Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

Alvar Aalto kuvataiteiljana
[Alvar Aalto as visual artist]
Suomentanut [Translated from Swedish by]: Leena Vallisaari
Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2012. 215 p., ill.
ISBN 978-952-222-294-7
€ 45, hardback

Finland’s most famous architect Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) is also well-known as a designer, but his activity as a visual artist has remained less familiar. Aalto was interested in drawing and painting at a young age. He also received some training from professional artists, and before graduating as an architect he supported himself by producing vignettes, illustrations and cartoons. His best works are considered to date from the late 1910s and early 1920s, and were diverse in themes and technique. After the Second World War he painted exclusively abstract works in which the originality of his vision is most clearly expressed. He also produced sculpture, especially wood reliefs, which are related to his work as a designer. Aalto saw his visual art as being closely connected with his architecture, a branch of it. The book contains many reproductions of Aalto’s art and demonstrates his masterful, form-seeking creativity. Summaries in Swedish and English.
Translated by David McDuff