Anna Ancher

Anna Ancher

Photo by Frederik Riise
Born Anna Kirstine Brøndum
(1859-08-18)18 August 1859
Skagen, Denmark
Died 15 April 1935(1935-04-15) (aged 75)
Skagen, Denmark
Nationality Danish
Education Vilhelm Kyhn College of Painting
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
Known for Painting
Notable work Sunlight in the Blue Room
Movement Impressionist
Awards Ingenio et Arti
Tagea Brandt Rejselegat

Anna Ancher (18 August 1859 – 15 April 1935) was a Danish artist associated with the Skagen Painters, an artists' colony on the northern point of Jutland, Denmark.

Background

Anna Ancher, self-portrait, ca. 1877–78

Anna Kirstine Brøndum was born in Skagen, Denmark, the daughter of Erik Andersen Brøndum (1820–1890) and Ane Hedvig Møller (1826–1916). She was the only one of the Skagen Painters who was actually born and grew up in Skagen, where her father owned the Brøndums Hotel. The artistic talent of Anna Ancher became obvious at an early age, and she grew acquainted with pictorial art via the many artists who settled to paint in Skagen, in the north of Jutland.

While she studied drawing for three years at the Vilhelm Kyhn College of Painting in Copenhagen, she developed her own style and was a pioneer in observing the interplay of different colors in natural light. She also studied drawing in Paris at the atelier of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes along with Marie Triepcke, who would marry Peder Severin Krøyer, another Skagen painter. In 1880 she married fellow painter Michael Ancher, whom she met in Skagen. They had one child, daughter Helga Ancher. Despite pressure from society that married women should devote themselves to household duties, she continued painting after marriage.[1]

Career

Anna Ancher was considered to be one of the great Danish pictorial artists by virtue of her abilities as a character painter and colorist.[2] Her art found its expression in Nordic art's modern breakthrough towards a more truthful depiction of reality, e.g. in Blue Ane (1882) and The Girl in the Kitchen (1883–1886).[3]

Ancher preferred to paint interiors and simple themes from the everyday lives of the Skagen people, especially fishermen, women and children. She was intensely preoccupied with exploring light and color, as in Interior with Clematis (1913). She also created more complex compositions such as A Funeral (1891). Anna Ancher's works often represented Danish art abroad. She was awarded the Ingenio et Arti medal in 1913[4] and the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat in 1924.[5]

Residence

Michael and Anna Ancher's House in Skagen

The Skagen residence of Anne and Michael Ancher was purchased in 1884. In 1913, a large studio annex was added to the property, and this also formed part of what is on display today. Upon her death in 1964, the Anchers' daughter, Helga, left the house and all of its contents to a foundation. The former residence was restored and opened as a museum and visitor attraction.[3]

In 1967, Michael and Anna Ancher's house (Anchers Hus) in Skagen was converted into a museum by the Helga Ancher Foundation before Anchers Hus opened to the public for tours. Original furniture and paintings created by the Anchers and other Skagen artists are shown in the restored home and studio. Art exhibitions are arranged in the Saxild House (Saxilds Gaard), another building on the property, and is filled with displays of paintings by Michael and Anna Ancher as well as many other Skagen painters who made up their circle of friends.[6]

Danish thousand-kroner bill

Anna and Michael Ancher were featured on the front side of the DKK1000 bill, which came into circulation on 25 November 2004 and was subsequently replaced. The front of the banknote had a double portrait of Anna and Michael Ancher, derived from two 1884 paintings by Peder Severin Krøyer,[7][8] which originally hung on the walls in the dining room at Brøndums Hotel.

Paintings

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ancher, Anna Kirstine (Dansk biografisk Lexikon) (Danish)
  2. ↑ "Anna Ancher", Den Lille Danske. (Danish) Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Anna Ancher", Michael og Anna Anchers Hus. (Danish) Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  4. ↑ "For videnskab og kunst medaljen Ingenio et arti" [For science and art: the Ingenio et Arti medal]. Litterære priser, medaljer, legater mv [Literary prizes, medals, scholarships, etc] (in Danish). Retrieved 2010-09-05. List of recipients. Self-published, but with references .
  5. ↑ Kvinfo.dk Article on Kvinfo (a Danish encyclopedia about Danish women) about Anne Ancher
  6. ↑ "Anne and Michael Ancher’s house", Boboho Interior design Magazine. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  7. ↑ The coins and banknotes of Denmark (PDF). Danmarks Nationalbank. 2005. pp. 22–23. ISBN 87-87251-55-8. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  8. ↑ "1,000-krone banknote, 1997 series". Danmarks Nationalbank. Retrieved 7 September 2010.

Literature

External links

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