Piasa is dedicating an auction to one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, Alvar Aalto. A true pioneer of Nordic architecture, a museum in Finland is dedicated to him, bringing together his main architectural achievements and his design pieces that have become iconic. His functional style, tinged with sensuality with its curves and free forms, has made him famous.
Alvar Aalto, whose real name was Hugo Alvar Henrik, the son of a land surveyor, was, throughout his life, sensitive to nature and especially to the forest. It is in the relief of his country that he draws his inspiration, his thoughts and his emotions. In search of an alternative to tubular furniture, popular with his modernist colleagues, whose metal elements he considered uncomfortable from an acoustic and sensory point of view, he proposed furniture made from local species such as pine and birch. This was to be his signature.
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)
Model n°31, 'Cantilever'
Estimate: 10 000 / 15 000 €
The repertoire of organic forms can be found in his creations such as the iconic Savoy vase, the undulating screens and the ceilings of the Viipuri library.
A major French retrospective was devoted to him in 1988 at the Centre Pompidou, irrevocably establishing him as the leading architect of his generation, a creative genius and visionary. More recently, in 2018, the Cité de l'architecture offered an analysis of Alvar Aalto's fifty-year career by exhibiting nearly 150 models, drawings, photographs and pieces of furniture. The Viipuri library in Vyborg (1927-1935), the Paimio sanatorium (1929-1933) and the Maison Louis Carré in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne (1957-1959) are among the most important architectural achievements of the 20th century. They are complex, total works of art, combining interior design, furniture, lighting, glassware and functional objects.
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)
Suspension
Estimate: 20 000 / 30 000 €
Through these examples of furniture, lighting and historical glassware - published by Artek, the publishing house founded by the artist with his first wife Aino Aalto - his research restores a thought and a work that place man and his perceptions at the heart of the creative process.
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)
Model 100
Estimate: 2 000 / 3 000 €
Sigfried Giedon, critique d'architecture.
