Hi everyone
This week I went once again to Dulwich Picture Gallery to view the exhibition, Anna Ancher: Painting Light. It was wonderful as, while Ancher is well known in Denmark, she is an almost unknown artist in the UK, who I will now love forever. She lived for the majority of her life in Skagen and was part of the group of artists that gathered in Skagen for its beautiful light as much as anything else. Perhaps the light comes from the fact that Skagen is placed at the very northern most tip of Denmark where two seas, the Baltic and the North Sea meet with a visible clashing boundary.
And, dear reader, I have been to Skagen (pronounced Skane) on a cruise, so this exhibition makes me determined to go there once again, and instead of going on one of the (great, nothing wrong with them,) excursions set up by Saga I shall go off on my own and visit the museum, which was once the home of Anna Ancher (1859-1935) and her husband Michael Ancher who was also an artist.
She was an unusual woman for her times, as much as against the custom of the age, she was determined to carry on being an artist as a married woman. But she was fortunate as both her husband and her mother (who’s marriage was not a happy one, and didn’t ever want her daughters to marry) encouraged her to continue being an artist, which was well against the traditional view of how women should behave. Even when Anna had her first and only daughter, she was able to continue painting as a her sisters and her mother surrounded her with love, support and active help in bringing up her daughter.
Anna Ancher travelled extensively to look at new art, to talk to other artists and be taught new techniques, and consequently she was much influenced by Impressionism, but she always returned to Skagen where she painted many local people in local interiors and, above all, the beautiful light of her surroundings in Skagen.
Here are a few of her paintings. Below is the Maid in the Kitchen (1883/86).
This is considered one of her most important works, and with the maid looking away from us we take more note of the colours and light that suffuse the painting
The painting below, Sunlight in the Blue Room (1891) shows a more vibrant take on colour with these lovely shades of blue.
However, while we might think this painting above is a normal Impressionist painting, at the time it was seen as ‘experimental’ with one critic so appalled he wrote that certain artists (I think he means women) should leave their paintings in their private studios as this painting has to be seen as far too modern and therefore not worthy of being seen. There you are, Ancher was very much ahead of her time and considered innovative, but the critics did not like her at all.
Below is A girl in the Garden in Summertime (1914)
This below is Helga Ancher and Ane Torup on the Garden Bench (circa 1892). Helga is the daughter of Anna Ancher.
And now, The Old Window (1905)
And this one is Interior with Red Poppies (1905)
Below we see Blue Sunset, (Undated)
Isn’t that beautiful?
There is one other very famous painting of hers that I haven’t included because Gail of Is This Mutton has started a new blog on her Favourite Paintings, with the first one featuring The Harvesters by Anna Ancher. I love it because it sums up Anna Ancher’s entire attitude and approach to her art – that she painted local people, doing ordinary things in and around Skagen, like harvesting. Do have a look at it
I expect we have clashed with our blogs and written about the same artist as this is the last week of the exhibition, consequently the exhibition was incredibly crowded so my photographer, Bill, did not get sufficient space to take a shot of me in my outfit looking at the paintings.
But here I am sitting in the cafe having coffee after our journey to Dulwich, which was a one and half hour drive – and worth every mile and the time it took (we think that a long journey!) We were meeting Kate who is my very best and oldest friend who I met 61 years ago at St Thomas’ Hospital in London where we trained as nurses.
This time I wore some charity shop items which included the hat, the scarf, the Betty Barclay jacket and also the broach, which you can’t quite see. I also wore my designer brown skirt and my faithful charity shop bootees – no photos of these but you will see them again soon, I’m sure, as next week we go up to London again to the Tate Britain to view the Constable and Turner exhibition at the Tate Britain.
I loved the Anna Ancher exhibition and felt I was drinking in such beauty. Indeed, I felt that the whole experience cleansed my soul. Those of us who look at the horrors in this world: the violence of the bombs raining down on innocent women and children, the terror that people in so many places are feeling right now and, while it is important to be aware of this suffering (who are we to turn away, we should never turn away) we have to protect ourselves. Dressing ourselves up in our glad rags and looking at beautiful art, it not only cleanses our souls – it is a form of resistance. Btw, I did not get this phrase, resistance through beauty myself. This has come from the very lovely Judith who is stylecrone.com who said this in her latest Instagram post – we resist through beauty and in her case, through dressing up in her gorgeous clothes. How I admire her and agree with those sentiments.
We do not turn away, we are active in our own way and we resist the horrors of this world through surrounding ourselves with the culture that we love; be it art exhibitions, theatre, film, books, friends and – dressing up!
Apologies if you think I’m going over the top with these thoughts, but I felt so refreshed by the exhibition, it was so good to be reminded of the beauty of this world.
That’s all for now, with love, PennyX
It was absolutely beautiful, and I’m sad that I didn’t go earlier in its run to help spread the word (plus I may have gone back again). Looking very relaxed and radiant in your picture, the colours and lipstick are great colours on you. Have a good weekend!
We went on Wednesday and it was absolutely rammed with people – we could just about see the exhibits well enough to enjoy the exhibition. What was nice was the fact that the catalogue was reduced so I bought it and unlike many catalogues it is very readable. If you’ve been and loved it I highly recommend it.
Re: the lipstick. If you look very carefully you can see it is already moving upwards. I really do have a problem as after a couple of hours I begin to look like the Joker from Batman! I really wish I could wear lipstick but have never found anything that stops this – and btw tried various lip primers which don’t work.
Bill’s birthday today and I’m taking him out for a meal this evening 🙂
Thanks as ever 🙂
I had not heard of this artist and really enjoyed learning about her and seeing her art here. Her use of light in her paintings is quite beautiful. I would definitely enjoy seeing her work in person.
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I had not heard of her before but I knew she came from Skagen and as we had visited Skagen I became interested. Oh my word it was a good exhibition – but it was crowded. I think the gallery has done great job as all the visitors now know about her, and I would like to think, love her work
Thanks Mireille 🙂
This was beautiful Penny. So good for the soul in these very disturbing times. The pictures are wonderful. The light is amazing and reminded me why I moved to Italy many moons ago. I will definitely look out for this artist in the future. Thank for xx
Ah of course, Italy has lovely light too. And do look out for this artist and if you are ever going to Denmark do consider going further than the usual tourist hotspots like Copenhagen and visit Skagen. It was just lovely and really unspoiled.
The exhibition was one of the best I’ve seen for sometime.
Thanks Christine 🙂
I always find it amazing how artist can touch our heart! You look fabulous by the way Penny! Thhe sunny spells must have done you good.
The artist was brilliant and her paintings were quite lovely what with the light that seems to come from them.
Yes, we had several sunny days which was a huge change from the relentless rain. And thanks so much for those kind words which are much appreciated 🙂
I too visited this exhibition a couple of weeks ago, an artist I had not come across before but I really was impressed with her work. I loved the Blue Sunset picture and was disappointed they didn’t sell a poster of it.
May bump into you at the Tate Penny as the Turner Constable exhibition is next on my list.
I too was very impressed by Anna Ancher’s paintings that seemed to be suffused with light.
We will be in the Tate on Tuesday and I shall wear a hat! Oh and I’ve ordered a rollator which is great. Maybe see you there! 🙂
Thank you for introducing me to the artist, Anna Ancher. I’d never heard of her before. I particularly liked Interior with Red Poppies and Blue Sunset, which reminded me of another painting that I love, Moonlight Scene, by Sebastian Pether which is at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath. Also, lovely photos of you! All the best, xx
Hi Penny and yes like you I had not heard of her but first of all, there was a lot of publicity about this artist before we went so I began to be aware of her, and then the most important factor for us going was not only my good friend living nearby but the fact that we’ve been to Skagen – that really clinched it. And now I simply have to go back once more to Skagen and see the house she lived in, which is now a museum with many of her paintings there.
I expect there are some good exhibitions in Bath too. Thanks Penny 🙂
Thank you for sharing the photos of the different paintings – one reason why I enjoy going to art galleries.
I also follow Style Crone (Judith Boyd). In her last post, some people commented that she needs to keep the politics out and only focus on fashion. It’s her page.
I look forward to your next blog.
It was such a good exhibition and very popular too. I definitely want to return to Skagen to see and learn more about Anna Ancher’s life.
I absolutely love Judith of Style Crone fame, as she has some wonderful hats. She used to run a linkup solely for people wearing hats. Like all blogs I think her numbers dwindled so she is just on Instagram. I really miss her blog and linkup.
Thanks Cindy 🙂
I must admit to not knowing this artist until Gail’s post on the exhibition. The work is simply beautiful , the light is so soft as are the colours she uses.
You look lovely in the brown tones Penny .
I did see Judith’s post and completely concur that expressing our creativity through dressing is our own resistance .
Enjoy your next exhibition.
I too was not aware of Anna Ancher until some of the publicity for the exhibition began to filter through and then, when I heard she was based in Skagan that just clinched it – I had to go! I will somehow definitely return to Skagen to learn more about the artist and view more of her beautiful paintings.
I have always loved Judith and her blog. I follow her on Instagram now but do you remember the link-up she had for people wearing hats. I really miss that. I will be wearing another hat on Tuesday for the visit to the Tate, which I will definitely enjoy.
Thanks so much Jill 🙂
What a wonderful exhibition. Thank you for sharing her with us. Interestingly, I just heard a lecture at my learning in retirement group on American art. The speaker was talking about an artist, who was painting just before and during the revolution. He painted George Washington and other of the founding fathers. His wife was equally talented as an artist, she was only allowed to paint miniatures. She was able to render in inches as much detail in inches are the man did on large canvasses. Actually, our speaker has given several presentations on art over the centuries and so many women artists have not received the recognition they deserved. I would love to see an exhibit of Archer’s work in person. Also want to say she are looking very well. Love, Darby
Isn’t it interesting how women artists have been ignored and, indeed, been looked down upon for centuries. In 2024 I went to an exhibition at the Tate Britain on women artists and their work from 1520-1920. It was amazing how the artists in the 1500s and 1600s were absolutely the equal of any of the well-known male artists, but had I heard of any of these women? No!
The Anna Ancher exhibition was lovely and one of the best I’ve seen, and totally due to the quality of her art.
That’s so kind of you saying I look well – isn’t it a struggle to maintain oneself as one ages! I think a blog is due on the length of time I spend just on maintenance!!! But thank you so much Darby – your comment is always, always appreciated 🙂
As I was reading, I kept thinking I’ve heard of this artist before. Then, you mentioned Gail’s blog, and it then made sense. We are focusing tours on women artists at the museum right now, but it’s difficult to find them because I can’t filter for them on the website. That being said, I’ve found several. On of my favorites, Cindy Sherman, was taken down and replaced with another female artist. It’s not near as fun as Cindy’s, though!
Penny, I think you look stunning in brown! It just makes your whole face light up! Who would have thought brown could do that! Thank you for sharing these glorious paintings!
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I know! Gail and I clashed! But I think the fact that we have both just written about this artist shows how much we both really liked/loved the exhibition – which was ace and brilliant, and all down to the quality of her art.
Oh that’s so good that you are doing tours of women artists as in the past they have been really neglected and even looked down upon as ‘hobbyists’ and only fit for using water colours. Heaven forfend if they used oils!
And thank you for those kind words. Yes I do love brown and – brown animal print!
Thanks again Marsha 🙂
I’m a bit behind this time, Penny, but wanted to catch up regardless.
I do believe you’re getting your mojo back! You’re looking good and obviously keen to get out there. Your choice of the Anne Archer exhibition was a good choice indeed. Her The Maid in the Kitchen reminded me in a way of Vermeer’s interiors; very atmospheric.
Another artist you might be interested in is the Victorian botanical and landscape artist, Marianne North. She was another truly remarkable woman who became a legend in her own lifetime and whose works I believe are still on display in a dedicated gallery within Kew Gardens.
Well educated and well connected, she travelled from Canada to Chile; Java to Jamaica and Japan; America to Australia and all points in between over 20 years, documenting and painting each country’s flora and countryside. Unlike Mary Anning, a fellow Victorian and very successful fossil hunter, Marianne never had to deal with scorn and masculine jealousy as far as I know, but was lauded for her incredible commitment to her art and the accuracy and vibrancy of her style. So respected was she that she had an exotic flower named after her and incredibly, I believe still has her own gallery within Kew Gardens where her artwork fills the room to capacity.
Sorry about the lecture, Penny, but as an amateur artist I’m so in awe of her talent that I wanted to put her name out there to those who would surely appreciate this remarkable woman and her incredible artwork.
Take care now and enjoy yourself. With Bill, obviously!
Zepherine x
Wow, Zepherine, I’ve just googled Marianne North – what a woman! And such lovely detailed paintings and drawings of exotic plants. She also didn’t follow the rules that made women subordinate in those times. Good for her!
So interesting – thanks Zepherine for drawing our attention to this artist 🙂
Thank you Penny, so pleased to see such beautiful art xx