Maalarina Pirttiniemen varvilla Varkaudessa 1910- ja 1920-luvuilla

Authors

• Leena Rossi

Abstract

Painter’s work at the Pirtinniemi shipyard in Varkaus in the 1910s and 1920s

In my paper I study painters’ work and working culture in the Pirtinniemi shipyard in Varkaus in the 1910s and 1920s. I look at the topic through the experiences of painter Frans Lind (1903–1985), who had worked at the shipyard since he was 13 years old. Using 13 interviews with the old master as my main material I discuss hiring the apprentice and initiation rites among painters, the workshops and working conditions, as well as the painters’ tools, materials and working clothes. Furthermore, I describe certain projects the young talented painter participated in and the special methods he mastered. To let the narrator’s voice be heard I use numerous quotations. The study is thus research of workers and manual labour: it is history of the human side of technology. From a scholarly point of view the study places between realistic or explanatory and interpretive or appreciative research of oral history.