Iria Leino (b. 1932, Helsinki, Finland; d. 2022, New York, NY) was a visual artist based in New York City until her death in 2022. Upon receiving a degree from the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki in 1955, Leino moved to Paris to continue her studies at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. Here, she caught the attention of the late Madame Grès and Karl Lagerfeld, thus launching her career as a fashion model of international renown. At the peak of her success in 1964, Leino abandoned her modeling career and relocated to New York City’s then-epicenter of the bohemian community, SoHo. During her lifetime, Leino intentionally held back her work from the public eye, with notable exceptions. In 1973, Leino was included in the groundbreaking Women Choose Women, curated by Lucy Lippard, the first major large-scale presentation of female artists in New York. The same year, she participated in Second Annual Contemporary Reflections, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT. From the mid-1970s to her death, Leino garnered sporadic recognition in the form of museum exhibitions in Finland and Sweden, institutional patronage, as well as a multi-year installation at John F. Kennedy Airport’s Finnair terminal. Posthumously, her work has been the subject of presentations at Harper’s, New York (2025 and 2024); Larsen Walker, Stockholm (2025); Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki (2025); and Frieze Masters (forthcoming). Reviews have been published in Artforum, Vogue Scandinavia, and W Magazine, among other publications. IRIA, a documentary directed by Janna Kyllästinen and produced by Kati Aho, is currently in production.
