Anna and Michael Ancher - Skagen artists

Anna Kirstine Brøndum Ancher (August 18, 1859 April 15, 1935), was the only one of the Skagen Painters that was actually born in Skagen, Denmark. Michael Peter Ancher (June 9, 1849 September 19, 1927), born on the island of Bornholm, was a Danish painter. In 1874 he joined the growing society of artists in Skagen, the Skagen Painters, and in 1880 he married fellow painter and Skagen native Anna Brøndum and settled permanently in the town. Michael Ancher is famous for his paintings of the local fishermen, both portraits and full-figure paintings. His paintings are classics and he is probably one of Denmark's most popular artists. He got his artistic breakthrough in 1879 with the painting Vil han klare pynten (Will he round the point). Michael Ancher's works are true-to-life depictions of reality and at the same time monumental figure compositions such as Will he Round the Point? (1880). Michael Ancher's life's work is founded on the heroic series The Lifeboat is Carried Through The Dunes (1883), The Crew Are Saved (1894) and The Drowned Man (1896). Michael Ancher was influenced by his traditional training at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in the 1870s which imposed strict rules for composition, and he found it difficult to adjust to Scandinavian painting's modern breakthrough, the "Skagen school". His marriage to Anna Ancher did, however, introduce him to the naturalistic concept of undecorated reproduction of reality and its colours. By combining the pictorial composition of his youth with the teachings of naturalism Michael Ancher created what has been called modern monumental figurative art such as A Baptism (1883-1887). Adrian Stokes portrayed by Michael AncherThe works of Anna and Michael Ancher can be seen at the Skagen Museum, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, the Frederiksborg Museum, the Hirschsprung Collection and Ribe Art Museum. Michael Ancher received the Eckersberg Medal in 1889. Originally their paintings hung in the dining room of the Brøndum Hotel in Skagen town. The painter P.S. Krøyer conceived the idea of placing paintings by different artists in the wall panels. In 1946 the dining hall was donated to the Skagen Museum. In 1967 Michael and Anna Ancher's house was turned into a museum by the Helga Ancher Foundation. Michael and Anna Ancher's house (Anchers Hus) in Skagen has been converted to a museum and is open to the public for tours. Original furniture and paintings created by the Anchers and other Skagen artists are shown in the restored home and studio. Art exhibitions are arranged in Saxilds Gaard, another building on the property. Anna Ancher was born and grew up in the northernmost area of Jutland, called Skagen (the Skaw). Her talent became obvious at an early age and she grew acquainted with pictorial art via the many artists who settled to paint in Skagen. Anna Ancher studied drawing for 3 years at the Vilhelm Kyhn College of Painting in Copenhagen. However, Anna Ancher developed her own style and was a pioneer in observing the interplay of different colours in natural light. She also studied drawing in Paris at the atelier of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes along with Marie Triepcke, who would marry Peder Severin Krøyer, another Skagen painter. In 1880 she married fellow painter Michael Ancher, whom she met in Skagen. They had one daughter, Helga Ancher. Despite pressure from society that married women should devote themselves to household duties, she continued painting after marriage. Anna Ancher is considered to be one of the great Danish pictorial artists by virtue of her abilities as a character painter and colourist[citation needed]. Anna Ancher's art found its expression in Nordic art's modern breakthrough towards a more truthful depiction of reality, e.g. in Blue Ane (1882) and The Girl in the Kitchen (1883-1886). Anna Ancher preferred to paint interiors and simple themes from the everyday lives of the Skagen people and fishermen, women and children, and she was intensely preoccupied with exploring light and colour, e.g. Interior with Clematis (1913). She also created more complex compositions such as A Funeral (1891). Anna Ancher's works have often represented Danish art abroad. She was awarded the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat in 1924.