Julie Marstrand

Julie Marstrand, married name Julie Marstrand Blegvad, (1882–1943) was a Danish sculptor who specialized in portrait busts. One of her most famous works is her realistic bronze bust of the explorer Knud Rasmussen. As an illustrator and a writer, she contributed to Berlingske Tidende and as a textile artist, created designs for Emilie Tolle's weaving enterprise.

Biography Born on 26 June 1882 in Copenhagen, Julie Marstrand was the daughter of Jacob Nicolaj Marstrand (1848–1935), a baker and mayor, and Marie Elisabeth Neergaard (1846–1914). She was raised in a cultivated, well-to-do home together with her younger brother Even (1879–1949) who became a cleric, social economist and writer. In March 1905, she married the physician Nields Reinhold Blegvad (1880–1970) with whom she had four children: Viggo, Inger (1911), Jørgen (1911) and Jacob (1921), who became an architect. The marriage was dissolved in 1926.

Julie Marstrand died on 25 April 1943 in Copenhagen. She is buried in Vestre Cemetery.

Selected works

Portrait busts Jørgen (1914, bronze) Jacob Marstrand (bronze) Knud Rasmussen (bronze, 1921, Knud Rasmussen House) Actor Bjørn Bjørnson (bronze, Teatermuseet) Ingolf Schanche Daniel Jacobsen Michael Blegvad (Tranebjerg Boarding School) Einar Jónsson (plaster, 1930)

Portrait drawings Knud Rasmussen (Ilulissat Museum, Greenland) Jacob Appel Henni Forchhammer (1931)