Bertha Wegmann (1847–1926) was a Danish portrait painter of Swiss ancestry.
/ref> She was the first woman to hold a chair at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts () has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Cope ...

Life

When Bertha Wegmann was five years old, her family moved to Copenhagen, where her father became a merchant. He was an art lover and spent much of his spare time painting. She showed an interest in drawing at an early age, but received no formal education until she was nineteen, when she began taking lessons from Frederik Ferdinand Helsted, Heinrich Buntzen and

Frederik Christian Lund Frederik Christian Lund (14 February 1826, Copenhagen – 31 October 1901, Frederiksberg), commonly known as F. C. Lund, was a Danish genre and history painter. He is also remembered for his illustrations of traditional Danish regional costumes in ...

. Two years later, with the support of her parents, Wegmann moved to Munich and lived there until 1881. At first, she studied with the historical painter Wilhelm von Lindenschmit the Younger, later with the

genre painter Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

Eduard Kurzbauer, but she was not satisfied with learning in a studio atmosphere and decided to study directly from nature. She made friends with the Swedish painter,

Jeanna Bauck Jeanna Bauck (19 August 1840 – 27 May 1926) was a Swedish-German painter known for her landscape and portrait paintings, and her career as an educator, as well as her friendships with Bertha Wegmann and Paula Modersohn-Becker. Early life Je ...

, and took several study trips to Italy with her. In 1881, they moved to Paris where Wegmann exhibited at several salons and received an "honorable mention".Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon
/ref> The next year, she returned to Copenhagen, where she was already well-known from works she had been exhibiting at the

Charlottenborg Palace Charlottenborg Palace () is a large town mansion located on the corner of Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn in Copenhagen, Denmark. Originally built as a residence for Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, it has served as the base of the Royal Danish Academy ...

since 1873. A portrait of her sister was awarded the

Thorvaldsen Medal The Thorvaldsen Medal (Danish language, Danish: Thorvaldsens Medalje, Thorvaldsen Medaillen) is awarded annually with few exceptions to a varying number of recipients by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and is its highest distinction within th ...

in 1883. Four years later, Wegmann became the first woman to hold a chair at the Royal Danish Academy. From that year through 1907, she was a member of the board for the "

Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder (literally Draftsmanship and Industrial Design School for Women but sometimes referred to as the Arts and Crafts School for Women) was a private Danish educational establishment in Copenhagen. From 1875, i ...

" (Drawing and Art Industrial School for Women).Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon
/ref> She continued to exhibit widely and represented Denmark at several world's fairs, including the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. Wegmann died suddenly while at work in her studio.

Selected paintings

File:Målarinnan Jeanna Bauck.jpg, ''Portrait of Jeanna Bauck'' (1881) File:Wegmann Nähende Frau 1891.jpg, ''A Woman Sewing'' File:Bertha Wegmann - Holckenhus view.jpg, ''View from the Holckenhus'' File:Bertha Wegmann - To veninder drikker the i kunstnerens atelier.png, ''Two Friends Drinking Tea''
''in the Artist's Studio'' File:Bertha Wegmann - Pondering the scriptures.jpg, ''Pondering the Scriptures''

References

External links

Carina Rech, Friendship in Representation. The Collaborative Portraits by Jeanna Bauck and Bertha Wegmann, in: RIHA Journal, 30 November 2018

More works by Wegmann
@ ArtNet *
Paintings
@ Bid to Art
Source
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegmann, Bertha 1847 births 1926 deaths Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal Recipients of Ingenio et Arti 19th-century Danish painters 20th-century Danish painters Danish portrait painters People from Maloja District Artists from Copenhagen Swiss emigrants to Denmark 19th-century Danish women painters 20th-century Danish women painters

Life

Selected paintings

See also

References

External links