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Elna Inger Cathrine Borch (6 December 1869 – 3 October 1950) was a Danish sculptor. Although her known work is considered high quality by art dealers, Borch is today largely forgotten and little known to the general public.
Elna Inger Cathrine Borch (6 December 1869 – 3 October 1950) was a Danish sculptor. Although her known work is considered high quality by art dealers, Borch is today largely forgotten and little known to the general public.
Biography
Borch was born in Roskilde, Denmark. She was the daughter of merchant Anders Jacob Borch (1834–1904) and Martha Petrine Willumsen (1845–1922). She came from a family full of artists, including her uncleJacob Kornerup
Jacob Kornerup (19 November 1825 – 9 March 1913) was a Danish archeologist and painter who is remembered above all for discovering and restoring medieval frescos in Danish churches.August Saabye
August Vilhelm Saabye (7 August 1823 – 12 November 1916), also known as August Wilhelm Saabye, was a Danish sculptor.
Early life and education
Saabye was born in Skivholme, , Aarhus, the son of vicar Erhard Saabye (1778–1851) and Susan ...
, who became her instructor when she was at the Academy of Fine Arts for Women (''Kunstakademiets Kunstskole for Kvinde'').
She debuted at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition
The Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition (''Charlottenborg Forårsudstilling'') is an annual art exhibition in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
The event is held at the Charlottenborg Exhibition Building (''Kunsthal Charlottenborg'').
Kunsthal Cha ...
in 1891 and continued to exhibit there for several years. She gained the opportunity to study abroad and moved to Paris in 1900 and later to Italy. Her sculptural style references naturalism and symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
*Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea
Arts
*Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea
** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...
. In Paris in 1901, she sculpted the bust ''Laughing Faun'', and in 1902, she visited northern Italy, where she made the figure ''Sorrowful Boy'' which later received the Neuhausen Prize.
Borch took interest in symbolism and became one of the few Danish sculptors in this form of expression. In 1905, she made a major breakthrough with ''Death and the Maiden'' with clear stylistic references to international symbolism. She was the first female sculptor represented in Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ("ny" means "new" in Danish; "Glyptotek" comes from the Greek root ''glyphein'', to carve, and ''theke'', storing place), commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection ...
, where her most famous sculpture ''Death and the Maiden'' resides.
Abroad, her work was presented in 1927 at the Danish National Exhibition in Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. She was involved in the cause of animal rights. In 1936, she received the travel scholarship Tagea Brandts Rejselegat, a Danish award for women who have made significant contributions in the fields of science, literature or art.
References
Further reading
* Svensk Uppslagsbok, published between 1929 and 1955 in two editions. Elna Borch is presented in 1939. * Kraks Blå Bog, published between 1910-1988. Elna Borch is presented in 1989.External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borch, Elna 1869 births 1950 deaths 19th-century Danish sculptors 20th-century Danish sculptors 19th-century Danish women artists People from Roskilde Symbolist sculptors 20th-century Danish women sculptors