Anna Ancher (Danish painter) 1859 - 1935
Anna Kirstine Brøndum was born in Skagen, Denmark the daughter of Erik Andersen Brøndum (1820–1890) and Ane Hedvig Møller (1826-1916). She was the only one of the Skagen Painters who was actually born and grew up in Skagen where her father owned the Brøndums Hotel. The artistic talent of Anna Ancher became obvious at an early age and she grew acquainted with pictorial art via the many artists who settled to paint in Skagen, in north of Jutland. While she studied drawing for three years at the Vilhelm Kyhn College of Painting in Copenhagen, she developed her own style and was a pioneer in observing the interplay of different colours in natural light. She also studied drawing in Paris at the atelier of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes along with Marie Triepcke, who would marry Peder Severin Krøyer, another Skagen painter. In 1880 she married fellow painter Michael Ancher, whom she met in Skagen. They had one daughter, Helga Ancher. Despite pressure from society that married women should devote themselves to household duties, she continued painting after marriage. Anna Ancher is considered to be one of the great Danish pictorial artists by virtue of her abilities as a character painter and colourist.Her art found its expression in Nordic art's modern breakthrough towards a more truthful depiction of reality, e.g. in Blue Ane (1882) and The Girl in the Kitchen (1883–1886). Ancher preferred to paint interiors and simple themes from the everyday lives of the Skagen people, especially fishermen, women and children. She was intensely preoccupied with exploring light and colour, as in Interior with Clematis (1913). She also created more complex compositions such as A Funeral (1891). Anna Ancher's works have often represented Danish art abroad. She was awarded the Ingenio et Arti medal in 1913 and the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat in 1924. Source: Wikipedia * * * Michael Peter Ancher (Danish artist) 1849 - 1927 Michael Peter Ancher is most associated with his paintings of fishermen and other scenes from the Danish port of Skagen. His paintings are classics and he is probably one of Denmark's most popular artists. Michael Ancher came to Skagen in 1874 at the age of 25, and he was the only one of the visiting artists who settled permanently in the town. He grew up on the island of Bornholm, and at the age of 16, he began his apprenticeship as a clerk at the Kalø Manor in Djursland. Here, he began to draw and paint in his spare time, and in 1871 he was accepted as a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Here, he met Karl Madsen, among others, who encouraged him to go to Skagen. In 1877, he was engaged to Anna Brøndum, and they married in 1880, and during their first years of marriage, the couple lived in the Garden House. After the birth of their daughter Helga in 1883, the family moved to Markvej in Skagen. Michael Ancher is known for his portrayals of Skagen's heroic fishermen and for his dramatic paintings of the fishermen's work at sea. In his large figure paintings he combines the classic compositional principles of historic paintings with a fascinating realism. In the early 20th century, Michael Ancher took an active part in the founding of Skagens Museum, but he died in 1927, the year before its official opening. Source: Wikipedia * * * Helga Ancher (Danish painter) 1883 - 1964 As the only child of Anna and Michael Ancher and with several of the Skagen painters it was obvious that Helga Ancher also would become an artist, and she followedo early in their footsteps. She went to the Academy from 1901-1904 where she was taught by Valdemar Irminger and Viggo Johansen. Later, between 1909 and1910, she studied at Simon and Ménard in Paris. Most of Ancher's work is from the area Østerby in Skagen. She has painted interiors from the Brøndumske gazebo, from Brøndums Hotel and from the Ancher home. Helga Ancher exhibited only to a limited extent. At her death, she had the will stipulated that all she left was to be in a fund, Helga Ancher Foundation, including the parental home with the furniture, and today it is the same as when Anna Ancher died in 1935th Helga Ancher received the Tagea Brandt travel scholarship in 1958. She remained unmarried and is buried beside her parents at Assistens Kirkegår in Skagen.
