Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Blaðsíða 95

WAINÖ AALTONEN
89
Sculpturing in granite became Wáinö Aaltonen’s great pas-
sion, a technique of which the difficulty corresponds to his strong
will to create and to his plastic intentions. It is a technique which
only reveals its secret to the artist after much work, the struggle
with the raw material’s solidity continues beyond the usual plan-
ning of form, on to the last millimetre and finally to the indiv-
idual grains of granite. But when at last the granite attains sculp-
tural life its fundamental character is the more intensive, and a
kind of deep, mystical atmosphere seems to dwell within its sur-
faces — the black granite gleams softly like an autumn sky, the
red granite shimmers warmly. The lines of granite sculpture are
more boldly drawn, the curves rise and sink more roundly than
those of the half-transparent marble or the firm bronze. It was at
the same time an old and a new world of sculpture in which
Wáinö Aaltonen undertook his voyages of conquest, and which
were constantly extended, being repeated from time to time until
the present.
It is scarcely necessary to point out that there were also ex-
periments in these voyages of discovery, the results of which
have not always been of lasting importance. The temptation to
use certain effects in the technical methods has been great, and
the massiveness of the material itself has sometimes led to ex-
aggeration also in the choice of ideas. But at their best, Wáinö
Aaltonen’s works in granite certainly represent a new plastic
form of language in the history of sculpture. They express some-
thing primitively firm and luxuriant, something close to the soul
of the earth. A wonderful new beauty seems to breathe, to smile
mystically and to shimmer secretively round these works of art.
It is only necessary to think of the large-sized heads of young
women: one in red granite of the year 1923 and one in black
granite from the year 1924. Aaltonen has also sculptured soulful
portraits in granite, like the portrait of a young girl in black
granite from the year 1924. During the last phases of his work,
the sculptor has passionately returned to granite as material,
and of this the new sculptures sent to the exhibition bear wit-
ness: two girl’s heads, the head of an athlete, a woman standing
in the water, and a relief in black granite bearing the name
“Happiness”.
Another important part of Aaltonen’s productions is his
bronze work. The balance and controlled character which ap-
peared already in “The Runner” and the bronze heads from the