Eeli Alvar Aalto (born 6 February 1931 in
Vyborg
Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...
(present-day
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
)) is a
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
visual artist
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts a ...
and
television director
A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a program. They are generally responsible for decisions about the editorial content and creative style of a program, and ensuring the pro ...
.
Youth
During the
Winter War
The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
, Eeli Aalto and his parents fled the war to the
Pohjois-Pohjanmaa
North Ostrobothnia ( fi, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa; sv, Norra Österbotten) is a region of Finland. It borders the Finnish regions of Lapland, Kainuu, North Savo, Central Finland and Central Ostrobothnia, as well as the Russian Republic of Karelia. T ...
region, first to
Liminka
Liminka ( sv, Limingo) is a municipality in the Northern Ostrobothnia region in Finland. Liminka is located about south of Oulu.
The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . T ...
and then to
Oulu
Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after ...
.
[Eeli Aalto: 100 kuvaa Oulusta](_blank)
city of Oulu. Accessed on 20 February 2014. Eeli Aalto became acquainted with art at the age of 10 when he saw paintings by the Liminka-based artist
Vilho Lampi
Vilho Henrik Lampi (19 July 1898 – 17 March 1936) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his self-portraits and paintings of Liminka and the people who lived there.
History
Lampi was born in Oulu but lived in Liminka for most of his ...
.
Career
Painting and other visual arts
Aalto studied art at the
Academy of Fine Arts
The following is a list of notable art schools.
Accredited non-profit art and design colleges
* Adelaide Central School of Art
* Alberta College of Art and Design
* Art Academy of Cincinnati
* Art Center College of Design
* The Art Institute ...
in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
and later in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
at the
André Lhote
André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art.
Early life and education
Lhote was born ...
academy.
Aalto participated in the
frescoes by
Lennart Segerstråle
Lennart Rafael Segerstråle (17 June 1892 – 11 April 1975) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish painter and graphic artist. He was best known for his murals and frescoes.
Biography
Lennart Rafael Segerstråle was born in Helsinki Rural Municipalit ...
at the
Rovaniemi Church
The Rovaniemi Church ( fi, Rovaniemen kirkko) is a church located in the city center of Rovaniemi in Lapland, Finland. The 850-seat church, designed by architect Bertel Liljequist, was completed in 1950. The earlier church building, completed in 1 ...
. He painted landscapes and city scenarios. In the 1960s Aalto also experimented in
abstract art.
He designed a large three-part relief ("In the beginning there was the word. The word became flesh ... and lived among us", 1969) between the main entrances at the concrete facade of the
Alava Church in
Kuopio
Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cult ...
. In Oulu he participated in getting cultural facilities such as the
Oulu University
The University of Oulu ( fi, Oulun yliopisto) is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 13,000 students and 2,900 staff. 21 International Master's P ...
and the
Oulu Museum of Art
The Oulu Museum of Art (OMA) is an art museum in the Myllytulli neighbourhood in Oulu. It is located on the edge of the Hupisaaret Islands park.
The museum was opened to the public on October 12, 1963. The first premises were in the so-called ''K ...
into the city. From 1962 to 1979 Aalto served as teacher of
plastic composition at the department of architecture at the Oulu University.
From 1993 to 1998 Aalto painted the series "Sata kuvaa Oulusta" ("One hundred pictures of Oulu"). Eeli Aalto wrote of its birth: "We got refuge in Oulu. Why shouldn't I picture the city that accepted us?" The idea was for every picture to have its own personal meaning.
[Aalto, Eeli: ''Kuviensa takana'', Books on Demand 2016. .] Eeli Aalto used his realistic pictures to show that
figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract ...
had never disappeared anywhere. According to
Giorgio Morandi
Giorgio Morandi (July 20, 1890 – June 18, 1964) was an Italian painter and printmaking, printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases ...
"nothing is as abstract as reality".
Television documents

In addition to paintings and sculptures, Aalto made numerous television documents for
Yleisradio
Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, foun ...
, such as a document about
star singers
Star singers also known as Epiphany singers, or Star boys' singing procession (England), are children and young people walking from house to house with a star on a rod and often wearing crowns and dressed in clothes to resemble the Three Magi ...
called ''Synti suuri surkia'' in 1980. The document ''Piina'' about the artist
Alpo Jaakola
Alpo Sakari Jaakola (1 April 1929 – 27 February 1997) was a Finnish painter and sculptor, known as the Shaman of Loimaa. He was one of the most important representatives of surrealism in Finland. Mysticism and absurdist humor
Surreal humou ...
(1977) was awarded the
Jussi Award
The Jussi Awards are Finland's premier film industry prizes, awarded annually to recognize the achievements of directors, actors, and writers.
History
The first Jussi Awards ceremony was held on 16 November 1944 at the Restaurant Adlon in Hels ...
for best television film.
After the
dissolution of the Soviet Union Eeli Aalto travelled to his home city of Vyborg in 1991. He said that seeing the city after half a century first felt like descending to a nightmare. "I felt a foreigner, but so did the Russian inhabitants." Eeli Aalto made a documentary film ''Wiipurini'' (1992) based on his trip to Vyborg.
Eeli Aalto also made a series of writings and photographs called ''Viipurinmatka'' based on his trip, which he also published online in his series "100 kuvaa Oulusta".
Television essayist
Jukka Lindfors describes Eeli Aalto's films as personal statements, a kind of television essays or pontifications. "They are often poetic and nostalgic, but they also have quite a lot of fresh humour, acridity and black satire."
According to Lindfors Eeli Aalto's artist documents give away an air of understanding reaching beyond the surface, and each subject is also reflected in the filming and editing of the films. His subjects have often been peculiar marginal characters, creative outsiders. Aalto often also appears in his films himself, sometimes as a fictive character.
Literature and other works
Aalto has written two books about artists, of which one is about Vilho Lampi (1969) and the other about
Reidar Särestöniemi
Reidar Särestöniemi (14 May 1925, Kittilä – 27 May 1981, Kittilä) was a Finnish painter from Finnish Lapland. He is considered one of the greatest Finland-Lappish artists in the entire history of Finland.
Särestöniemi was born as the you ...
(1976).
From 1983 to 1988 Eeli Aalto wrote columns in the newspaper ''
Kaleva'' under the title "Pienet filosofiat". Aalto wrote about four hundred columns and also illustrated them.
Aalto's autobiography ''Kuviensa takana'' was published in 2016. It was also published in English (2018) and in Russian accompanied with an article by Anastasia Martynova who had studied Eeli Aalto's works in 2019.
Eeli Aalto was also witness to the
Jumalan teatteri
(Finnish for "the theatre of God") was a Finnish avant-garde, radicalist group of student actors from the Helsinki Theatre Academy. The group was composed of and Jari Halonen, now directors, and Jorma Tommila and , now actors. Jumalan teatte ...
act in Oulu in 1987, where the actors threw urine and excrement on the audience.
[Laukka, Petri]
Harvinaisia kuvia Oulun kakanheitosta
''Kaleva'' 20 February 2009. Accessed on 20 February 2014. Aalto was the only member of the audience who watched the act in its entirety and took photographs, which were later used as evidence in a trial against the actors. In February 2009 Aalto published photographs of the act on the Internet, which had never been shown before.
Private life
Aalto lives in
Kempele
Kempele is a municipality south of the city of Oulu and south of the Oulu Airport in Northern Finland. Historically it was in the province of Oulu, but today it is in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia. The population of Kempele is () and the ...
. Aalto's son
Simo Aalto
Simo Aalto (born 19 March 1960) is a magician who became popular in Finland in the 1980s. He established Joker Poker Box, which is labeled an artist-festival tour he owns with his wife Kirsti. Aalto is known for a wide range of skills from finge ...
is known as a
magician
Magician or The Magician may refer to:
Performers
* A practitioner of magic (supernatural)
* A practitioner of magic (illusion)
* Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context
Entertainment
Books
* ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
, Aalto's grandchildren
Saara Saara may refer to:
Places
* Saara, Estonia, a village in Lääne-Viru County, Estonia
* Saara, Greiz, a municipality in Thuringia, Germany
* Saara, Altenburger Land, a municipality in Thuringia, Germany
Other
* ''Saara'' (lizard), a genus of liz ...
and Suvi Aalto are singers and
Sari Aalto is a
ventriloquist
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...
.
Awards and recognition
Eeli Aalto was awarded an artist's pension in 1994.
In 2012 Aalto was awarded the ''Kultainen kaulin'' ("Golden rolling pin") award for a culturally significant Oulu citizen.
Kultainen kaulin -palkinto Eeli Aallolle
''Kaleva'' 23 August 2012. Accessed on 20 February 2014.
Bibliography
* Aalto, Eeli: ''Vilho lampi - Lakeuden maalari'', Karisto 1969.
* Aalto, Eeli: ''Reidar Särestöniemi'', WSOY 1976. .
* Aalto, Eeli: ''Kuviensa takana'', Books on Demand 2016. .
* Aalto, Eeli: ''Behind his Pictures'', Books on Demand 2018. (in English).
* Aalto, Eeli: ''Za yego kartinami'', Books on Demand 2019. (in Russian).
Television programs
* 1966: Vilho Lampi – Lakeuden maalari; Kaupunki
* 1967: Viimeinen tuomio; Eräs Im Memoriam; Haikara lensi ohi; Hiljaisen miehen maailma
* 1968: Kuin kamee; Taulu; Lastentaidetta
* 1969: Hei hei, tämä on totta; 36 000 päivää Oulussa; Elukka
* 1970: Röijy
* 1971: Hailuoto, hyvän haltijan saari; Myrrysmies; Kain tapper; Unelma paremmasta elämästä; C-G Lilius
* 1972: Euroopan mestari; Afrikkalainen keskustelu
* 1973: Reidarin värilliset aistimukse; Taakkasi on minun
* 1974: Tyttökauppias
* 1975: Maalaismaisema; Iso pieni tyttö, Anu Pentik
* 1977: Kauko Rantalan mustavalkea maailma; Reima Pietilä; Piina
* 1978: Anna-Leenan jouluaatto
* 1978: Tuhlaajapojan paluu; Anna-Leenan jouluaatto
* 1979: Aurinkogalleria
* 1980: Kerro kerro kuvasti – 6 osaa kuvataiteesta; Synti suuri surkia
* 1981: Erämaakoira; Paluu Ithakaan; Merkillinen matkakertomus
* 1982: Häät Kempeleen kirkossa; Mielipiteitä taidekasvatuksesta
* 1983: Kissa vieköön; Dostojevskin galleria; Lentäjä Non Grata
* 1984: Rakentamisen draama; Kirstinän runot heräävät; Oulu -10
* 1985: Muistojeni albumi; Budapest-Rock; Mauno Haartman; Juhani Pallasmaa; Keijo Petäjä
* 1986: Vuosisadan talvi; Oulun koulu; Yksin; Elämän äänet; Jouni Kesti; Oulun horisontista; Satu Huttunen – Vuoden nainen; Kesäyön oikkuja
* 1987: Kirkkokatu 50; Punaiset kengät Sodankylässä; Tuhlaajapojan päiväkirja; Kirje maailman katolta; Paskajuttu
* 1988: Kadonnutta tietoa etsimässä; Taiteen tähden – Veijo Hukka; Itsemurhat; Jorma Uotinen; Erotiikkaa etsimässä; Huippukokous mummolassa; Valmentajan muotokuva; Picasso Tukholmassa; Giorgio Morandi; Matti satujen talossa
* 1989: Tekstiilin intiimi kosketus; Edvard Much; Simosalabim (5 parts) 1989; Passikuva (4 parts); Tapaaminen Oulussa, Paavo Rintala; Uusikatu 1989
* 1992: Helene Schjerfbeck Ateneumissa; Alberto Giacometti; Wiipurini; Tuhlaajapoika ja Sokrates
* 1992–1994: Jokeri pokeri box (32 parts)
References
External links
Eeli Aalto - 100 kuvaa Oulusta
Eeli Aalto's blog
Tv-esseisti Eeli Aalto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aalto, Eeli
Finnish male painters
Finnish television directors
Finnish documentary filmmakers
Finnish art critics
Artists from Vyborg
1931 births
Living people