Experimental Wood Relief by Alvar Aalto, Artek Edition, 80 Pieces

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Experimental Wood Relief by Alvar Aalto, Artek Edition, 80 Pieces

About the Item

To celebrate the past 80 years of Artek in 2015, one discovery from the Alvar Aalto archives were introduced by Artek in a limited edition of 80 pieces: The experimental wood relief from 1934. Alvar Aalto started experimenting with laminated bentwood in 1929. Besides giving rise to many of the technical solutions on which Aalto’s bentwood furniture is based, the experiments also resulted in wood reliefs made of bent birch lamella. These reliefs were part of an important process of solving the technical challenges relating to his furniture developments as well as a method for Aalto to experiment with the material of wood in a playful, artistic way. Between 1933 and 1955 Aalto created around twenty different reliefs at the Korhonen Factory in Turku, Finland. This very same factory, which now goes under the name of a-factory, still produces Artek’s Alvar Aalto Collection. Although the reliefs were made with the pedagogic intent to show the technical methods used in the manufacture of wood products, they are also abstract sculptures on their own. Over the years, the wood reliefs went from being free material demonstrations to artistically considered compositions. Ultimately, these experiments led to works whose explicit purpose was to provide artistic decoration for architectural spaces. The ‘language of wood fibres’ – which is what the bent rods in the reliefs spoke, according to Aalto – was soon transferred to brick walls, concrete arches and glass bowls. This language of nature remained an integral part of Aalto’s architectural idiom. The expressive wood reliefs were later also used as acoustic screens in some of his concert halls and theatres, such as the auditorium in the House of Culture and the Finlandia Hall in Helsinki. The reliefs were also an important part of various exhibitions by Alvar Aalto, including the 1933 presentation Wood Only at Fortnum & Mason in London as well as Aalto’s first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1938. The graceful reliefs express the inherent logic of the material and Aalto’s fundamental IDEA of the interplay between nature and technology. They remain a key link in the Finnish master’s thinking about architecture, society and his own Mission in life. On the occasion of the company’s 80th anniversary, Artek introduced one of Aalto’s most elegant wood experiments in a limited edition of 80 pieces (labelled and numbered).

Dimensions:
Height: 3.31 in (8.4 cm)Width: 32.92 in (83.6 cm)Depth: 35.4 in (89.9 cm)
Style:
Modern (Of the Period)
Place of Origin:
Finland
Period:
1930-1939
Date of Manufacture:
2015
Condition:
Comes in a big wood box for transport.
Seller Location:
Cologne, DE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU105263203952