Alice Dannenberg, (4 April 1861 – 28 June 1948) was an early 20th century French painter of Russian origin who cofounded an art school in Paris, the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acadé ...

Biography

Alice Dannenberg was born in

Mitau Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also #Name, other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the unit ...

, then part of the Russian Empire and now part of Latvia. By the end of the 19th century, she had moved to Paris, where she began exhibiting in 1901 with a group of

Left Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...

artists known as "Les Quelques" (The Few) that also included the Swiss painter

Martha Stettler Adelheid Fanny Martha Stettler (25 September 1870 – 16 December 1945) was a Swiss painter and engraver. She was one of the founders of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and was co-principal of the school from 1909 until 1945. Biography Mar ...

. A few years later, she had a hand in founding a new group of 50 artists known as "Tendences nouvelles" (New Trends); they held an exhibition in 1904. In 1908, Dannenberg rejoined The Few as a means of showing her work outside the major salons. In 1902, Dannenberg and Stettler opened a new art school, Académie de la Grande Chaumière, with the aim of providing a form of art instruction different from the strict rules of painting taught in the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. Dannenberg and Stettler served as directors of the school until 1945. An attraction of the Grande Chaumière was fees that were kept even lower than the rival

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

. Among its teachers were

Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...

Lucien Simon Lucien Joseph Simon (1861 – 1945) was a French painter and teacher born in Paris. Early life and education Simon was born in Paris. After graduating from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he studied painting at the studio of Jules Didier, then from ...

, Claudio Castelucho, and

Antoine Bourdelle Antoine Bourdelle (30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important fi ...

. Notable students include

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and his ...

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Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo to see his family and ...

, and

Tamara de Lempicka Tamara Łempicka (born Tamara Rosalia Gurwik-Górska; 16 May 1898 – 18 March 1980), better known as Tamara de Lempicka, was a Polish painter who spent her working life in France and the United States. She is best known for her polished Art De ...

. In 1911, Dannenberg was elected to the National Society of Fine Arts. In 1927, she received her French naturalization papers, and not long afterwards she and Stettler moved to

Fontenay-sous-Bois Fontenay-sous-Bois () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Name The name Fontenay was recorded in the Middle Ages as ''Fontanetum'', meaning "the springs", from Medieval Latin ''fontana'' ...

. The last exhibition in which Dannenberg participated was in 1937. After the war, she and Stettler settled in Châtillon, where she died in 1948.

Work

When Dannenberg began exhibiting in 1901, she was already a mature artist who had been painting for over fifteen years. Her oldest known painting dates to 1884: it is a Russian landscape. Between 1904 and about 1912, she painted mostly vivid, nostalgic scenes of Parisian children at play, particularly in the

Luxembourg Gardens The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Creation of the garden began in 1612 when Marie de' ...

and the

Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

gardens. Starting around 1908, she began to paint beach scenes and melancholy landscapes. In 1913 she painted a series of impressions of Italy including Venice and Florence. In 1914 she began a ten-year phase of painting interiors and still lifes. In the 1920s, she turned to expressive seascapes, and in the 1930s, she painted flowers. Critics have compared her

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

style to that of

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

Anders Zorn Anders Leonard Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920) was a Swedish painter. He attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. Among Zorn's portrait subjects include King Oscar II of Sweden and three American ...

, and

Charles Cottet Charles Cottet (12 July 1863 – 20 September 1925) was a French painter, born at Le Puy-en-Velay and died in Paris. A famed post-impressionist, Cottet is known for his dark, evocative painting of rural Brittany and seascapes. He led a scho ...

. Between 1904 and 1935, Dannenberg exhibited her landscapes and genre paintings frequently in the annual

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The ...

and

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

exhibitions as well as elsewhere.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dannenberg, Alice 1861 births 1948 deaths 19th-century French women artists 20th-century French women artists Modern painters People from Jelgava