Ebba Ninna Back Carstensen (23 August 1885 – 13 October 1967) was a Danish painter. Her painting developed from a rather

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

style towards

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

Biography

Born in Västra Kärrstorp near

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

in Sweden, she was the daughter of a farmer. When she was 18 months old, the family moved to Denmark, where they lived on the little farm of Eriksholm near

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; ), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a coastal city in northeastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 63,953 on 1 January 2025, making it the 23rd most populated municipality in Denmark. Helsin ...

. Her upbringing in the country was to inspire her paintings of poultry, cattle and fields. She first studied painting under Sigurd Wandel in Helsingør (1903–05) before attending A.W. Bouguereau and Edouard Sain's school of painting. From 1909 to 1913, she attended 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 ...

, studying under

Laurits Tuxen Laurits Regner Tuxen (9 December 1853 – 21 November 1927) was a Danish painter and sculptor specialising in figure painting. He was also associated with the Skagen Painters. He was the first head of Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler, an art sc ...

and

Valdemar Irminger Valdemar Heinrich Nicolas Irminger (29 December 1850 – 10 February 1938) was a Danish painter. Biography Born in Copenhagen, Irminger attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1867 and 1873. He went to Italy on a scholarship from 188 ...

. She first exhibited in 1908 in Charlottenborg. Thereafter her painting was increasingly influenced by modern trends she learned from Danish painters who had returned from Paris. She abandoned

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

in favour of the more disciplined style of

, evoking a "return to nature". Carstensen was a member of the ''Decembrister'' (Decemberists), a group formed by Svend Albrectsen, Søren Hjorth Nielsen, Holger J. Jensen, Erik Sievert and Jørgen Thomsen who were unhappy with the opportunities for exhibiting and arranged their own exhibition each year in December. Established in 1932, the group was attracted by

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

Awards

Carstensen received the

Eckersberg Medal The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting. The ...

in 1930 and 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 1951.

References

Literature

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External links

Examples of Carstensen's work from Artnet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carstensen, Ebba 1885 births 1967 deaths 20th-century Danish painters People from Svedala Municipality Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal 20th-century Danish artists Swedish emigrants to Denmark 20th-century Danish women painters