Edma Cornelia Vilhelmine Frølich Stage, also Edma Stage, (14 August 1859 – 3 November 1958) was a French-born, Danish painter who worked mainly in pastels.

Biography

Born in

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

, France, and brought up in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Frølich was the daughter of the Danish painter Lorenz Frølich (1820–1908) and the Swedish pianist Carolina Charlotta In de Betou (1823–1872). From an early age, her father used her as a model for his many illustrations in children's books published by the editor and publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, especially the Mlle Lili series including ''La journée de Mlle Lili'' (1862) and ''Voyage de découvertes de Mlle Lili'' (1866). She was introduced to drawing and painting by her father who continued to advise her until his death in 1908. Her mother died when she was 13 but it was only when she was 16 that she moved to Denmark where she lived in the Copenhagen neighborhood of

Rosenvænget Rosenvænget is a neighbourhood in the Østerbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Established in circa 1860, it was the first neighbourhood of single family detached homes in Denmark. Many of the old villas have survived but some of them have been ...

at home of the artist Thorald Læssøe (1816–1878), one of her father's best friends. She returned to Paris to continue her studies, first under the traditional historicist

Félix-Joseph Barrias Félix-Joseph Barrias (13 September 1822 – 24 January 1907) was a French painter. He was well known in his day for his paintings of religious, historical or mythical subjects, but has now been largely forgotten. Artists who trained in his s ...

(1879–1881) and then as a student of Alfred Stevens (1881–83) who had been influenced by

Japanese art Japanese art consists of a wide range of art styles and media that includes Jōmon pottery, ancient pottery, Japanese sculpture, sculpture, Ink wash painting, ink painting and Japanese calligraphy, calligraphy on silk and paper, Ukiyo-e, paint ...

and

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. While in Paris, she became a friend of Sofie Holten, Suzette Skovgaard and Elise Konstantin-Hansen, who were also studying painting there. In 1885, she married the pastor Nicolai Christian Stage (1860–1938).

Artistic style

Frølich created mainly portraits in pastels but also painted still lifes and floral works in oils. Her portraits tended towards Realism but still reflected the mundane influence of Stevens. She first exhibited at the

Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition The Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition (''Charlottenborg Forårsudstilling'') is an annual art exhibition in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. The event is held at the Charlottenborg Exhibition Building (''Kunsthal Charlottenborg''). Kunsthal Cha ...

in 1883 but, despite her rather conservative style, became one of the founders The Free Exhibition (''Den Frie Udstilling'') in Copenhagen which offered a more open environment than the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

's traditional approach. She presented her paintings there throughout her life, last exhibiting when in her nineties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Froelich, Edma 1859 births 1958 deaths 19th-century Danish painters 20th-century Danish painters People from Fontainebleau Painters from Île-de-France Painters from Paris Danish people of Swedish descent Pastel artists 20th-century Danish artists French emigrants to Denmark 20th-century Danish women painters 19th-century Danish women painters