Julia Beck (20 December 1853 – 21 September 1935) was a Swedish painter and

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

Biography

Beck was born 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 ...

, Sweden, the daughter of Franz Beck, a bookbinder. She was first educated at the

sloyd Sloyd (Swedish ), also known as educational sloyd, is a system of handicraft-based education started by Uno Cygnaeus in Finland in 1865. The system was further refined and promoted worldwide, and was taught in the United States until the early 2 ...

school (later

Konstfack Konstfack, or University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden. History Konstfack has had several different names since it was founded in 1844 by the ...

) in Stockholm from 1869–1872. She then studied at the

Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, architec ...

(1872–1878) and later at the Académie Julian in Paris (1883–1884), where her teachers included

Léon Bonnat Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (20 June 1833 – 8 September 1922) was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Early life Bonnat was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in M ...

and

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

. Afterwards, she settled in France, where she was to spend most of the rest of her life. For a time she rented a studio in Paris with

Harriet Backer Harriet Backer (21 January 1845 – 25 March 1932) was a Norwegian painter who achieved recognition in her own time and was a pioneer among female artists both in the Nordic countries and in Europe generally. She is best known for her detailed ...

, Hildegard Thorell, and

Anna Munthe-Norstedt Anna Katarina Fredrika Munthe-Norstedt (28 July 1854 – 17 April 1936) was a Swedish painter known for still-lifes and interiors. She also worked with genre painting and portraits. Biography Anna Munthe-Norstedt was born in the parish of D� ...

, and she also spent time at the Grez-sur-Loing art colony. In 1886, she became a member of

Nya Idun Nya Idun is a Swedish cultural association for women founded in 1885, originally as a female counterpart to Sällskapet Idun ('the Idun Society'). Its aim was to "gather educated women in the Stockholm area for informal gatherings". There was a ...

, a Swedish women's association. As a professional artist, she specialized in portraits for financial reasons, and she was one of the few Swedish women artists of her generation able to support herself through her art. However, her preferred genre was landscape, and she became known for atmospheric Impressionist landscapes painted in a somewhat muted palette. In 1934, she was awarded the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. She died in

Vaucresson Vaucresson () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the Hauts-de-Seine department from the center of Paris. Vaucresson contains abundant parkland; 22 of its 308 hectares are classed as natural zones. Today Vaucresson ...

, France. Her work is in the collection of museums including the

Swedish National Museum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manage ...

. A retrospective of her work was mounted in 2012–2013 by the Zorn Museum in

Mora, Sweden Mora is a locality and the seat of Mora Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 10,896 inhabitants in 2010. History There are signs of human activity in the surroundings of Mora dating from 4000 BC. The earliest found buildings in Mora ar ...

, and traveled to

Sven-Harry's Art Museum Sven-Harry's Art Museum ( sv, Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum) is an art museum in Stockholm, Sweden, founded by builder Sven-Harry Karlsson. It is housed in a multi-purpose building alongside an art gallery, museum shop, apartments, and businesses. Hist ...

in Stockholm.

Biography

References

Further reading