Alli Touri’s beautiful national costume illustrations
Craft Museum of Finland, Kuja (Alley)
Alli Touri’s aquarelle illustrations created a new interest in Finnish national costumes from the 1940’s to the 1960's.
Alli Touri (1915-2005) graduated as a decorative artist, and a family member inspired her interest for national costume themed illustrations. Touri’s skilled drawings contributed to the rise in popularity of national costumes. The National Costume Center of Finland has received the artwork as a donation, and is still accepting donations and information about national costume-themed aquarelle paintings.
Alli Touri’s skilled drawings contributed to the rise in popularity of national costumes. From the late 1940’s to the early 1960’s she drew vivid and beautiful national costume illustrations, different from anything we had ever seen before in Finland. Her first published national costume illustrations, which she drew in 1950, appeared in a book on Finnish national costumes. The book has been published only in Finnish.
Alli Touri’s interest in national costumes was strongly influenced by her aunt, Tyyni Vahter MA, who served as the long-standing curator in the National Museum of Finland. Touri was drawing sketches of folk dresses at the National Museum while still studying at the Ateneum. Tyyni Vahter knew the national costume collections of the National Museum very well, and selected several national dress models which Alli Touri then illustrated images and instructions for. Tyyni Vahter made sure that Touri's drawings were anthropologically correct. Tyyni Vahter and Alli Touri worked closely together in the 1950's and 1960's and collaborated to create several national dress designs.
The exhibition display contains tens of Alli Touri’s national costume related sketches, drawings and publications.