when, because of the lacking data. Nonetheless, by way of interviews and correspondence it is known that some architects were interested in theatre and cinema, or in any case that they came in contact with them through their work, for instance Alvar Aalto and P. E. Blomstedt were both keen on theatre and cinema.38 In the 1920s, Aalto planned cinemas for the South-western Finland Agricultural Co-operative building in Turku, the Jyväskylä Workers’ Club, as well as a small film theatre for the Jyväskylä Defence Corps building. In 1930, he created the sets for Hagar Olsson’s play “SOS” at Turku’s new theatre. In addition, Aalto was very familiar with the Hungarian artist/director Lazlo Moholy-Nagy who directed several films during the 1920s and 30s, and who also published the book Malerei – Fotografie – Film in 1927. At the end of the 1930s, Aalto was working very closely with the film director Erik Blomberg in planning the latter’s 75
studio in Westend close to Helsinki.39 In 1937, he was setting up a pavilion he had planned for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris, where he saw pictures shown in the exhibitions of other countries. It was here that he understood the importance of films as a means of propaganda, and a few years later he used them himself as part of the architecture in the exhibition pavilion at the New York World’s Fair.
1. The Architect P.E.Blomstedt (1900-1935). 2. Erik Bryggman: Lobby of the Kinopalatsi cinema, Turku 1936. 3. Alvar Aalto: A design for a studio for director Erik Blomberg in Westend, Espoo 1938. The project was not realised.