Aasta Hansteen, was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, and early feminist.

Background

Aasta Hansteen was born in Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, modern day Oslo, the daughter of Christopher Hansteen

Christopher Hansteen

Christopher Hansteen was a Norwegian geophysicist, astronomer and physicist, best known for his mapping of Earth's magnetic field.-Early life and career:...

, a noted professor of astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

, geophysics

Geophysics

Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...

 and applied mathematics at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

. She started her art education in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 (1840 - 1841) where she learned to draw. She continued her training for three years in Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

 where she studied fine brush alignment. She exhibited her work at the 1855 World's Fair in Paris

Exposition Universelle (1855)

The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Elysées in Paris from May 15 to November 15, 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.The exposition was a major...

.

Career

She returned to Norway and settled in Christiania where she for several years was in demand as the city's only portrait artist. Her most famous painting is possibly the portrait of her father, which is on permanent exhibit at the National Gallery of Norway

National Gallery of Norway

The National Gallery of Norway is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.-History:...

.

Overwhelmed by the interest in her portraits, she resigned from her craft for several years and moved to Telemark

Telemark

is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The county administration is in Skien. Until 1919 the county was known as Bratsberg amt.-Location:...

, where she developed an interest in Norwegian dialects

Norwegian dialects

The Norwegian dialects are commonly divided into 4 main groups, North Norwegian , Trøndelag Norwegian , West Norwegian , and East Norwegian...

. When she moved back to Christiania, she studied with the linguist Ivar Aasen

Ivar Aasen

Ivar Andreas Aasen was a Norwegian philologist, lexicographer, playwright and poet.-Background:...

. In 1862 she published anonymously a small book written in Nynorsk

Nynorsk

Nynorsk or New Norwegian is one of two official written standards for the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. The standard language was created by Ivar Aasen during the mid-19th century, to provide a Norwegian alternative to the Danish language which was commonly written in Norway at the...

 and had the distinction of being the first woman to publish in this language.

Together with her foster daughter Theodora Nielsen, she sailed from Christiania on April 9, 1880. She lived in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for nine years (1880-1889). She spent six and a half years in the Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 area and two and a half years in the Midwest, primarily Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Aasta Hansteen met or observed such leading reformers on the time as Lucy Stone

Lucy Stone

Lucy Stone was a prominent American abolitionist and suffragist, and a vocal advocate and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone was the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She spoke out for women's rights and against slavery at a time when women were discouraged...

, Julia Ward Howe

Julia Ward Howe

Julia Ward Howe was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet, most famous as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".-Biography:...

, Mary Livermore

Mary Livermore

Mary Livermore, born Mary Ashton Rice, was an American journalist and advocate of women's rights.-Biography:...

, and Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, and orator. He was an exceptional orator and agitator, advocate and lawyer, writer and debater.-Education:...

. Her initial income came from writing for the Christiania based newspaper Verdens Gang

Verdens Gang

Verdens Gang , generally known under the abbreviation VG, is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper...

, which she supplemented by painting portraits on commission. Among others, Norwegian reformer and editor Marcus Thrane

Marcus Thrane

Marcus Møller Thrane was a Norwegian author, journalist, and the leader of the first Norwegian labor movement, later known as the Thrane movement .-Early life:...

 sat for his portrait. In 1889, she returned to Norway with a renewed interest in the women's movement. She joined the The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights

The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights

The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights is a Norwegian organization advocating women's liberation and equality between the sexes, and is Norway's oldest feminist organization....

  (Norsk Kvinnesaksforening) and became an active contributor in the press on women's rights.

Hansteen was a vocal critic of the Judeo-Christian

Judeo-Christian

Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...

 and Pauline

Pauline Christianity

Pauline Christianity is a term used to refer to the Christianity associated with the beliefs and doctrines espoused by Paul of Tarsus through his writings. Most of orthodox Christianity relies heavily on these teachings and considers them to be amplifications and explanations of the teachings of...

 perception of women, which she felt was denigrating of women's spiritual worth. She was a strong and controversial personality, who frequented cafes and markets on her own, and became one of the more colorful fixtures in Oslo.

Legacy

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

 is said to have used her as a model for the character Lona Hessel in his play The Pillars of Society

The Pillars of Society

The Pillars of Society is an 1877 play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen....

. Additionally she was believed to served as the inspiration for the title role in Gunnar Heiberg

Gunnar Heiberg

Gunnar Edvard Rode Heiberg was a Norwegian poet, playwright, journalist and theatre critic.-Personal life:...

's Aunt Ulrikke. Norwegian pianist and composer Agathe Backer Grøndahl

Agathe Backer Grøndahl

Agathe Backer-Grøndahl was a Norwegian pianist and composer.She was born in Holmestrand, but in 1857 moved with her family to Oslo, where she studied with Otto Winther-Hjelm, Halfdan Kjerulf and Ludvig Mathias Lindeman. From 1865 she studied in Berlin, where she won fame with her interpretation of...

 dedicated compositions to her. Her grave in Vår Frelsers gravlund

Vår Frelsers gravlund

Vår Frelsers gravlund is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It was created in 1808 as a result of the great famine and cholera epidemic of the Napoleonic Wars. Its grounds were extended in 1911. The cemetery has been full since 1952...

 in Oslo, marked with a bust made by Gustav Vigeland

Gustav Vigeland

Gustav Vigeland was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his productivity. He is most associated with Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo...

. Aasta Hansteens vei in the Stovner

Stovner

Stovner is a borough located to the far north east of the city of Oslo, Norway. Historically, Stovner was the name of a farm in the municipal borough "Østre Aker". Østre Aker merged with Oslo in 1948, both instigated and followed by a massive expansion of the city settlement...

 borough of the city of Oslo and Aasta Hansteens vei in Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

 are both named for Aasta Hansteen. A statue of her by Norwegian sculptor, Nina Sundbye

Nina Sundbye

Nina Sundbye is a Norwegian sculptor, born in Oslo. Her debut was a bust of illustrator Finn Graff from 1967. Among her other works is a bronze statue of Aasta Hansteen placed at Aker Brygge, and busts of resistance fighter Gregers Gram and comedians Leif Juster and Per Aabel, all located in Oslo...

, in located in the Aker Brygge

Aker Brygge

Aker Brygge is an area in Oslo, Norway. It is a popular meeting place for shopping, dining, and entertainment. Oslo residents, tourists from all over the world, business people on the move, as well as musicians, artists, actors, A-, B- and C-celebrities find Aker Brygge their favourite place to...

area of Oslo

Selected works

• Skrift og Umskrift i Landsmaalet, 1862
• Kvindens stilling i Verden, i Nordisk Maanedsskrift for folkelig og kristelig Oplysning, 1871
• Kvinden skabt i Guds Billede, 1878
• Kristi kirke i det nittende aarhundrede, 1897
• Dikt i (Ivar Aasens) landsmaal. 1862–67, 1908