Anna Emelia Elisa Wengberg (1865–1936) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

painter specializing in portraits, who was a member of the Önningeby artists colony on the Finnish island of Åland. Her works are in the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and the Helsingborg Museum.

Biography

Early life and education

Born on 24 April 1865 in Ystad, Sweden, Wengberg was the daughter of Per August Wengberg and Emilia Sophia Carlheim-Gyllensköld. There in

Skåne County Skåne County ( sv, Skåne län, link=no ), sometimes referred to as Scania County in English, is the most southern county, or , of Sweden, basically corresponding to the traditional province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronobe ...

she grew up and took her first

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

classes when she was nine years old, and later her oil painting classes under Herman Buuth. There is a drawing portrait of her father (1880) from that early period. She studied under Edvard Perséus in

(ca. 1884) and

Bengt Nordenberg Bengt Nordenberg (April 22, 1822 – December 18, 1902) was a Swedish artist. He belonged to the Düsseldorf school of painting and is best known for his genre paintings with everyday life scenes from the Dalarna, Skåne and Blekinge areas of Swe ...

in Düsseldorf (in 1884-1887), as well as in Paris (winter of 1890) under various teachers of

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

, particularly Jean André Rixens and Gustave-Claude-Etienne Courtois.

Finland and the Önningeby artists' colony

It was during her studies in Germany, when she met Finnish painter Victor Westerholm, who had a great influence on her life. In 1888, Victor Westerholm invited her to Önningeby village. She became an active member of the

Önningeby artists' colony The Önningeby artists' colony ( sv, Önningebykolonin) was founded in 1886 by Victor Westerholm, a Finnish landscape painter, who had a summer house in the village of Önningeby in Åland in the Baltic Sea. It attracted Finnish and Swedish artis ...

on the island of Åland where she became a friend of

J.A.G. Acke Johan Axel Gustaf Acke, usually called J.A.G. Acke, originally Andersson, (7 April 1859, Bergielund, Stockholm - 5 September 1924, Vaxholm), was a Swedish painter, illustrator and sculptor. He was also an amateur architect and designed two villa ...

, her husband to be. She spent a year in Finland (in 1888-1889) and at least four summers in the colony and returned to Önningeby as late as 1920 as evidenced by one of her paintings. However, according to other source, she made her last visit to the colony in 1894. From 1890 to 1894 she lived in Finland. She stayed with

Eva Acke Eva Maria Acke née Topelius (4 September 1855 – 23 March 1929) was a Finnish painter who created her best known work while living in Sweden. She specialized in watercolors.Björkudden Björkudden ( fi, Koivuniemi) is a manor house in Östersundom, Helsinki, Finland, designed by the architect Wilhelm Linsén and built in the mid-19th century. Koivuniemi was the home of the Finnish writer and historian Zacharias Topelius. After ...

, in Åland Islands, Nykarleby, on the islands off Hanko and Helsinki. Every autumn she had exhibitions in Helsinki and Turku. During her years in Finland she had an opportunity to meet some of the most prominent Finnish artistic workers, painters

Albert Edelfelt Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt (21 July 1854 – 18 August 1905) was a Finnish-Swedish painter noted for his naturalistic style and Realist approach to art. He lived in the Grand Duchy of Finland and made Finnish culture visible abroad, befor ...

, Eero Järnefelt, Helene Schjerfbeck, Venny Soldan-Brofeldt and

Maria Wiik Maria Catharina Wiik (3 August 1853 – 19 June 1928) was a Finnish painter. She worked principally with still life, genre images, landscape paintings and portraits. Biography Wiik was born in Helsinki. She was the daughter of architect Erik ...

, sculptor Walter Runeberg. In 1928 Anna exhibited in the

Turku Art Museum Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city and former Capital city, capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura (Archipelago Sea), Aura River, in the region of Southwest Finland, Finland Proper ...

Back to Sweden

After Finland Anna returned to Sweden, and spent most of life in her home country, especially in Helsingborg, and also traveling to various parts of it for painting. Wengberg first exhibited in Sweden in 1903, and subsequently in 1915-1920, 1922-1923, 1927 and 1929. A memorial exhibition was organised at the Helsingborg Museum in 1937, one year after her death.

Style and Works

Anna Wengberg was drawing with pencil and pastel and painting portraits and landscapes with oil on canvas and panel, as well as watercolors, often painting brightly coloured portraits. Her works are deposited at the Helsingborg Museum, Malmö Museum, National Museum of Sweden, Åland Art Museum, Önningeby Museum, Ålands Försakringsbolag, Andersudde and

List of works

*''Anatomy Studies, Dusseldorf'' *''Portrait of Karin Nyberg'' *''Cow Parsley'' *''Portrait of

'', 1888 *''Portrait of Anna-Lisa Westerholm'' *''Maria from Björkudden at the Spinning Wheel'' *''Portrait of Acke Sjöstrand'' *''Käringsund, Eckerö'', 1888 *''At Olle's Cottage, Önningeby'' *''The Ers Farm in Önningeby'' *''View over Önningeby'' *''Interior, Paris'', 1890 *''Portrait of

Helmi Sjöstrand Helmi Gunhild Sjöstrand (1864–1957) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish painter. The daughter of the Swedish sculptor Carl Eneas Sjöstrand, she spent much of her life in Sweden. She was one of the artists who joined Victor Westerholm in the artist ...

'', 1891 *''The Kyrkogatan street in Nykarleby'', 1892 *''Portrait of Eva Topelius-Acke'', 1895 *''Portrait of Gerda Busoni'' *''The Craftsman'', 1899 *''Log Driving'', 1900 *''The Village Road, Önningeby'', 1910 *''Storm on the Lake Mistelsjön'', 1916 *''Maypole and Windmills in Önningeby'', 1921 *''Landscape in Önningeby'', 1923 *''A Woman Knitting'' *''Interior with a Woman''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wengberg, Anna 1865 births 1936 deaths People from Ystad Swedish painters Swedish women artists Swedish expatriates in Finland