Alvar Aalto - Ex Intimo

Alvar Aalto: Ex Intimo is an edited version of the original book which came out in Finnish in 1998. Interviews with recognisable characters and contemporaries in the Aalto office and court are mixed with stories from the family, the chauffeur, the glass collector and the waiter, plus many others, some close to Aalto, others on the fringe of the master. Often magnanimous, always the Gentleman, Alvar Aalto was known to friends and colleagues as The Chief or Maestro. If we are to believe the same friends and colleagues, Aalto needed to be continually in the presence of others whilst at the same time seemed to trust in so few. The remarkable range in these interviews put together by Louna Lahti produce more anecdotal evidence of the myth of Aalto. Aalto is architect, politician, chameleon, grand monsieur and rogue. Read across each other, these interviews begin to weave new patterns and ask us once again to look at the contribution of Alvar Aalto to Modern architecture. We begin to see the stories and the different truths that make up Aalto, that go beyond the legendary Aalto. We understand more about Aalto¿s social brilliance, the art of intrigue and intimidation, and we get glimpses of a humane Aalto, an Aalto not always so correct, civil and courteous but at all times clever enough to get his own way. Always wanting the last word is one thing. Getting it posthumously is quite another talent altogether. The last word has not been said on Aalto. The archive goes on! So does the Maestro!