J.K. Pikkujämsä

PHOTO EXHIBITION AT STUDIO FREMDELING: MAXIMILIAN STEJSKAL 1930’s GAMES AND TESTS OF STRENGTH, 1-12 JULY 2025.

Maximilian Stejskal (1905–1991) was a physical education teacher in Helsinki. While still a student, he became interested in ethnographic research. He made his first field research trip by bicycle, equipped with a student cap, two cameras and a large box of heavy and fragile glass negatives. During several summers in the 1930s, he went on field trips for the Swedish Literature Society (SLS) around Swedish-speaking Finland. Stejskal also researched winter sports games and did collection work in the Swedish-speaking areas of Estonia. Stejskal’s doctoral thesis Folklig idrott (Folk Athletics, 1954) is based on the material he collected, but he never returned to research, continuing instead to work as a teacher. Stejskal’s 400 photographs and a large amount of text material are stored in the SLS archives and are available digitally on Finna (www.finna.fi).

When Stejskal carried out his fieldwork, many of the games and strength tests were no longer a living tradition, but the older men remembered the games from their youth. In an interview in 1985, Stejskal recalls: “The old men told me how the tests were done, asking one of their sons, farmhands or relatives to perform them. I took advantage of this and took the picture at just the right moment. It wasn’t that easy.” Here, one must remember the photographic technology of the time, with large and clumsy bellows cameras that lacked automatic features and glass plates that had to be handled with care. Indoordocumentation in badly lit cottages during winter required separate flash units, which made photography even more challenging.

The photographs bear witness to the culture of a traditional agrarian society. The rural environment with improvised sports equipment as hay poles and roof beams evokes nostalgia in the viewer. The physical exercises may be playful in nature and have humorous names, but the focus is on the competitive element, and they serve as ritual tests of manhood. Physical strength was a necessity in the rural environment, but Stejskal’s text material shows how the tests of strength were also part of a culture of violence involving fights, hazing, alcohol, jealousy and petty local patriotism. Not everything was better in the past.

Studio Fremdeling is not responsible for the consequences of trying out games and tests. The photographs are displayed with the permission of the Swedish Literature Society.

Sources: Carola Ekrem, SLS Arkiv nr 20/1991 Peter Berntson, ”Förr i tidens Duudsons”, Yle Arkivet 3.7.2015 Marika Rosenström, SLS blogg 17.6.2020

“Hands to the ground” – Source: Erik Stengård, Sideby. Photo by Maximilian Stejskal, taken in Lappfjärd. With permisson by SLS.

“Lie down like a dead body” – Sources: Peter Rönnlund, Einar Strandberg, Näsby, Närpes. Photo by Maximilian Stejskal, taken in Lappfjärd. With permisson by SLS.

“Lift a chair and a sledge hammer” – Source: Karl-Henrik Nissander, Lappfjärd. Photo by Maximilian Stejskal. With permisson by SLS.

“Cut water with a knife” – Source: Karl-Henrik Langells. Nämpsnäs, Närpes. Photo by Maximilian Stejskal, taken in Ömossa. With permission by SLS.