Lars Arby

Bukowskis is delighted to present a collection of works by the artist and goldsmith Lars Arby in this auction. Arby’s artistry was recently showcased in an exhibition at Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, where his personal and distinctive corpus works and jewellery were featured as highlights in the acclaimed exhibition "Silver" from 25 April to 22 September 2024. Lars Arby passed away in 2002, but his experimental silveritems continue to fascinate and inspire new generations.

Arby became a member in 1964 of the innovative association of goldsmiths known as Nutida Svenskt Silver (Contemporary Swedish Silver), which was founded the year before. Together with this group, he participated in several celebrated exhibitions. He was born in Johanneberg in 1933 and began his artistic education at Konstfack in Stockholm, graduating in 1956. He then continued his studies at the School of Arts and Crafts in Gothenburg until 1958. He ran his own practice as a designer and goldsmith until his passing in Gothenburg in 2002. Arby’s original style of design is marked by its time and stands in opposition to the strict aesthetics of earlier functionalism. With masterful craftsmanship and a free and playful approach to the traditionally heavy material, Arby occupies a unique position and has inspired later generations of goldsmiths. He forged, welded, enamelled, drilled, and chased to achieve the forms he sought. In the early 1980s, Lars Arby suffered a stroke that left him unable to continue working, and his works were locked away in a safe deposit box, where they have remained until now. It is an honour for Bukowskis to now showcase and auction these items, many of which have not been seen for over twenty years.

Lars Arby’s works are today represented in institutions including the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg and the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.