Vera Myhre née Eliasen (1920–2000) was a Danish painter and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

. Her works can be seen in a number of museums and galleries, both in Denmark and abroad. She was the first woman to become president of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1975.

Early life and education

Born on 25 July 1920 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 ...

, Vera Eliasen was the daughter of the wine merchant Oskar Eliasen (1892–1969) and Eva Barham (1891–1980). She began to draw as a child and from an early age hoped to become an artist. After completing her school education on

Amager Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...

, she took private drawing lessons to prepare for the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied from 1941 to 1944 under

Aksel Jørgensen Aksel Jørgensen (3 February 1883 – 9 June 1957) was a Denmark, Danish painter and Wood engraving, wood engraver. He is also remembered for his years as the director and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Royal Danish Academy whe ...

and

Vilhelm Lundstrøm Vilhelm Lundstrøm (26 May 1893 – 9 May 1950) was a Danish modernist painter. He was a central figure in early Danish experimental art and introduced French cubism to Denmark. Biography Vilhelm Henry Lundstrøm was born in Copenhagen, Den ...

. On 11 July 1943, she married the architect Gert Peter Roseler Myhre (1919–1994).

Career

She first exhibited as a painter at the Charlottenborg autumn exhibition in 1947 but became increasingly interested in the graphic arts. In collaboration with the ''Grafisk Kunstnersamfund'' (Graphic Arts Assiation), she exhibited at the Charlottenborg autumn exhibition in 1949. From 1951 to 1955, she studied graphic arts at the Royal Academy under Holger J. Jensen. Thereafter, she exhibited frequently in Denmark and abroad, including several solo exhibitions . Myhre strove to improve conditions for Danish artists, becoming the first women to chair the Danish Painters Association (''Malende Kunstneres Sammenslutning'') from 1966 to 1968. From 1974 to 1990, she served on the board of the Danish Academy and in 1975, she became the first woman to serve as president of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Thereafter she served as chair of the Academy's painters department and served on various other committees on art and culture. As a graphic arts specialist, she taught at KADK, the Design and Conservation School, from 1981 to 1986, and at the Royal Academy's Graphic Arts School from 1986. She also wrote books and articles on the graphic arts, addressing various printing techniques including

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

woodcarving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

and

screen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mes ...

. Much of her own creative work was devoted to designing book covers and illustrations for magazines and pamphlets. Her graphic publications include ''Græsk suite'' (1959), her prize-winning ''Byen her og nu'' (1980) and ''Jernbanehjul'' (1984). Myhre's decorative work can be seen in

Frederiksberg Town Hall 250px, Frederiksberg Town Hall Frederiksberg Town Hall ( da, Frederiksberg Rådhus) is the administrative centre of Frederiksberg Municipality, an independent municipality located in inner Copenhagen, Denmark. 800 employees work in the building. ...

and in

DSB DSB may refer to: Science, technology and devices * DsbA, a bacterial member of the Dsb (disulfide bond) family of enzymes * Double strand break, a break in both DNA strands, part of DNA repair * in telecommunications, double-sideband transmission ...

high-speed trains as well as in many museums and galleries. Vera Myhre died on 22 June 2000 in Frederiksberg and is buried in Solbjerg Park Cemetery.

Awards

Vera Myhre was honoured with many awards including the Eckersberg Medal and the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

, both in 1981, and the Tagea Brandt Award in 1983.

References

External links

Malene Myhre'
website on Vera Myhre
includes
biography in Danishphotographs
an
examples of her work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myhre, Vera 1920 births 2000 deaths Danish painters Danish graphic designers Danish women artists Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Danish women graphic designers