The Dictionary of Art

He experimented with non-figurative forms of expressionin numerous media. He was a co-founder of GroupeEspace in 1951, and his work was important for thedevelopment of Concrete art internationally.

From 1947 to 1950 Aagaard Andersen developed anew, pure pictorial dynamic, moving from fine-lineddrawings and faceted landscapes towards an abstractformal language that explored form in terms of light,shadow and reflection. His 'picture boxes', in whichvarious elements manifested rhythmic and dynamicgrowth, explored the concept of painting as object. Hebegan to use the techniques of folding and pleating (e.g.Black Picture Surface with Three Folded Sections, 1964;Esbjerg, Kstpav.), and his work was dominated by hisinterest in light and shadow.

Besides paintings, Aagaard Andersen produced a num-ber of sculptures, for example the abstract steel workInterferences (1972) for the platform of the railway stationat Fredericia. He also executed decorative projects forbuildings, for example the Koncerthus in Odense (1982),for which he produced a colossal copper sculpture in thefoyer, 20 black-and-white marble reliefs and an acousticceiling. He also illustrated books and designed textiles,furniture and glass, and wrote many articles on art.

BIBLIOGRAPHYAagaard Andersen (exh. cat., Lyngby, Sophienholm; Arhus, Kstmus.;

1977)Thorsen and Mollerup: Aagaard Andersen (Copenhagen, 1985) [contains

several articles by Aagaard Andersen]J.J. Thorsen: 'Aagaard Andersen dans 1'Art International: Aagaard le

novateur', ICSA.CCah., 5 (1986), pp. 49-52: Modemisme i Dansk Malerkunst, ii (Copenhagen, 1987), pp. 185-97

RIGMOR LOVRING

(Aalto, (Hugo) Alvar (HenrikTfrfr Kuortane, 3 Feb 1898;^Helsinki, 11 May Iv /OJ . Finnish architect and designer.His success as an architect lay in the individual nature ofhis buildings, which were always designed with theirsurrounding environment in mind and with great attentionto their practical demands. He never used forms that weremerely aesthetic or conditioned by technical factors butlooked to the more permanent models of nature andnatural forms. He was not anti-technology but believedthat technology could be humanized to become the servantot human beings and the promoter of cultural values. Oneof his important maxims was that architects have anabsolutely clear mission: to humanize mechanical forms.

1. Training and early years, to 1927. 2. Influence of Rationalism, 1927-32.3. International recognition, 1933-49. 4. Later years: the 1950s and after.5. Influence.

1. TRAINING AND EARLY YEARS, TO 1927. His fatherwas a government surveyor working in the lake district ofcentral Finland and became a counterforce to his son's

1. Alvar Aalto: interior of Finnish Pavilion, World's Fair, New York,1939

In 1940 Aalto was appointed research professor inarchitecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT), Cambridge, but he managed to teach for only ashort time in the USA before he was summoned back tohis homeland. He was employed on the reconstruction ofFinland's towns and cities after war damage. He had beenoccupied with urban and regional planning before WorldWar II. Faced with the risk that reconstruction would bebased, frighteningly, on a stereotyped technological stan-dardization, he advocated the development of what hecalled 'flexible standardization'. It accepted large-scaleindustrialized building, since only this could remedy thehousing shortage, but required the building elements tobe made sufficiently flexible to be combined in innumer-able different ways in accordance with the possibilitiesafforded by the environment and the individual users'needs.

In 1945 Aalto was commissioned to draw up a generalplan for the province of Lappland and a new city plan forthe totally destroyed provincial capital, Rovaniemi. Hisprinciples for urban and regional planning amounted tomaintaining contact with nature and the countryside,favouring small-scale grouping of dwellings and, if possi-ble, breaking down large industrial plants, office com-plexes, government departments and shopping centresinto smaller interrelated units. For the new town of Imatra(also known as Vuoksenniska), which was founded afterthe cession of areas of land to the USSR, he drew up a

The Dictionary of Art

H964-86) and a police station (1967-70) injyvaskyla; themagnificent Finlandiatalo and its conference wing (1962-76) in Helsinki. In only two cases was Aalto's centreproject fully implemented. Possibly Aalto's most beautifullibrary was erected around the central square of Rovaniemibetween 1961 and 1966, with a crystal-like exterior and abookpit inside. From 1969 to 1971 the theatre and radiobuilding Lapponia was added, and from 1986 to 1988 thetown hall, designed in 1963. However, the most richlyendowed centre by Aalto was built in the town of Seinajokiin central Finland, where the church (1951-60) wasaccompanied by a town hall (1958-62), a library (1960-65) and a theatre (1961-87), all of them grouped arounda series of open spaces, testifying to the fact that Aaltowelcomed the principle in the urban environment ofunlimited space, more like the countryside than the city or

5. INFLUENCE. Aalto was an outgoing and spontane-ous person with humour, charm and a great gift for relatingto people, which contributed greatly towards his successes.Despite his bohemian living habits, lack of interest infinancial gain and not very efficiently organized architect'sbureau, during his career he managed to execute c. 1000projects, always working with uninhibited pleasure and awealth of ideas. Uver the years he accepted more than 300•pung architects from both Finland and abroad (particu-arly Switzerland, Italy, Scandinavia and the USA) asassistants for short or long periods of time. With his"pronounced scepticism of theorizing, he refrained fromwriting books on architecture and from academic lectur-ing; however, he loved to converse about architecturalmatters that were at the same time social and cultural. Hethought that the practical work in his office—which hecalled his 'academy'—was the best way to pass on profes-sional knowledge: that is to say, a teaching methodcorresponding to what Renaissance painters and architectsapplied in their workshops where they were surroundedby apprentices and assist

I

BIBLIOGRAPHYand Architecture (Cambr MA, 1944, rev.S. Giedion: Space,

3/1954), pp. 565-604B. Zevi: Storia dell'architettura modema (Turin, 1950), pp. 283-307Archit. Aujourd'hui, xxix (1950) [special issue on Aalto]E. Neuenschwander and C. Neuenschwander: Finische Bauten: Atelier

Alvar Aalto, 1950-51 (Zurich, 1954)F. GTtfhzim: Alvar Aalto, Masters of World Architecture (New York and

London, 1960)Arquitectura [Madrid], ii (1960) [special issue on Aalto]Quad. Arquit., xxxix (1960) [special issue on Aalto]K. Fleig, ed.: Alvar• Aalto, 3 vols (Zurich, 1963-78)L. Mosso: U opera di Alvar Aalto (Milan, 1965)R. Venturi: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (New York, 1966)Arkitekten [Stockholm], iv (1969) [special issue on Aalto]B. Hoesli, ed.: Alvar Aalto Synopsis: Painting Architecture Sculpture (Zurich,

1970) [incl. writings, chronological list of works and bibliog., richlyillus.; in Fr., Ger. and Eng.]

G. Baird: Alvar Aalto (New York, 1971) [photographs by Y. Futugawa]G. Schildt, ed.: Alvar Aalto luonnoksia [Alvar Aalto sketches] (Helsinki,

1972; Eng. trans., 1978) [contains a selection of Aalto's articles andlectures]

C. Jencks: Modem Movements in Architecture (New York, 1973), pp. 167-83

C. Cresri: Alvar Aalto, Maestri del novecento, 25 (Florence, 1975; Eng.and Sp. trans., 1976)

Arkkitehti/Ark.itek.ten,vii-vm (1976) [memorial issue on Aalto]Archit. Aujourd'hui, cxci (1977) [special issue on Aalto]

Parametro, bdi (1977)Prog. Archit, iv (1977) [special issue on Aalto]Space Des., i-ii (1977) [special issue on Aalto]A. Gozak: Arhitektura i gumani^m [Architecture and humanism] (Mos-

cow, 1978)P. D. Pearson: Alvar Aalto and the International Style (New York, 1978)B. Zevi: The Modern Language of Architecture (Seattle, 1978)Alvar Aalto, Architectural Monographs and Academy Editions, 4 (Lon-

don, 1978) [texts by D. Porphyries and R. L. Heinonen]Alvar Aalto, 1898-1976 (exh. cat., ed. A. Ruusuvuori; Helsinki, Mus.

Fin. Archit., 1978) [incl. writings]Archit. Des., xii (1979) [special issue on Aalto]K. Frampton: Modern Architecture.:A Critical History (New York, 1980),

pp. 192-202L. Rubino:^4f«o e Alvar Aalto: Tutto il disegno (Rome, 1980)W. Blaser: II design di Alvar Aalto (Milan, 1981)D. Porphyries: Sources of Modem Eclecticism: Studies on Alvar Aalto

(London, 1982)G. Schildt: Det vita bordet: Alvar Aaltos ungdom och grundlaggande

konstnarliga ideer (Helsinki, 1982); Eng. trans, as Alvar Aalto: TheEarly Years (New York, 1984) [biog. up to 1927]

M. Quantrill:^l/i'ar^z/to.-^ Critical Study (London, 1983)A e>- £7, v (1983) [special issue on Aalto]W. C. M&tx: Alvar Aalto: An Annotated Bibliography (New York, 1984)J. Pallasmaa, ed.: Alvar Aalto Furniture, Helsinki, Mus. Fin. Archit. cat

(Helsinki, 1984)G. Schildt: Moderna tider (Helsinki, 1985); Eng. trans, as Alvar Aalto:

The Decisive Years (New York, 1986) [biog. 1927-39]: Den manshliga fahtom (Helsinki, 1990); Eng. trans, as Alvar Aalto:

The Mature Years (New York, 1991) [biog. 1940-76]\AlvarAalto: The Complete Catalogue of Architecture, Design and Art

(London and New York, 1994)GORAN SCHILDT

Aaltonen, Waino (Waldemar) (b Marttila [Swed. StMartens], 8 March 1894; ̂ Helsinki, 30 May 1966). Finnishsculptor and painter. He was the most significant sculptorof the early decades of Finnish independence (after 1917).His style combined classical tranquillity with a modernsensitivity and disclosed the beauty of granite as a sculp-tural material. He studied painting at the School ofDrawing of the Turku Art Association between 1910 and1915 but on graduation began to practise mouldingtechniques and to teach himself stone sculpting. In 1916his firm instincts and talent for monumental sculpturewere remarked on at a general exhibition. His Granite Boy(1917-20; Helsinki, Athenaeum A. Mus.) is one of themasterpieces of his youth, the timid austerity of the child'sfigure conveying an Egyptian quality. The marble sculp-tures Little Wader (1917-22; priv. col., see Okkonen,1926) and Wader (1924; Helsinki, Athenaeum A. Mus.)are both good examples of Aaltonen's tonal carving. Hismain concerns were light and shadow and the atmospherethey create around the sculpture. In 1923 he made his firsttrip abroad, to Rome, followed by trips to France andEngland in 1925. In 1924 he was commissioned by theState to produce the statue of Paavo Nurmi Running(1925), although it was not erected outdoors until the1950s (versions in Turku, outside die Olympic Stadium inHelsinki, Lausanne (1994)). As early as 1926 the influentialcritic Onni Okkonen published a book about Aaltonen'sart mat proposed his status as one of Finland's mostimportant living artists.

The 1920s were Aaltonen's most effective period ofcreativity. Influenced by both Classical and modernistideas, he captured incorporeality in gilded wooden sculp-tures such as Girl's Head (1925; Helsinki, Athenaeum A.Mus.) and experimented with Cubism, as in The Dancer