Alvar Aalto the Decisive Years

Schildt portrays Finnish architect Aalto as the odd-man-out among the utopian planners of the '20s and '30s, a Chaplinesque rebel who never accepted the rationalist pretensions of Gropius, Le Corbusier and Moholy-Nagy. In this second installment of a three-volume biographythe first covered ""The Early Years''we meet Aalto the lyricist and humanist whose irrepressible artistic impulses broke through, whether he was building a sanatorium or terrace houses designed to eliminate class distinctions among the occupants. Schildt convincingly redefines Aalto's credo as the need to create works that would express harmony in a fragmented age. Aalto's contributions to furniture designhe perfected the curved wooden chair and pioneered tubular steelare also discussed. Filled with photos, sketches, letters and documents, this exciting and important biography confronts the major issues facing modern architecture by charting one individualist's path. (January 2)