With reference to international influences, the talks given by Gropius and Le
Corbusier at the Frankfurt and Brussels seminars were analysed as well as the con-
tent of the exhibitions organised in conjunction with the seminars, as based on the
original seminar publications.^298 I used Erich Mumford’s The CIAM Disclosure on
Urbanism 1928–1960 as an introduction to the history of CIAM. I have also studied,
as additional background material, a number of works and articles published by Le
Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Sigfried Giedion, restricting my selection of material
to those that Aalto was familiar with. Aalto’s correspondence provided me with a
deeper understanding of his relationship with certain people, such as Sigfried Gie-
dion and Sven Markelius. Elected the General Secretary of CIAM in 1929, Sigfried
Giedion was responsible for communication with CIRPAC. The communication
mainly took place through circular letters. Giedion appears to have been highly
proactive in fulfilling his role under the CIAM mandate. Correspondence between
Aalto and Giedion was at its most prolific between 1930 and 1932.^299 Eva Rudberg’s
monographs on Sven Markelius and Uno Åhrén guided me to the central literary
output of the two Swedish CIAM representatives and opinion-leaders.^300 Regarding
Aalto’s contacts with his Swedish peers, the focus in the present study was on the
relationship between Aalto and Markelius.
298 Here, I am referring specifically to the 1929 and 1930 CIAM conference publications. See Giedion 1930a and 1931c.
299 The messages sent by Giedion to Aalto have survived and are included in Aalto’s letter collection; the oldest of
Giedion’s letters dates back to summer 1930. AAM.
300 Mumford 2002, pp. 61–62.