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Moritz Unna (31 December 1811,
Google Books
He lived there until 1846; supporting himself by painting portraits, although he continued to create genre scenes. His early works had shown some promise, but he never achieved any significant success. He went back to Göteborg in 1846, where he initially worked as an assistant in a bookstore. In 1850, he found employment as a drawing teacher, and began creating scenes of Swedish folk life. He sent canvases to exhibitions at the Academy in Copenhagen, beginning in 1853, and finally attracted some recognition. His income was still insufficient to provide a decent living, so he took up photography; opening a studio in 1854. Later that year, he was able to marry his niece, Nanny Fürst (1826-1909). They moved to Copenhagen in 1863, and he bought a photography studio from
Biographical notes and references
@ the
Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unna, Moritz 1811 births 1871 deaths Danish painters Danish genre painters Danish photographers Artists from Copenhagen
Moritz Unna (31 December 1811, Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
- 2 December 1871, Copenhagen) was a Danish genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
painter and photographer.
Biography
He was born to Salomon Emanuel Unna (1780-1819), a furniture dealer and auctioneer, and his wife, Jacobine Jacobsen. Following his father's death, his mother moved the family toGöteborg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...
. After finishing school, he worked in a trading office as a clerk, but wanted to be a painter. He therefore returned to Copenhagen in 1830, where he was accepted as a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1836, he was awarded a small silver medal by the Academy's model school. During his time there he also exhibited some of his works. His 1835 painting of a schoolmaster was purchased for the Royal Collection (now the National Gallery of Denmark
The National Gallery of Denmark ( da, Statens Museum for Kunst, also known as "SMK", literally State Museum for Art) is the Danish national gallery, located in the centre of Copenhagen.
The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches and han ...
).
By 1837, he already seems to have been travelling abroad. In 1839, he settled in Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. He became a member of the Kunstverein Kunstverein may refer to:
Germany
* , an art association, founded in 1986 in Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around ...
in 1841.''Bericht über den Bestand und das Wirken des Kunst-Vereins in München während des Jahres 1841''. Munich 1842, pg.59Google Books
He lived there until 1846; supporting himself by painting portraits, although he continued to create genre scenes. His early works had shown some promise, but he never achieved any significant success. He went back to Göteborg in 1846, where he initially worked as an assistant in a bookstore. In 1850, he found employment as a drawing teacher, and began creating scenes of Swedish folk life. He sent canvases to exhibitions at the Academy in Copenhagen, beginning in 1853, and finally attracted some recognition. His income was still insufficient to provide a decent living, so he took up photography; opening a studio in 1854. Later that year, he was able to marry his niece, Nanny Fürst (1826-1909). They moved to Copenhagen in 1863, and he bought a photography studio from
Rudolph Striegler
Peter Ludvig Rudolph Striegler (4 October 1816 – 24 January 1876) was one of Denmark's early photographers, specialising in portrait photography.
Trained as a picture-framer, Strieger opened Odense's first daguerreotype studio in 1846. With his ...
. This move did not work out well, however, as he became ill and was unable to run the studio properly. Soon, he began having financial problems, and was living in near poverty. He died in 1871, and was interred at the Assistens Cemetery
Assistens Cemetery ( da, Assistens Kirkegård) is the name of a number of cemeteries in Denmark. The common nominator is, as the first part of the name implies (Latin: ''assistens'' meaning assisting), an assisting cemetery for a town's churches. ...
.
References
Further reading
Biographical notes and references
@ the
Kunstindeks Danmark
''Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon'' (Weilbach's Biographical Dictionary of Artists) is a Danish biographical dictionary of artists and architects. The current edition, which is also freely accessible online, contains the biographies of some 8,000 Danis ...
* "Unna, Moritz", In: Hans Vollmer (Ed.): ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart'', Vol.33: Theodotos–Urlaub. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1939, pg.579
External links
*Philip Weilbach
Philip Weilbach (5 August 1834, Usserød – 22 November 1900, Copenhagen) was a Danish art historian and encyclopedist. He is remembered above all for his pioneering work on the early editions of the biographical dictionary, ''Weilbachs Kunstne ...
, '' Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon'', 2nd ed., 1895-96.Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unna, Moritz 1811 births 1871 deaths Danish painters Danish genre painters Danish photographers Artists from Copenhagen