Elise Brandes (née Rustad, 1873–1918) was a Danish sculptor who specialized in busts. She was the wife of the Danish politician and writer,

Edvard Brandes Carl Edvard Cohen Brandes (21 October 1847, in Copenhagen – 20 December 1931, in Copenhagen) was a Danish politician, critic and author, and the younger brother of Georg Brandes and Ernst Brandes. He had a Ph.D. in eastern philology. Biography ...

Biography

Brandes was born on 24 July 1873 in

Lysaker Lysaker is an area in Bærum Municipality, Viken County, Norway. Lysaker is the easternmost part of Bærum and borders Oslo proper. Lysaker was initially a farming community, later becoming a residential area. Today it is primarily known as a bu ...

, Bærum Municipality, in south-eastern Norway. She was the daughter of the physician Carl G. W. Rustad (1839–1918) and his wife Marie M. Hauge. After attending the Royal Drawing and Art School in

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, she moved to Denmark where she studied at the Art School for Women (Kunstskolen for Kvinder) 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 ...

. From 1905 to 1906, she was a student of

Stephan Sinding Stephan Abel Sinding (4 August 1846 – 23 January 1922) was a Norwegian-Danish sculptor. He moved to Copenhagen in 1883 and had his breakthrough the same year. In 1890 he obtained Danish citizenship. In 1910 he settled in Paris where he lived ...

at the Royal Danish Academy. After marrying Edvard Brandes in 1900, she became associated with the political and cultural elite, several of whom she depicted in her busts. One of her most notable creations is that of the writer

Gustav Wied Gustav Johannes Wied (6 March 1858 – 24 October 1914) was a Danish writer. He was generally known as a satire, satirical critic of society in his time and he deliberately used his writing talents to expose the establishment, bourgeoisie an ...

(1909) with his subtle smile and his devilish look. Others depict Edvard's elder brother, the scholar

Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...

(1907), the actor

Johannes Poulsen Johannes Poulsen (17 November 1881 – 14 October 1938) was a Danish actor and director. He debuted with the Dagmar Theatre in 1901. In 1909 he joined the Royal Theatre as an actor, and from 1917 was also a stage director. Memorable roles ...

(1909), the literary historian

Vilhelm Andersen Vilhelm Rasmus Andreas Andersen (16 October 1864 – 3 April 1953) was a Danish author, literary historian and intellectual, who primarily focused on the study of Danish literature. He was one of the first to use the term " Golden Age of Culture" ...

(c.1913) and the Swedish artist

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 ...

(1917). Other notable pieces include a marble relief of Johannes Poulsen's father, Emil Poulsen (1906), and a bronze statuette of the actress Grethe Hasselbach dancing (1912), both of which are in Copenhagen's

Theatre Museum The Theatre Museum in the Covent Garden district of London, England, was the United Kingdom's national museum of the performing arts. It was a branch of the UK's national museum of applied arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum. It opened in 1974 ...

. In her later years, she was unable to work owing to poor health. She died on 3 November 1918 in Copenhagen. Brandes worked with a variety of materials such as sandstone, marble and wood. The architect Louis Hygom designed the house at Skodsborgvej 242A for her in 1917. In her later years, she was unable to work owing to poor health. She died on 3 November 1918 in Copenhagen.

Exhibitions

Brandes exhibited frequently at Charlottenborg (1906–17) as well as at

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

(1909),

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

and

(both 1914). She held a solo exhibition at Winkel & Magnussen's gallery in Copenhagen in 1913.

References

External links

Photographs of Elise and Edvard Brandes from Europeana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandes, Elise 1873 births 1918 deaths Oslo National Academy of the Arts alumni Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Danish sculptors Norwegian sculptors Norwegian women sculptors Danish women sculptors Artists from Bærum Norwegian emigrants to Denmark