photos. The book was written by photo historian Yki Hytönen. The exhibition is produced by Helsinki City Museum’s Chief Curator Tuomas Myrén and designed by Osmo Leppälä.