Alvar Aalto - Nordic Design London Wednesday, September 30, 2015 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    'FINMAR LIMITED: London, S.W.1. 44 Ranelagh Road', Finmar, sales catalogue, Helsingfors, 1936, n.p.
    'Alvar Aalto', Domus, no. 435, February 1966, p. 5, fig. 22 for a drawing
    Pirkko Tuukkanen, ed., Alvar Aalto Designer, Vammala, 2002, pp. 71, 73, 75, 84, 163
    Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Paimio: 1929-1933, exh. cat., Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä, 2004, n.p.
    Thomas Kellein, ed., alvar & aino aalto. design collection bischofberger, exh. cat., Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Zurich, 2005, p. 23

  • 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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229

Stacking chair, model no. 23/3, designed for the Paimio Sanatorium, Paimio

circa 1930
Bent birch laminated plywood, chromium-plated tubular metal.
88.3 x 47.7 x 55.8 cm (34 3/4 x 18 3/4 x 21 7/8 in.)
Manufactured by Rakennustyötehdas Oy, Turku, Finland. Underside stamped with AALTO.

Estimate
£8,000 - 10,000 

Contact Specialist
Madalena Horta e Costa
Head of Sale
+44 20 7318 4019

Nordic Design

London Auction 1 October 2015