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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

 

Copyright 2003, Northern Light. Updated, February 2003
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