Alvar Aalto - Design Day Sale London Monday, April 27, 2015 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Harry and Maire Gullichsen residence, Kaivopuisto, Helsinki, Finland, 1935
    Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finland, 1939
    Villa Havulinna, Noormarkku, Finland
    Acquired from the above by Mr Pekka Finnberg, Finland, 1985
    Thence by descent to the present owner

  • Literature

    Kirsi Gullichsen and Ulla Kinnunen, Inside the Villa Mairea, Art, Design and Interior Architecture, Jyväskylä, 2009, pp. 19-20, figs. 6-7, illustrated p. 39, fig. 27

  • Artist Biography

    Alvar Aalto

    Finnish • 1898 - 1976

    In contrast with the functionalism of the International Style (as well the neoclassicism put forward by the Nazi and Soviet regimes), Alvar Aalto brought a refreshing breath of humanism to modern design: "True architecture exists only where man stands in the center," he wrote. Aalto designed furniture in stack-laminated plywood composed of Finnish birch, which was cost-effective and lent warmth to his interiors. Aalto also revived Finnish glass design with his entries in the various Karhula-Iitala glassworks competitions throughout the 1930s.

    In 1936 he won first place for a collection of colorful, wavy vases in various sizes titled Eskimoerindens skinnbuxa (The Eskimo Woman’s Leather Breeches). The vases were an immediate success and the most popular size, now known as the "Savoy" vase, is still in production today. Aalto's freeform designs, in harmony with human needs and nature, anticipated the organic modernism of the 1950s and 1960s; in particular, his innovations in bent plywood had a major impact on designers such as Charles and Ray Eames.

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44

Early cantilevered highbacked armchair, model no. 36/86, from the Harry and Maire Gullichsen residence, Kaivopuisto, Helsinki

1935
Bent birch laminated plywood, fabric.
86.5 x 63.4 x 86.5 cm (34 x 24 7/8 x 34 in.)
Manufactured by Oy Huonekalu-ja Rakennustyötehdas Ab, Turku, Finland. Underside of each leg impressed with 713.

Estimate
£3,000 - 4,000 

Sold for £3,750

Contact Specialist
Meaghan Roddy
Head of Sale
New York
+44 20 7318 4027

Design Day Sale

London Day Sale 28 April 2015 2pm