Toivo Laurilehto

Toivo Laurilehto (1916–2010) was appointed Rector of the Rauma Seminar (teacher training college) in 1948. During the 1960s, he also worked at the Ministry of Education and as Educational Counsellor at the National Board of General Education. Laurilehto worked as the Department of Teacher Education’s director in Rauma from 1974 to 1979 and defended his doctoral dissertation in Education in 1980, when he was already retired. The Faculty of Education at the University of Turku conferred an honorary doctorate on him in spring 2009.

Laurilehto’s portrait in the University of Turku art collection was painted by Raimo Aarras (1931–2023). Aarras studied at the Drawing School of Turku Art Society in the early 1950s, where his teachers included surrealist painter Otto Mäkilä. In his youth, Aarras worked as a professional musician, and later as an arts teacher and art historian. His academic publications include a monograph on the oeuvre of Edwin Lydén, published in 1980. Aarras was one of the founding members of the Arte artists’ association, established in Turku in 1960. As a painter, he is known for works that are, at the same time, restrained yet rich in detail and charged with emotion.

Emma Vuolaslempi 2024