Danish Painter, 1859-1935
was the only one of the Skagen Painters that was actually born in Skagen, Denmark. Anna Ancher was born and grew up in the northernmost area of Jutland, called Skagen (the Skaw). Her talent became obvious at an early age and she grew acquainted with pictorial art via the many artists who settled to paint in Skagen. Anna Ancher studied drawing for 3 years at the Vilhelm Kyhn College of Painting in Copenhagen. However, Anna Ancher 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[citation needed]. Anna Ancher's 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). Anna Ancher preferred to paint interiors and simple themes from the everyday lives of the Skagen people and fishermen, Related Paintings of Anna Ancher :. | Old Lene Plucking a Goose | en begravelse | Syende fiskerpige | portraet af mor | gade i skagen-osterby | Related Artists:
Paul Sandby MunnBritish watercolour painter, 1773-1845
Wassily Kandinsky1866-1944
Wassily Kandinsky Galleries
was a Russian painter, printmaker and art theorist. One of the most famous 20th-century artists, he is credited with painting the first modern abstract works.
Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow and chose to study law and economics. Quite successful in his profession??he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat??he started painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.
In 1896 he settled in Munich and studied first in the private school of Anton Azbe and then at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. He went back to Moscow in 1914 after World War I started. He was unsympathetic to the official theories on art in Moscow and returned to Germany in 1921. There he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until the Nazis closed it in 1933. He then moved to France where he lived the rest of his life, and became a French citizen in 1939. He died at Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1944.
Joel Pettersson (June 8, 1892 - January 5, 1937) was a painter and writer on the Åland Islands, Finland. He remained an obscure figure during his lifetime; most of his works were unpublished for decades after his death.
Pettersson was born into poverty in Lemland, Åland. His parents were elderly peasants, Joel's father being well over 50 at the time of Joel's birth. Joel had a younger brother Karl, who died at sea in 1916.
Pettersson began writing and painting in his early school years, though much of his works from this period were not preserved.
In 1913, he had the opportunity to study at a drawing school in Turku. He stayed in Turku until 1915, when he decided to abort his studies and return to Åland. He painted for a few years, but he eventually tired of it and did not paint for many years.
Upon his return, Pettersson became active in the local youth organisation, for which he wrote plays and monologues. He also wrote prose which he read out loud during organisation meetings. Pettersson was most active as a writer following his return from Turku until 1921.
During the 1920s, Pettersson worked mostly on his parents' farm, only sporadically participating in the youth organisation's activities. His parents both died in 1928, leaving Pettersson to care for the farm. He sold all the animals and most of the property. He tried earning a living on his artistry, but was unsuccessful. He then tried raising hens, but this also proved to be an unsuccessful venture. He resumed painting in 1935, and some of his paintings were displayed during an exhibition the following year.
His constant economic difficulties and work load took their toll. In 1936, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to Grelsby Asylum, where he remained until his death in early 1937.