Artek and the Aaltos: Creating a Modern World, On view through September 25

by John Morris Dixon | May 2nd, 2016

The current Artek-and-Aaltos exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in Manhattan accomplishes two rare objectives. It celebrates a crucial partnership between world-famous designers and the company that manufactured and disseminated their works worldwide. And it gives equal credit to a woman who collaborated with her husband and partner in the design of these products. The name Aalto is written large in the history of both architecture and furniture design. But too little attention has previously been given to the fact that most of the signature Aalto accomplishments are attributable to two Aaltos: the much better-known husband, Alvar Aalto, and his architect-wife-partner, Aino Marsio-Aalto. Organized by the Bard gallery in collaboration with the Aalto Museum in Helsinki, the show includes some 200 works — many never before on public view — including sketches, working drawings, photos, and ample examples of actual furniture, lighting fixtures, and textiles. While drawings and photos …