The Pastels

Elisabeth Fabritius

forlaget vandkunsten the royal library Published with generous support from Foreword 7 The American-Scandivian Foundation Pioneer in Danish Pastel Painting 9 Twenty-Five Pastels 15 The Art of the Pastel 67 Anna Ancher’s Colours and Technique 71 Biography 79 References 95 Index 96

i would like to express my sincere thanks to Suzanne Ludvigsen, Art Historian, for a critical reading Minna Mortensen, Michael and Anna Ancher’s House in , for information on family relationships in Skagen Østerby Hans Nielsen, Skagen Local Archive, for information on houses and fi gures in Skagen Jean-Pierre Mérat, President of the Société des Pastellistes de for references and technical information Foreword

anna ancher (1859–1935) is considered to be America, there is a curious tendency to over- one of the fi nest of the Scandinavian artists look them. They are small in number in com- who excelled as pastel painters in the 1880s. parison with oil paintings and differ from In the paucity of literature on pastels, she is them aesthetically in ways that make a stylis- regarded to be on a level with the best known tic comparison diffi cult. And they are rarely pastel artists of the day: Danes such as Th. exhibited together. On account of their fra- Philipsen and P.S. Krøyer, Swedes such as Bru- gility, pastels are usually enclosed behind no Liljefors and Anders Zorn and Norwegians glass and sealed frames, which complicates a like Fritz Thaulow and Asta Nørregaard. Many closer examination, and only a small number more Scandinavian artists went in for pastel of conservators have any real experience with painting, which reached its peak at the end of them. In museums, pastels on paper are typ- the 19th century, and Anna Ancher was one ically kept together with drawings and graph- of the fi rst. ics, separate from pastels on canvas, which Anna Ancher’s pastels represent a limited, are usually kept in storerooms along with but very striking part of her art and have not paintings. previously been the subject of study or spe- Twenty-fi ve of Anna Ancher’s pastels are cifi c publication. Danish pastel painting is presented here, all of which can be counted Assistance Relating to Conservation Techniques virtually unexplored in general, and nor does as independent works of art. Pastels made as the subject receive more than scant consider- preparatory studies for oil paintings are not The technical comments on the individual now cand.scient.cons. She also analysed sam- ation in other countries. Work on this book included. The existence of a further 25 is pastels have been written on the basis of ob- ples of the canvas from the pastels on pp. 24, has surprisingly shown that Anna An cher’s known from ex hibition and auction cata- servations made by the painting conserva- 26, 31, 33, 37, 42, 47, 61, and the ground of pas- special character and artistic intentions are logues and unpublished sources. Eleven of tor, Lone Bøgh, and me in 2003–04. This does tels on pp. 26, 31, 37, 47 and 63. Finally, Kath- more clearly to be seen in the pastels than in these have been traced, while the fates of the not, however, apply to the pastel in the Ice- rine Segel and I have evaluated the technical her oil paintings. others are uncertain. There are presumably landic Art Museum (p. 33), which was exam- comments. The chapter on Anna Ancher’s Pastel is as fi ne as the dust on a butterfl y’s even more in unknown private collections. ined in 2004 by the then head conservator, paint and technique was written on the basis wing, so delicate that it is scarcely ever pos- A complete list will be published in my forth- Viktor Smári Sæmundsson, during a visit I of discussions between myself and Lone sible to assemble a major exhibition in which coming monograph on the artist. made there. During the winter of 2005–06, Bøgh and my studies of technical literature it is possible to study the special character Most of the pastels are owned by Michael three canvases in Den Hirschsprungske Sam- in research libraries in various places, includ- and splendid range of colour in pastel paint- and Anna Ancher’s House in Skagen, ling (pastels p. 37, 52, 63) were macrophoto- ing . The chapter was subsequently ings and to draw comparisons between tech- Museum and Den Hirschsprungske Samling, graphed by the conservator, Mikkel Scharff, evalu ated and formulated in collaboration niques and painters. Concern for conser- others by Statens Museum for Kunst and the the head of the art department in the Royal with Kathrine Segel, who has contributed vation is virtually insurmountable. Hence art museums in Odense and Sorø. I would like Danish Academy of Art School of Conser- her valu able observations of Anna Ancher’s this book on Anna Ancher’s pastels. to thank my museum colleagues for their vation. They were subsequently analysed by canvases and her use of ground. Although pastels enjoy a fair amount of ready help and their interest in the project, es- the conservation, technician Kathrine Segel, popularity, especially in Britain and North pecially the art historian, Inge Mejer Anton-

7 sen, a member of the board of the Helga nical aspects can now be published, some- Ancher Foundation, and the art historian thing for which I am very grateful indeed to Suzanne Ludvigsen. Finally, I have encoun- both of them. In the course of our work I was tered great kindness on the part of the own- also given information by Marjorie Shelley, Pioneer in Danish Pastel Painting ers of private collections, who have permitted the chief conservator in the Metropolitan Mu- me to examine their pastels and made them seum in New York, by Lesley Carlisle of the available for this book. I have also received Tate Gallery, London, and by Professor practical help and great interest from the Mu- Anthea Callen. So this book is the result of a Anna Ancher, famous as one of the Skagen the chosen motif. This clearly refl ects Anna seumsbygningens Kunstauktioner (now Lau- happy collaboration between the humanities artists and married to the painter Michael An- Ancher’s manner of working. There are many ritz.com) and Bruun Rasmussen in Copen- and technology. cher, was from her early youth recognised as examples of her painting a motif over and hagen. I am deeply grateful to them all. an independent and talented painter. When over again. As for the story of the genesis of The project was started in 2003, and in 2004– the Skagen artists’ colony was at its peak in these works and their order in relation to each Without an expert evaluation of the tech- 05, the Ministry for Science, Technology and the fi rst half of the 1880s and painters from other, it is only possible to guess, for she rare- nical aspects of Anna Ancher’s pastels, the Development supported the compilation of Scandinavia, Germany and went ly signed or dated them, and she left no other book would not have the same value. So I am the manuscript with a major grant. The there to pursue plein air painting in the strong concrete information of any kind. profoundly grateful to Lone Bøgh, the con- project was completed in the Royal Library light on the point between the two seas, Anna Her method and approach to her craft servator of paintings, for making her tech- in 2005–06, where I am provided with facili- Ancher was already a central fi gure. She pre- were very different indeed from those prac- nical competence and experience available to ties as a researcher. My sincere thanks go to ferred to paint human fi gures, studies of tised by her husband, , a man me in 2003. Together, we examined more pas- both the Ministry and the Royal Library for women at work, children and old people, but ten years older than she. He had been taught tels than those here published and we sub- enabling me to complete this project. she herself said that colour was the most im- in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in sequently discussed the results of our obser- portant thing to her and her real inspiration. the 1870s and learned how by means of a series vations in relation to technical treatises from Without publication, the results of the project Anna Ancher was one of the fi rst artists in of sketched and painted preparatory works it the artist’s own time and more recent profes- would remain unknown. So I would like to to work in pastels when this French- was possible to arrive at a fi nished result that sional literature. Unfortunately, we had not express my thanks to the Beckett Founda- inspired technique gained new popularity at could be presented to the public. She closely concluded our discussions before Lone Bøgh’s tion, the Augustinus Foundation and Mr. the end of the 19th century. The fi rst known followed this process in his work. She herself sudden death in spring 2005. I owe her a pro- Bent Fredberg, owner of Brøndums Hotel for pastel by her was signed with her maiden had no such systematic teaching, since as a found debt of gratitude for valuable and in- support to the Danish edition and The Amer- name, Anna Brøndum and dated 1880, when woman she was not allowed to attend classes spiring collaboration. ican-Scandinavian Foundation for generous it was presented as one of her debut paintings in the Academy, and it was only the exception Lone Bøgh’s desire to analyse selected can- support for the English version, made pos- in Charlottenborg. After that, she regularly that she later worked in this way. vases and grounds, however, was brought to sible by a grant from ambassador John L. worked with pastels, particularly intensively She received her fi rst guidance in Skagen fruition in the autumn of 2005 when I con- Loeb, Jr., New York. in the 1880s and 1890s. from Michael Ancher and other visiting paint- tacted the conservator, Mikkel Scharff, the The book is published in collaboration It is typical of Anna Ancher that her inter- ers. She was given more professional teach- head of the department of painting in the with The Royal Library. est should be caught in the pastel as an artistic ing in ’s private school of draw- Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School medium. Most of her pastels must be consid- ing and painting for ladies in , of Conservation. It is thanks to him and Kath- Elisabeth Fabritius ered fi nished works. There is only a small which she attended as a young woman. This rine Segel that concrete information on tech- The Royal Library, Copenhagen 2008 number of examples of her using the pastel as limitation, however, was to Anna Ancher’s a preparatory study for large fi gure paintings. advantage. In contrast to her husband, she had It is also typical that she often chose to paint no prejudices to confront and could freely the same motif in pastel and in oil without it choose her methods and her sources of inspi- therefore being possible to defi ne the pastels ration. And it was to the Barbizon School and as prepara tory works for the oil paintings; on the French plein air painters that, as one of the contrary, they must be considered inde- the painters of the , her pendent works of art – alternative versions of enthusiasm was directed.

9 In 1879, Anna Ancher saw modern French art The Scandinavian artists’ colony at Skagen formed part of the teaching in Kyhn’s school, highly respected by everyone. He had trained 1. In Med solen i øjnene, en Theodor for the fi rst time. She was eighteen years old began to form in the summer of 1879. It was which she had attended the previous years. in Paris in 1874–75 under the German-born Philipsen-studie, Randers Kunstmu- 1992 and had three years training behind her. It centred on the Brøndum Hostelry at Skagen, Among Danish artists, it was Theodor Henri Lehmann, who was considered to be seum , Finn Terman Frederiksen published a small number of pastels was in the spring exhibition in Charlotten- where Anna had grown up. Three well- Philipsen who became famous for his pastels. one of the famous J.-A.-D. Ingres’ best pupils. from 1869 and 1874, nos. 855–857 in the borg, the offi cial annual exhibition of the trained Nordic painters, all of whom were The fi rst ones known by him are from 1869 It is possible that Grønvold learned the pastel oeuvre catalogue. I am grateful to him Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where strongly committed to plein air painting, Re- and 1874, that is to say before his fi rst visit to technique in Paris. for supplementary information 1 2 Carl Jacobsen, the owner of the Carlsberg alism and Naturalism, chanced to be there at Paris. In his memoirs, mentions Another early Danish pastel painter was the . Som kunstner bliver jeg så fransk, så det er en gru. Erindringer og breve af Karl Brewery, was showing his newly acquired the same time. There were the Norwegian a pastel cartoon that Philipsen had left behind now forgotten Albert Hartvig. He actually Madsen fra Frankrig 1876–79 will be pub- collection of French art. In time, this collec- Fritz Thaulow, who had lived in France for in his studio in Paris when the painter, Carl specialised in pastels and made his fi rst ap- lished by the Royal Library, introduced 2 tion was to take up an entire museum, the Ny several years and just then was Paul Gau- Locher took it over, presumably in 1876. pearance at the same time as Anna Ancher in by the present writer 3 9 1 1880 Carlsberg Glyptotek. Jacobsen had not been guin’s brother-in-law, and his friend Christian While Anna was in Copenhagen during the Charlottenborg in 1880 with works using this . Copenhagen, . . (The Royal 1875 78 Library). Pastel is often wrongly buying Impressionists in Paris, but works by Krohg, who had shared a studio with Max winters of – or rather later, she could technique. Anna Ancher saw them, and in all termed coloured chalk modern academic painters of the time such Klinger in Berlin. There was also the friend of well have met Philipsen, although he only probability she also met Hartvig when he vis- as A.-W. Bouguereau, Charles Chaplin and Anna and Michael Ancher’s youth, Karl Mad- spent brief periods in Denmark during these ited Michael Ancher in Skagen in 1878. But it Raimondo Madrazo. However, there was sen, the later critic and museum director, years when he was training in France. Anna’s is not known whether he was already engaged also a painting by J.-F. Millet, Death and the who had just completed his three years of fi ancé, Michael Ancher had known Philipsen in pastels at that time. None of his works are Woodcutter, with a motif from a fable by La studies in Paris. , already since 1865. But that a pastel was still a rarity known today, neither pastels nor anything Fontaine, that made a powerful impression famous as a marine artist, a man who had in a Danish context around 1880 emerges else. Hartvig later made a living as an illus- on Anna Ancher and all the younger artists. travelled in England, France and Germany, from a letter from Frans Schwartz to Laurits trator on the periodical Illustreret Tidende. For reasons of national politics and their in- was there as well, as were the Swede Wilhelm Tuxen: Philipsen has set himself up in my studio Outside Charlottenborg, pastels could be seen fl uence on art, Danish artists had at that time von Gegerfelt with his French pupil Émile here in Sværtegade; he is painting coloured sketch- in the Copenhagen art dealers of the day, for been more or less cut off from European art Barau and the German artist Julius Runge. es of his pictures in coloured chalk and is full of instance in Dansk Kunsthandel. 3 movements, whose infl uence was viewed as Anna was enthralled to listen to their ideas, praise for it, and it actually looks quite practical. harmful. In the 1878 Paris World’s Fair, Den- which were expressed in a free and lively ex- Philipsen developed his skill as a pastel artist mark was represented with such old-fash- change of views. Mixing with so many paint- after discovering in the 1880s. ioned painting that it attracted embarrassing ers familiar with European thinking and In about 1892 he acquired a pastel by Anna attention and gave rise to a negative reception themselves modern in their ideas led in 1879– Ancher entitled Maren Laughing, which he by the French critics. At the same time, a revolt 80 to Anna’s intuitively embarking on an in- liked very much. Unfortunately, this pastel is was gathering among the young artists of the dependent artistic career starting out in not known today. day, several of whom had defi ed the Academy French art. This quickly earned her respect 1879 was the fi rst year in which it was pos- since 1875 by going to France for further train- and interest and established her as a fully- sible in recent times to see a work in pastel in ing. It was an epoch-making event that paint- fl edged member of the artists’ colony on the Charlottenborg, a portrait of a lady painted ers like P.S. Krøyer, , Frans same footing as the male painters. by H.C. Grønvold. The following year, he ex- Schwartz, , Theodor Philipsen, hibited another pastel, A Girl with Apples, Vilhelm Groth and Karl Madsen went to Paris Models which, judging by a surviving photograph, in the second half of the 1870s and encoun- was technically superb. Grønvold is not other- tered new ideals and new techniques and not Earlier models were few and far between wise much known as a painter. He was an ex- least plein air painting. Impressionism, which when Anna Ancher made her fi rst appear- cellent and inspiring teacher in the Technical was relatively unknown at the time but later ance as a pastel painter in 1880. So she must School, where he was of importance to Dan- to be a dominant infl uence, was something be considered one of the pioneers of this ish artists such as Vilhelm Hammershøi and they had not yet really discovered and cer- technique in Denmark. We do not know for the “Funen Painters” in the 1880s. But the art- tainly not understood. certain how she learned to work with pastel. ists undoubtedly noticed the works that Grøn- The technique does not appear to have vold himself exhibited, for he was known and

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