Astrid Holm

Astrid Valborg Holm (1876–1937) was a Danish painter and textile artist. She was one of only two Danes who studied under Henri Matisse in Paris. Biography Born on 30 October 1876 in Copenhagen, Holm was the daughter of the judicial counsellor Henrik Christian Frederik Holm and his wife Severine Jesseline Jessen. After attending Emilie Mundt and Marie Luplau's art school, she entered the Women's Art School in 1904 which would merge with the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1908, from which she graduated in 1910. The same year, she became a student of Henri Matisse in Paris. Apart from Carl Forup, she was the only Dane to have been instructed by Matisse who significantly influenced the trend towards Modernism in Scandinavia. She remained in Paris until 1914, becoming a member of the Scandinavian artist colony together with Jais Nielsen and the sculptor Johannes Bjerg. In 1920, she returned to Paris to study tapestry art at the Manufacture des Gobelins. It was at Den Frie Udstilling that Holm first exhibited in 1913, causing quite a stir with her Modernist style but she was generally praised for her strong use of colour. She had a firm, simple style, often employing the heavy outlines which are typical of Fauvism. Her subjects included landscapes, interiors, still lifes and flower paintings.