Wäinö Aaltonen

Wäinö Waldemar Aaltonen was born on March 8, 1894, in Karinainen. Deafened by an illness in his youth, he trained as a painter before turning to stonecarving, mastering Finnish red and grey granite and bronze casting with monumental architectural power.

Following Finnish independence, Aaltonen was commissioned by the state in 1924 to sculpt the monumental bronze of Olympic running legend Paavo Nurmi, capturing the runner in full, airborne stride outside Helsinki Olympic Stadium. In 1939, he completed the deeply meditative seated bronze monument to Aleksis Kivi in Railway Square, Helsinki. In 1967, the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art was opened in Turku to house his life's works.