Caroline Hammer (1832–1915) was one of the earliest professional women photographers in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. She established a business as a portrait photographer on the Frisian island of

Föhr Föhr (; ''Fering'' North Frisian: ''Feer''; ) is one of the North Frisian Islands on the German coast of the North Sea. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Föhr is the second-largest North Sea ...

where she had her own studio. Hammer was the first woman to become a member of the

Dansk Fotografisk Forening The Dansk Fotografisk Forening (DFF) or Danish Photographers Association is a non-profit organization for professional photographers. It was founded in 1879. Aims and objectives Founded in 1879, the association claims to be the world's oldest or ...

in 1881.

Biography

Born on 28 October 1832 in Hulerød near Hornbæk in northern

Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 Januar ...

, Caroline Hammer was the daughter of the district commissioner and naval hero Frederik Abel Hammer (1791–1877) and Elisabeth Kirstine Lemvigh (1794–1849). She was the second-last child in a family of nine. After the death of her mother in 1849, the family moved to Wyk on the Frisian island of Föhr where her brother,

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants '' Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

, had settled. They lived in the Villa Idyle which Otto had built for his father and the three sisters who joined him. It was here that Caroline Hammer opened her photographic studio, with customers from the fashionable resort Wyk had become popular since

Christian VIII Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick, a younger son of King Fred ...

visited the island in 1842. Little is known about how Hammer became interested in photography or who taught her the art but her first works date to the 1860s. They were outdoor photographs of people on the beach and around the island, often including the fishing boats and the fishermen. Among the works which have been preserved are portraits of her family and several landscapes from the early 1870s. Her portraits of children are particularly memorable. It is assumed she continued to practice until she moved back to Zealand in the 1880s. In 1881, she became the first female member of the Dansk Fotografisk Forening, the Danish photographers' association. In 1891, Hammer had a house built for her sisters and herself in

Fredensborg Fredensborg () is a railway town located in Fredensborg Municipality, North Zealand, some 30 kilometres north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is most known for Fredensborg Palace, one of the official residences of the Danish royal family. As of 1 Janua ...

. No longer a professional, she continued to take photographs of her house and garden. Caroline Hammer died in Fredensborg on 12 January 1915.

Biography

References

Further reading