Lars Arby

Bukowskis is delighted to present a collection of works by the silversmith Lars Arby at our live auction, Modern Art & Design. Arby’s artistry was recently exhibited at the art museum Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde in Stockholm. His personal and distinctive style of jewelry and corpus items were featured as the main attraction in the celebrated exhibition “Silver” from 25 April to 22 September 2024. Lars Arby passed away in 2002, but his experimental silver items continue to fascinate and inspire new generations.

In 1964, Arby became a member of the innovative guild of gold- and silversmiths named Nutida Svenskt Silver (Contemporary Swedish Silver), which was founded the year before. Together with this group, he held several highly praised exhibitions. Born in Johanneberg in Sweden in 1933, Arby began his artistic education at Konstfack (University of Arts, Crafts and Design) in Stockholm, graduating in 1956. He continued his studies at the School of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg until 1958. He ran his own business as a designer and silversmith until his death in Gothenburg in 2002. Arby’s original style is marked by its time and stands in opposition to the strict aesthetics of earlier functionalism. With masterful craftsmanship and a free, playful approach to the traditionally heavy material, Arby occupies a unique position and has inspired later generations of silversmiths. He forged, welded, enamelled, drilled, and chiselled to achieve the form he sought. In the early 1980s, Lars Arby suffered a stroke, rendering him unable to continue working, and his creations were locked away in a bank vault where they have remained until now. It is an honour for Bukowskis to present and auction these items, many of which have not been seen for over forty years. Lars Arby’s works are now represented in, among others, the Röhsska Museum and the Nationalmuseum in Sweden.