This is the first in a bimonthly series of photo-essays featuring objects from the Artek and the Aaltos exhibition and additional photographs, sketches, and other ephemera from the Aalto Family Collection.

Alvar Aalto and Aino Marsio both studied architecture at the Polytechnic Institute in Helsinki, but it is not clear whether the two knew each other as students. Marsio began her studies in 1913 and received her degree in January 1920, as one of several female architecture students, while Aalto entered the program in 1916 and graduated in May 1921.


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Alvar Aalto and fellow architecture school students, 1917. Aalto Family Collection.
Alvar Aalto and fellow architecture school students, 1920. Aalto Family Collection.


Both Aalto and Marsio were required to attend lectures in the history of architecture and furniture, and they each completed several practical internships. Marsio’s detailed notes on construction, seen below, reveal the rigorous study required at the Polytechnic Institute.

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Aino Marsio. Sketchbook with architecture school assignments, ca. 1916–20. Graphite on paper. Aalto Family collection.
Aino Marsio. Sketchbook with architecture school assignments, ca. 1916–20. Graphite on paper. Aalto Family collection.
Alvar Aalto. Sketch of furniture and balusters, ca. 1916–24. Graphite on tracing paper. Aalto Family Collection.



Travel was also a key component of their education. In 1920 and 1922, Aalto visited Denmark and Sweden, where he may have made the architectural study below. Following her graduation in 1921, Marsio made a summer study trip to Germany, Austria, and Italy with two other women from her class. Marsio documented this trip with numerous photographs, as well as a travel sketchbook that demonstrates her often under-recognized skill in drawing.

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Alvar Aalto in Copenhagen, 1920. Aalto Family Collection.
Alvar Aalto. Study of a classical building, ca. 1916–24. Pastel on board. Aalto Family Collection.
Aino Marsio. Page from album with photographs of a study trip to Venice, 1921. Aalto Family Collection.
Aino Marsio. Page from album with photographs of a study trip to Florence, 1921. Aalto Family Collection.
Aino Marsio. View of San Miniato, Florence, ca. 1921. Watercolor on paper. Aalto Family Collection.
Aino Marsio. Page from album with photographs of a study trip to Rome, 1921. Aalto Family Collection.
Aino Marsio. Travel sketchbook, open to a sketch of an unidentified building by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, 1921. Colored pencil and graphite on paper. Aalto Family Collection.



Kirstin Purtich, Project Assistant Curator for Artek and the Aaltos: Creating a Modern World, is an alumna of the Bard Graduate Center master’s program.