State Museum and Exhibition Centre for Photography ROSPHOTO
Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation


JUSSI AALTO. PHOTOGRAPHY

29.12.2012 – 17.02.2013

Opening: 28 December 2012 at 18:00,
Front Building exhibition hall, 3rd floor


The retrospective exhibition of Jussi Aalto’s (Finland) work at ROSPHOTO unveils various stages of the photographer’s career from the 1960s to the present day. His early work comprises black-and-white portraits obviously influenced by August Sander, Irving Penn and Richard Avedon who Aalto himself refers to as his “heroes”. Beside portraits, Jussi Aalto was also keen on documentary images that he created in line with the tradition of reportage photography.

Later, as Aalto took up colour photography, he created numerous portraits imbued with original specificity of Finnish culture. He captures very different individuals, from simple country boys and townspeople to important politicians, famous actors and musicians. In Jussi Aalto’s work an image of Finland is put together of snapshots of his contemporaries’ lives, and is solidified by the series picturing sculptures that introduces a historical dimension.

Jussi Aalto on his career in photography:
“Now, when looking back at my photography career, which started about 1962 (I became   professional  photographer in 1965), I see quite a logical development. In 1964 I joined the Helsinki Camera Club (Kameraseura), which then was the most important institution in Finnish photography. It published Kameralehti, the biggest photography magazine in Finland, and many of the best professional photographers working in Helsinki were its members. When “official” art photography started in Finland at the end of the 1960s, half of the photographers who got scholarships and state prizes and had exhibitions, were HCC members.

For a while (1969-1970) I was an assistant editor of the Kameralehti and was one of the four original photography teachers at the University of Industrial Arts, when it started in 1973. I was teaching mainly the history of photography and portrait photography. My first private exhibition (1973) was about snapshots, the next one (1977) about portraits, and these two braches were main subjects of my exhibitions till 1990s.

In the 1970s I was working mainly for fashion and lifestyle magazines, but in the 1980s gradually turned to advertising photography. The 1990s depression had big impact on advertising, and my company went bankrupt in 1996. In 2002 I finally lost my studio. In spite of financial problems I held smaller exhibitions on various themes in the 1990s and in 2002 two big retrospective exhibitions. The first one covered my themes since the 1960s to the present day. The second one was dedicated to portrait photography. Some of these themes along with new material are presented at ROSPHOTO.

In 1978 in Arles I participated in a Japanese photography workshop led by Shoji Ueda and Ikko Narahara. What I learned then about traditional Japanese concept of time and space, fascinated me. I think it shows also in many of my photographs, but I’m not the right person to make such conclusions.

On November 28, 2008 I joined the Blipfoto community and from that day I have taken and sent a photo to the site every day. These Blipfotos serve me as “finger rehearsals” to keep my sensitivity for more important projects. But it has also helped me to seek and find beauty in everyday objects. And in those blips there are many buds to new themes, which will eventually develop into more important projects”.