Résumé

Principal, Alvar Aalto, Architect, Helsinki, Finland.

Teaching

Aalto taught in the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1940s, where he came into contact with Wendell Lovett (1922-2016), Frederick Bassetti (1917-2013) and other West Coast architects trained in the Boston, MA, area.

Professional Activities

Aalto's work was featured in a Museum of Modern Art traveling exhibition circulated in 1940. It was exhibited at the University of Washington between 04/26/1940-05/17/1940.

Aalto gave a lecture at the Art Center School, Pasadena, CA, 05/23/1939. During the late 1930s, particularly, Aalto developed widespread fame among modern architects on the West Coast, and his lectures before young audiences were invariably packed. San Francisco architect William W. Wurster (1895-1973) squired Aalto around the Bay Area when the Finnish architect toured the US in 1937, showing him various recently-erected Northern CA buildings. Journals of the period portrayed Aalto's work as more "humane" than the mechanistic International Style. Aalto's furniture became an especially popular alternative to tubular steel pieces; 1930s-1940s photographs of architects' personal quarters attested to the popularity of his light, geometric stools, chairs and tables.

• Kuortane, Southern Ostrobothnia Finland (Architect's Birth)
  Kuortane, Southern Ostrobothnia Finland

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• Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland (Architect's Death)
  Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland

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