Astrid Larje 1909-2006

Astrid Sofia Larje (nee Larsson) was born in Stockholm on 28th March 1909 in Stockholm. She was a Swedish artist and designer.

Larje attended Isaac Grünewald?s Art School in Stockholm (1942-1946) where she studied under Grünewald before Grünewald's sudden death in 1946 - Isaac Grünewald (1889-1946) was a Swedish-Jewish expressionist painter widely acknowledged as being responsible for introducing Modernism to Sweden.

Larje then attended Académie Libre - An art school in Stockholm, founded in 1946 by a group of concretistic artists (and operated until 1957), for a year in 1947 where she studied under Börje Hedlund (1909-2005) and Pierre Olofsson (1921-1996)

Larje first exhibited at the Liljevalchs Konsthall Höstsalong (autumn salon) in 1945. Other exhibitions include Storkvik (1948) and Galerie St. Nikolaus, Stockholm (1954); Karlskrona, Lindesberg and Västervik.

Larje took study trips to Italy (1949), Spain (1951 and 1954) and Anacapri, Italy (1955).

From the mid 1950s Larje produced glass designs and murals - exhibiting her glass design alongside the sculptor Nils Huldin (1922-2004) at Galerie St. Nikolaus, Stockholm in 1956. One of her decorative murals can be seen at the Stora Sköndal, Stockholm.

Larje was awarded the Stockholm City Cultural Scholarship (Stockholms kommuns kulturstipendium) in 1978, the Artists' Committee Scholarship (Konstnärsnämndens stipendium ) in 1981 and the San Michel Scholarship in 1955, 1971 and 1982.

Astrid Larje died in 2006, aged 97.