Anna Ancher (18 August 1859 – 15 April 1935) was a Danish artist associated with the

Skagen Painters The Skagen Painters ( da, Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Skagen was a summer destination whose scen ...

, an artist colony on the northern point of

Jylland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

, Denmark. She is considered to be one of Denmark's greatest visual artists.

Background

Anna Kirstine Brøndum was born in

Skagen Skagen () is Denmark's northernmost town, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalborg. The Port of Skagen is ...

, Denmark, the daughter of Ane Hedvig Møller (1826–1916) and Erik Andersen Brøndum (1820–1890). She was the only one of the Skagen Painters who was born and grew up in

, where her father owned the

Brøndums Hotel Brøndums Hotel, in the little harbor town of Skagen in the north of Denmark, is remembered for its close associations with the late 19th-century artists colony known as the Skagen Painters. It still operates as a hotel today. History The hotel ...

. The artistic talent of Anna Ancher became obvious at an early age and she became acquainted with pictorial art via the many artists who settled to paint in Skagen, in the north of Jylland. While she studied drawing for three years at the Vilhelm Kyhn College of Painting in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, 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 Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

at the atelier of

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French people, French Painting, painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Soci ...

along with Marie Triepcke, who would marry

Peder Severin Krøyer Peder Severin Krøyer (; 23 July 1851 – 21 November 1909), also known as P. S. Krøyer, was a Danish painter. Life Growing up and early training Krøyer was born in Stavanger, Norway, on 23 July 1851 to Ellen Cecilie Gjesdal. He was rai ...

, another Skagen painter. In 1880 she married fellow painter

Michael Ancher Michael Peter Ancher (9 June 1849 – 19 September 1927) was a Danish realist artist, and widely known for his paintings of fishermen, the lakes, and other scenes from the Danish fishing community in Skagen. Early life and education Michael ...

, whom she met in Skagen. They had one child, daughter

Helga Ancher Helga Cathrine Ancher (1883–1964) was a Danish painter. As the daughter of Anna and Michael Ancher, she was closely associated with the Skagen Painters. Most of her paintings were of her family and friends in Skagen and of local landscapes. Ear ...

. Despite pressure from society that married women should devote themselves to household duties, she continued painting after marriage.

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. Her art found its expression in Nordic art's modern breakthrough toward a more truthful depiction of reality, e.g. in ''Blue Ane'' (1882) and ''The Girl in the Kitchen'' (1883–1886)."Anna Ancher"
''Michael og Anna Anchers Hus''. Retrieved 16 October 2011.

Style

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. Ancher has been known for portraying similar civilians from the Skagen art colony in her works, including an old blind woman. Anna Ancher has been praised for her painting entitled, ''Sørg'' (1902), which depicts a blonde long-haired, naked woman on one side of the work, a funerary cross in the middle, and an older pious woman draped in black clothing. The religious context of the painting could be related to Ancher's own religious upbringing. Her portrayal of the female nude is unique for the time, given that this woman is not overtly sexualized and created solely as an object for the male gaze, as was typical among contemporary paintings of female nudes. Scholar Alice R. Price asserts that this painting is a reflection of Ancher's position as a woman of faith living in the traditional bohemian lifestyle of artists, that Price interprets as indicative of an ongoing inner conflict for the artist.

Recognition

She exhibited her work at the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...

at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago, Illinois. She was awarded the Ingenio et Arti medal in 1913, and the

Tagea Brandt Rejselegat The Tagea Brandts ''Rejselegat'' (Travel Scholarship) is a Danish award to women who have made a significant contribution in science, literature or art. The grant, which is given without application, was created and endowed by Danish industrialist ...

in 1924. Ancher was included in the 2018 exhibit, ''Women in Paris 1850-1900''.

Residence

The Skagen residence of Anne and Michael Ancher was purchased in 1884. In 1913, a large studio annex was added to the property. This also formed part of what is on display publicly today as a museum dedicated to both Anna and Michael Ancher. Upon her death in 1964, their daughter, Helga Ancher, left the house and all of its contents to a foundation. The former residence was restored and opened as a museum and visitor attraction. In 1967, Michael and Anna Ancher's house (''Anchers Hus'') in

was converted into a museum by the Helga Ancher Foundation before ''Anchers Hus'' opened to the public for tours. The 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. It is filled with displays of paintings by Michael and Anna Ancher, as well as by many other Skagen painters who made up their circle of friends.

Danish thousand-kroner banknote

Anna and Michael Ancher were featured on the front side of the DKK1000 banknote, which came into circulation on 25 November 2004 and subsequently, was replaced. The front of the banknote had a double portrait of Anna and Michael Ancher, derived from two 1884 paintings by

, which originally hung on the walls in the dining room at Brøndums Hotel.

Paintings

Image: Syende fiskerpige.jpeg, ''Syende fiskerpige'' (''Sewing Fisherman's Wife'', 1890) File:Anna Ancher - Harvesters - Google Art Project.jpg , ''

Harvesters Harvester may refer to: Agriculture and forestry * Combine harvester, a machine commonly used to harvest grain crops * Forage harvester, a machine used to harvest forage * Harvester (forestry), a type of heavy vehicle employed in cut-to-length lo ...

'', 1905 Image: Anna Ancher3.jpg, ''Fru Ane Brøndum i den blå stue'' (''Portrait of the Artist's Mother'', 1913) File:Anna Ancher - Sunlight in the blue room - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Solskin i den blå stue'' ('' Sunlight in the Blue Room'', 1891) File:Anna Ancher Pigen i koekkenet 1883-86.jpg, ''Pigen i køkkenet'' (''Girl in the Kitchen'' c. 1886) File:PluckingTheGeese AnnaAncher.jpg, ''Plucking the Christmas Goose'', 1904 Image:Anna Ancher - Interieur mit Mohnblumen und lesender Frau (Lizzy Hohlenberg) 1905.jpeg, ''Interiør med røde valmuer'' (''Interior with poppies and reading woman'', 1905) File:Young Girl Before a Lit Lamp (Anna Ancher).jpg, ''Young Girl Before a Lit Lamp'', 1887 File:Anna Ancher - A Funeral - Google Art Project.jpg, ''A Funeral'', 1891 File:Living room with lilac curtins and blue Clematis.jpg, ''Stue med lyseblå gardiner og blå Clematis'' (''Room with light blue curtains and Blue Clematis '', 1913) File:Anna Ancher-Interior With The Painter's Daughter Helga Sewing.jpg , ''Interior With The Painter's Daughter Helga Sewing'', 1890 File:Evening Prayer (Anna Ancher).jpg, ''Evening Prayer'', 1888

Retrospective exhibitions

* ''Anna Ancher – Skagens indre og ytre rom'', Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Norway, 2021 * ''I Am Anna. A Homage to Anna Ancher'', Skagens Museum, Denmark, 2009 * ''Anna Ancher'', Arken Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, 2011 * ''Anna Ancher & Co.—The Painting Women'', Ribe Kunstmuseum, Denmark, 2007 * ''Anna Ancher—det besjælede rum'', Ribe Kunstmuseum, Denmark, 1999 * ''Anna Ancher, 1859–1935, Malerin in Skagen'', Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover, 1994–1995

References

Literature

* * *

External links

Brøndums Hotel
Danish
Skagen Paintings

Paintings and drawings by Anna Ancher
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancher, Anna 1859 births 1935 deaths Skagen Painters 19th-century Danish painters 20th-century Danish painters Danish women painters Recipients of Ingenio et Arti People from Skagen 20th-century Danish women artists 19th-century Danish women artists