Aasta Hansteen, also known as Hasta Hanseen (born December 10, 1824 – April 13, 1908), was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, and early

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

Life and career

Aasta Hansteen was born in Christiania, modern day Oslo, the daughter of

Christopher Hansteen Christopher Hansteen (26 September 1784 – 11 April 1873) was a Norwegian geophysicist, astronomer and physicist, best known for his mapping of Earth's magnetic field. Early life and career Hansteen was born in Christiania as the son of J ...

, a noted professor of

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

and applied mathematics at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

. She started her art education 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 ...

(1840 - 1841) where she learned to draw. She continued her training for three years at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová, ...

where she studied fine brush alignment. She is associated with the

Düsseldorf school of painting The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy (now the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State Art Academy) during the 1830s and 1840s, when the A ...

. She exhibited her work at the 1855 World's Fair in Paris. She returned to Norway and settled in Christiania where she, for several years, was in demand as the city's only portrait artist. Her most famous painting is possibly the portrait of her father, which is on permanent exhibit at the

National Gallery of Norway The National Gallery ( no, Nasjonalgalleriet) is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. , the admission cost is 100 Norwegian kroner. History It was establishe ...

. Overwhelmed by the interest in her portraits, she resigned from her craft for several years and moved to

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

, where she developed an interest in

Norwegian dialects Norwegian dialects (''dialekter'') are commonly divided into four main groups, 'Northern Norwegian' (), 'Central Norwegian' (''trøndersk''), 'Western Norwegian' (''vestlandsk''), and 'Eastern Norwegian' (). Sometimes 'Midland Norwegian' () and/ ...

. When she moved back to Christiania, she studied with the linguist

Ivar Aasen Ivar Andreas Aasen (; 5 August 1813 – 23 September 1896) was a Norwegian philologist, lexicographer, playwright, and poet. He is best known for having assembled one of the two official written versions of the Norwegian language, Nynorsk, from va ...

. In 1862 she published anonymously a small book written in

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

and had the distinction of being the first woman to publish in this language. Together with her foster daughter Theodora Nielsen, she sailed from Christiania on April 9, 1880. She lived in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for nine years (1880-1889). She spent six and a half years in the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

area and two and a half years in the Midwest, primarily

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Aasta Hansteen met or observed such leading reformers on the time as

Lucy Stone Lucy Stone (August 13, 1818 – October 18, 1893) was an American orator, abolitionist and suffragist who was a vocal advocate for and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone became the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a colle ...

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe (; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the original 1870 pacifist Mother's Day Proclamation. She was also an advocate for abolitionism ...

Mary Livermore Mary Livermore (born Mary Ashton Rice; December 19, 1820May 23, 1905) was an American journalist, abolitionist, and advocate of women's rights. Her printed volumes included: ''Thirty Years Too Late,'' first published in 1847 as a prize temperance ...

, and

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...

. Her initial income came from writing for the Christiania-based newspaper ''

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

'', which she supplemented by painting portraits on commission. Among others, Norwegian reformer and editor

Marcus Thrane Marcus Møller Thrane (14 October 1817 – 30 April 1890) was a Norwegian author, journalist, and the leader of the first labour movement in Norway. It was later known as the Thrane movement (''Thranebevegelsen''). Early life Thrane was bo ...

sat for his portrait. In 1889, she returned to Norway with a renewed interest in the women's movement. She joined the

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights ( no, italic=no, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization and works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights thr ...

(''Norsk Kvinnesaksforening'') and became an active contributor in the press on women's rights. Hansteen died in Kristiania, modern-day Oslo. Hansteen was a vocal critic of the

Judeo-Christian The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the "Old Testament" of the Christian Bible, or ...

and Pauline perception of women, which she felt was denigrating of women's spiritual worth. She was a strong and controversial personality, who frequented cafes and markets on her own, and became one of the more colorful fixtures in Oslo.

Legacy

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

is said to have used her as a model for the character Lona Hessel in his play ''

The Pillars of Society ''The Pillars of Society'' (or "Pillars of the Community"; original Norwegian title: ''Samfundets støtter'') is an 1877 play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen had great trouble with the writing of this play. The ending i ...

''. Additionally she was believed to served as the inspiration for the title role in

Gunnar Heiberg Gunnar Edvard Rode Heiberg (18 November 1857 – 22 February 1929) was a Norway, Norwegian poet, playwright, journalist and theatre critic. Personal life He was born in Oslo, Christiania a son of judge Edvard Omsen Heiberg (1829–1884) and his w ...

's '' Aunt Ulrikke''. Norwegian pianist and composer

Agathe Backer Grøndahl Agathe Ursula Backer Grøndahl (1 December 1847 – 4 June 1907) was a Norwegian pianist and composer. Her son Fridtjof Backer-Grøndahl (1885–1959) was also a pianist and composer, who promoted his mother's compositions in his concerts. Biogr ...

dedicated compositions to her. Her grave in

Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour ( no, Vår Frelsers gravlund) is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great ...

in Oslo, marked with a bust made by

Gustav Vigeland Gustav Vigeland (11 April 1869 – 12 March 1943), born as Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his product ...

. Aasta Hansteens vei in the

Stovner Stovner is a borough located to the far north east of the city of Oslo, Norway. Historically, Stovner was the name of a farm in the municipal borough "Østre Aker". Østre Aker merged with Oslo in 1948, both instigated and followed by a massive ex ...

borough of the city of Oslo and Aasta Hansteens vei in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

are both named for Aasta Hansteen. A statue of her by Norwegian sculptor,

Nina Sundbye Nina Sundbye (born 4 August 1944) is a Norwegian sculptor, born in Oslo. Her debut was a bust of illustrator Finn Graff from 1967. Among her other works is a bronze statue of Aasta Hansteen placed at Aker Brygge, and busts of resistance fighter Gre ...

, in located in the

Aker Brygge Aker Brygge is a neighbourhood in central Oslo, Norway. Since the 1980s and 1990s it has been a popular area for shopping, dining, and entertainment, as well as a high-end residential area. It was previously an industrial area. Location Aker Bry ...

area of Oslo''Nina Sundbye'' (Store norske leksikon)
/ref> The Aasta Hansteen gas field came on stream 16 December 2018. The Aasta Hansteen field is located in 1 300 metres of water in the Vøring area in the Norwegian Sea, 300 kilometres west of Sandnessjøen. Its floating platform is higher than the Eiffel tower

Selected works

* ''Skrift og Umskrift i Landsmaalet'', 1862 * ''Kvindens stilling i Verden, i Nordisk Maanedsskrift for folkelig og kristelig Oplysning'', 1871 * ''Kvinden skabt i Guds Billede'', 1878 * ''Kristi kirke i det nittende aarhundrede'', 1897 * ''Dikt i (Ivar Aasens) landsmaal. 1862–67'', 1908

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansteen, Aasta 1824 births 1908 deaths 19th-century Norwegian painters 20th-century Norwegian painters 19th-century Norwegian women artists 20th-century Norwegian women artists Norwegian feminists Portrait painters Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour Norwegian women's rights activists Norwegian expatriates in the United States Norwegian women painters Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people