Anthonore
E. Christensen
Danish, 1849-1926
Anthonore
Eleanor Christensen was one of the most productive and best-known
painters of flowers in her time. She preferred to depict wild
flowers as found on the forest floor,
in meadows and under hedges, rather than in artfully arranged
bouquets. Her childhood region around the town of Ørholm, near
Copenhagen, inspired her to paint her first pictures of anemones
and water lilies. An early 1867 painting of anemones was bought
by Galleriet (The Gallery), later to become Statens Museum for
Kunst (National Museum of Fine Art).
She
taught art for many years, including to members of the Danish
and Greek royal families who also bought some of her paintings.
Princess Dagmar received one of her paintings as a wedding present
when departing for Russia. (Princess Dagmar was later known as
Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Alexander the Third and thus First
Lady of Russia after her father-in-law was assassinated in 1881.
Her own two sons were murdered by the Bolsheviks. Ill and devastated
by grief, she returned to Copenhagen where she died in 1926).
Training
and Study Trips:
Tutored by her mother Eleonore Tscherning, later by Emma Thomsen*
and O.D. Ottesen*.
1869 - Study trips to Dresden,
Switzerland, Italy and Paris
1871-72 Study trips to Italy and Greece, and
later to Munich.
Museum
Collections and Notable Works:
1867 Anemones
(Anemoner), Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
1887 - Basket with Cut Flowers
(Kurv med afskårne blomster), Neuhausen Award
18xx Growing Anemones,
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
1892 Group of
Poppies at Strandmøllehaven, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
18xx Roses and
Lilies (Roser og liljer)
18xx The
Nørre Forest in Vejle (Nørreskoven i Vejle), Vejle Kunstmuseum
1892 Poppies
(Valmuer), Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
1893 The
Church in Søllerød (Søllerød kirke), Søllerød Museum
1909 Yellow
Azaleas (Gule azaleaer), Sønderjyllands Kunstmuseum
1909 Blooming
Buttercups and Avens, Roskilde
Exhibitions:
1867 -1927 Charlottenborg, Spring
Exhibition (44 shows)
1872 & 1883 Copenhagen, Nordic Art Exhibt (Nordisk
Kunstudstilling)
1876 Philadelphia,
World Exhibit (Verdensudstillingen)
1882 The
Nov. 18th Society of Artists (Kunstnerforeningen af 18. Nov.)
1895 Copenhagen,
The Women’s Exhibit (Kvindernes Udstilling)
1901 Copenhagen,
The City Hall Exhibit (Rådhusudstillingen)
1908-09 The
Art Society’s Fall Exhibit (Kunstforeningens Efterårsudstilling)
1920 Female
Artists’ Retrospective Exhibit, Charlottenborg,
1920
Fall Exhibit (Charlottenborg Fondens Efterårsudstilling)
1986 Vejle,
Orla Lehmann and National Art
Grants
and Distinctions:
1872-73 Prize from the
Hjelmstjerne-Rosencrone
1887 Neuhausen
Award for Basket with Cut Flowers
Literature:
Anthonore Christensen has been noted in several books, and she
left notes, memoirs and letters. Newspaper interviews with the
artist also exist.
Notes:
Emma Thomsen and O.D. Ottesen were both renown flower painters.
International and domestic interest in Danish flower paintings
increased drastically since 1985 when a J.L. Jensen (1800-1856)
flower painting sold at Christie’s in London for $350,000. Thomsen
and Ottesen are both mentioned in the German book, Blumenpoesie.
Aus der Zeit Hans Christian Andersens und Søren Kierkegaards.
References
and Source Material:
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen: www.kid.dk Weilbachs Kunstner
Leksikon
Translation:
Erna Maj