Alvar Aalto
ALVAR AALTO AND HEIKKI HÄIVÄOJA, WAR MEMORIAL OF SUOMUSSALMI, 1959.
Bronze. Length c. 77 cm. Dimensions of the base 37.5x14 cm.
Wear due to age and use.
Literature
Alvar Aalto: The Mark of the Hand / Harry Charrington and Vezio Nava. Rakennustieto Publishing Helsinki. Pages 153 and 250.
More information
The sculpture is a miniature of the war monument erected in Suomussalmi in northern Finland on August 30, 1959. It commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the battle of Suomussalmi between the Finnish and Russian forces during the Winter War resulting in Finnish victory. The monument was designed by Alvar Aalto and sculpted by Heikki Häiväoja. Häiväoja is an artist who belonged to the artists’ group Maaliskuulaiset during the 1960s, and became renowned for his nature-inspired bronze sculptures. The miniatures were not signed, numbered or stamped.
Artist
Alvar Aalto is one of Finland's most prominent architects and designers and one of Scandinavia's biggest proponents of modern architecture and design. Several of the furniture and vases he designed are today considered iconic design classics, including the Savoy vases, the Beehive lamp, and Armchair, model '31'.Alvar Aalto is the most internationally famous Finnish architect and designer. Aalto was a great ambassador for Finnish design at a time when the Finnish people were thinking about how to present themselves to the rest of the world. He gave equal weight to form and function, and was inspired by the Finnish landscape. Aalto is one of the most important representatives of modern architecture and has created its own architecture direction, whose aesthetic effect is based on careful planning of the buildings in relation to the environment, a human dimension and good sense of material.
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