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Artist:
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Alvar Aalto
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Title:
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"Paimio" chair
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Date:
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c. 1932
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Medium:
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Laminated birch, bent plywood
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Dimensions:
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25 3/16 x 23 3/4 x 32 3/4 in. (63.98 x 60.33 x 83.19 cm)
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Credit Line:
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Gift of funds from The Decorative Arts Council
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Location:
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Gallery 378
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Alvar Aalto designed this relaxing armchair for the Paimio Tuberculosis Sanatorium in southwest Finland. It is one of his earliest designs, and uses bent laminated birch, an uncommon material for furniture at the time. The chair was extremely strong, confortable, and attractive, and could be inexpensively and easily manufactured. Aalto, both an architect and designer, is perhaps best known today for his furniture. It is still produced by Artek, the company founded by Aalto and three partners.
Other Artek products and examples of contemporary Finnish design can be viewed in the exhibition Finland: Designed Environments, in the U.S. Bank Gallery on the second floor, from May 10-August 17, 2014.
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Artist/Creator(s)
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Name:
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Aalto, Alvar
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Role:
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Designer
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Nationality:
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Finnish
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Life Dates:
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Finnish, 1898-1976
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Object Description
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Inscriptions:
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Classification:
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Furniture
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Physical Description:
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armchair, bent plywood
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Creation Place:
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Europe, Finland, , ,
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Accession #:
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88.13
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Owner:
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The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
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