Henrik Finne was a Norwegian visual artist born 1898 in Stavanger. Finne was a painter, graphic artist and sculptor, but is today best known for his graphic works. Finne studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in 1919−1920 under Halfdan Strøm and Christian Krohg, and then was one of the first pupils at Académie André Lhote in Paris from 1920−1921.
     He made his debut as a painter at the Salon
d'Automne in Paris in 1921, and in Oslo the same year.  He also exhibited at Blomqvist's Christmas exhibition in 1925, and at two major Group exhibitions in Oslo −

"9 young painters" at the Artists' Association (Kunstnerforbundet) in 1928, and Artists’ House gallery (Kunstnernes Hus) in 1934. His first work was purchased by the National Gallery in Oslo in 1928.

     Between 1919−1934 Finne was part of a group of artists, sometimes referred to as Finnegruppen, who were exponents of the 1920s neoclassical style of art − a reference to classical art but updated with figurative elements and a graphical look. Many of the artists were students of Lhote and they all viewed art as a craft to be learned and perfected. They rejected the many "-isms and systems" that were relevant in this period and were especially opposed to expressionism, viewing it as a shortcut to the hard work of developing ones craft.

     Finne also did not believe in art for political purposes, viewing it as propaganda. This put him at odds with the artist Reidar Aulie who created many anti-war paintings during and around the Second World War. They often sparred in newspaper writings back and forth. In response to an Aulie article from 1934, Finne wrote:

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     Throughout the 1930s FInne worked mainly with oils, part of group of painters who were given the nickname "The new Düsseldorfers" (De nye düsseldorferne)", who included Sigurd Danifer, Rolf Rude, Bernt Clüver, Ridley Borchgrevink, and Otto Sverdrup. Finne wrote about the groups' philosophy in a prominent article "On painting and some of its problems" (Om malerkunst og nogen av dens problems), in Samtiden 1933.

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     Starting in 1940 Finne switched to printmaking after the German occupation of Norway, during which his friend and colleague Rolf Nesch was hiding in his home from the Nazis. Finne received guidance in graphic techniques from Nesch, and from then onward he switched to graphic techniques. He made etchings in black and white and gradually concentrated primarily on color woodcuts. His new style made a positive impression, and gave Finne a central role in the Norwegian color woodcut school in the 1940s and 1950s. The themes in Finne's color woodcuts depicted landscape, everyday life, agriculture, fishing, whaling and industry, from Norway and from Southern Europe.
    In 1948 he made his debut as a sculptor at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo. Graphics, however, remained his foremost form of expression until the first half of the 1960s. Two of Finnes' prints are part of the Storebrand art collection. He was also responsible for the decoration of the facade of the Agder Theater in Kristiansand, which was opened in 1976.
     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• The National Museum in Oslo

• Sørlandets Art Museum

• Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark)

• British Museum

• The National Museum in Stockholm

• The Finnish National Gallery

• Gothenburg Art Museum

• The State Art Museum in Helsinki

• Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

• The Municipal Museum in The Hague

• Victoria and Albert Museum in London

• The Pushkin Museum in Moscow