Ilmari Aalto (August 7, 1891 – 29 September 1934) was a Finnish painter. He was a member of the expressionist November Group led by the artist Tyko Sallinen. Aalto painted still lives, landscapes and portraits.

Life

Aalto was born in

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

. He studied at the

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a art school, school of fine arts, fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School ...

from 1907 to 1908 and the

Finnish Art Society The Academy of Fine Arts (; ) in Helsinki, Finland is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and provides the highest university-level theoretical and practical training in the country in fine arts. Academy The Academy was founded in 184 ...

drawing school from 1908 to 1910.Marja Sakari
Aalto, Ilmari (1891 - 1934)
''Kansallisbiografia''. 11.10.2000.

Career

Most of Aalto's landscape paintings are of

Töölö Töölö (; , formerly spelled ''Thölö'') is the collective name for the neighbourhoods Etu-Töölö () and Taka-Töölö () in Helsinki, Finland. The neighbourhoods are located next to the city centre, occupying the western side of the Helsin ...

and Suursaari. Aalto together with

Alfred William Finch Alfred William (Willy) Finch (1854 –1930) was a Ceramics (art), ceramist and Painting, painter in the Pointillism, pointillist and Neo-Impressionism, Neo-Impressionist style. Born in Brussels to British parents, he spent most of his creati ...

aided

Eero Järnefelt Erik "Eero" Nikolai Järnefelt (8 November 1863 – 15 November 1937) was a Finnish painter and art professor. He is best known for his portraits and landscapes of the area around Koli National Park, in the North Karelia region of Finland. He wa ...

paint the large landscape ''

Koli Koli may refer to: People * Koli people, Indian caste group * Koli Christians, a Christian subgroup * Muslim Kolis, Muslim community * Koli (surname), Indian surname * Koli Sewabu (born 1975), Fijian rugby union footballer Places * Koli, Fin ...

'' at the

Helsinki Central Station Helsinki Central Station (, ) ( HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. About 200,000 people "pass through the station" every day, half of whom are train passengers. The station serves ...

in 1911. Järnefelt and Finch were more involved in the design, but of the three artists only Aalto dared to climb the tall ladder. Having begun with

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

he also got familiar with

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

in 1914. Seeing an

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

exhibition at the

Ateneum Ateneum is an art museum in Helsinki, Finland and one of the three museums forming the Finnish National Gallery. It is located in the centre of Helsinki on the south side of Rautatientori square close to Helsinki Central railway station. It has ...

soon after his graduation had a strong influence on him and built on the expressionist influences. The first exhibition by cubists and expressionists was held in Finland in 1914, featuring key artists such as from the group

Der Blaue Reiter ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (''The Blue Rider'') was a group of artists and a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name ...

.fng.fi
Viitattu 22.10.2009. Ilmari Aalto - Self-Portrait - A III 2466 - Finnish National Gallery

After the 1920 trip to Paris, Aalto began to use more colors and strong brush strokes instead of the previously greyish palette. Later, while visiting Paris in 1928 he adopted a more realistic expression, clear contours and unmixed colors. Strongly self-critical, he is said to have destroyed many of his works. Aalto died of liver cancer at the age of 43. Aalto's spouse was Alli Helena Linnalahti (formerly Ketonen).

Gallery

References

External links

Ilmari Aalto taiteilijamatrikkelissa

Ilmari Aalto Valtion taidemuseon kokoelmissa.

Kirjav@ - Kansallisgallerian kirjaston kokoelmatietokanta, Ilmari Aalto
* Valkonen, Olli: Maalaustaiteen murros Suomessa 1908-1914 : uudet suuntaukset maalaustaiteessa, taidearvostelussa ja taidekirjoittelussa, Jyväskylän yliopisto, 1973, * Vilho Nenonen: Tavattiin Brondalla, Helsinki : Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura, 1981, * Kirjailijain ja taiteilijain joulukirja, 1917 Suomalainen kirjailijaseura, "Kirjallinen työ" ja Suomen taiteilijaseuran maalariliitto * Samling Gösta Stenman : finländsk konst - beskrivande katalog utarbetad av Nils-Gustav Hahl, Helsingfors: Söderström, 1932 * A cultural history of the avant-garde in the Nordic countries 1900–1925, edited by Hubert van den Berg et al., Amsterdam; New York (NY) : Rodopi, 2012, * Cedercreutz, Emil: Silhouetter 2, klippta af E. Cedercreuz, Helsingfors: Konstnärsgillet, 1916
Biografiakeskus, Ilmari Aalto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aalto, Ilmari 1891 births 1934 deaths People from Kuopio People from Kuopio Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) 20th-century Finnish painters Finnish Expressionist painters