Harriet Backer 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...

 who achieved recognition in her own time and was a pioneer among female artists both in the Nordic countries

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

 and in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 generally. She is best known for her detailed interior scenes, communicated with rich colors and moody lighting.

Biography

Backer was born to an affluent family in Holmestrand

Holmestrand

is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Holmestrad. The city was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . The neighboring rural municipality of Botne was merged into the municipality of Holmestrand on 1 January...

 in Vestfold

Vestfold

is a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg.Vestfold is located west of the Oslofjord, as the name indicates. It includes many smaller, but well-known towns in Norway, such as Larvik, Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Horten. The river Numedalslågen runs...

 county, Norway. At 12, she moved with her family to 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...

 (now Oslo

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...

) where she took lessons in drawing

Drawing

Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...

 and painting

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...

, notably with Joachim Calmeyer. She studied with Johan Fredrik Eckersberg

Johan Fredrik Eckersberg

Johan Fredrik Eckersberg was a Norwegian painter most noted for his landscapes. Eckersberg was a prominent figure in the transition from Romanticism to Realism in 18th century Norwegian art, both as an artistic painter and a teacher at his own art school in Oslo.-Background:Johan Fredrik...

 (1861-65) and with Norwegian theologian and artist Christen Brun (1828-1917) and attended the painting school of Knud Bergslien

Knud Bergslien

Knud Larsen Bergslien was a Norwegian painter, art teacher and master artist. In his art, he frequently portrayed the lives of the Norwegian people, their history and heroes of the past...

 (1871-74). Later, she was a student of Eilif Peterssen

Eilif Peterssen

Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen was a Norwegian painter.-Background:Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen was born in Christiania, now Oslo, Norway. He grew up in the neighborhood of Hegdehaugen in the district of Frogner.He attended the Johan Fredrik Eckersberg School of Painting in Oslo in 1869...

 and Léon Bonnat

Léon Bonnat

Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat was a French painter.He was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in Madrid, where his father owned a bookshop. While tending his father's shop, he copied engravings of works by the Old Masters, developing a passion for drawing...

. She studied in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 (1874-1878) and was associated with Madame Trélat's art school in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Backer lived in Paris (1878-1888).

She traveled extensively throughout Europe as a companion to her sister, the pianist Agathe Backer-Grøndahl, and she took further lessons in the course of these trips. She studied in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, and was influenced by impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...

, though her work is mostly classified as realist

Realism (arts)

Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...

. She never belonged to any school but her work is often compared with that of her friend Eilif Peterssen

Eilif Peterssen

Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen was a Norwegian painter.-Background:Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen was born in Christiania, now Oslo, Norway. He grew up in the neighborhood of Hegdehaugen in the district of Frogner.He attended the Johan Fredrik Eckersberg School of Painting in Oslo in 1869...

. Harriet Backer worked in the tradition of realism in painting, where she is regarded as both a naturalist and an early impressionist. From 1889-1912, she operated an art school and was an influence on a number of younger artists including Marie Hauge

Marie Hauge

Marie Octavia Nielsen Hauge was a Norwegian painter.She was born in Drammen, and spent her later life in Asker. She studied under Hans Heyerdahl, Eilif Peterssen, Erik Werenskiold, Sven Jørgensen and Harriet Backer between 1888 and 1900...

, Lars Jorde

Lars Jorde

Lars Jorde was a Norwegian painter.He was born in Vang, but eventually settled in Lillehammer. He studied under Gerhard Munthe, Alfred Philippe Roll, Eilif Peterssen and Harriet Backer, and Kristian Zahrtmann...

 and Henrik Lund

Henrik Lund (painter)

Henrik Louis Lund was a Norwegian painter and graphic artist.He was born in Bergen as a son of lieutenant colonel Henrik Louis Bull Lund and pianist Birgitte Charlotte Carlsen . His sister was composer Signe Lund. He spent much of his young days at sea, and probably had a naval career in mind...

. She also gave art lessons to the novelist Cora Sandel

Cora Sandel

Cora Sandel was the pen name of Sara Cecilia Görvell Fabricius, a Norwegian writer and painter who lived most of her life abroad. Her most famous works are the novels now known as the Alberta Trilogy.-Biography:Sara Cecilia Görvell Fabricius was born in Kristiania...

.

Harriet Backer won a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle (1889)

Exposition Universelle (1889)

The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from 6 May to 31 October 1889.It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution...

 and received the King's Medal of Merit in Gold (Kongens fortjenstmedalje i gull) in 1908. She was a member of Nordlendingenes Forening and in 1912 he was awarded the Petter Dass Metal (Petter Dass-medaljen). Several of the largest museums and art collections in Norway have pictures of Harriet Backer, including the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Bergen Museum

Bergen Museum

The Bergen Museum is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. Founded in 1825 with the intent of building large collections in the fields of culture and natural history, it became the grounds for most of the academic activity in the city, a tradition which has prevailed since the museum became part...

, and Rasmus Meyers Collection at the Bergen Museum of Art.

Other sources

• Lange, Marit Ingeborg (1995) Harriet Backer (Gyldendal norsk forlag) ISBN 978-8205193017
• Lange, Marit Ingeborg (1983) Harriet Backer, 1845-1932, Kitty L. Kielland, 1843-1914 (Stiftelsen Modums blaafarveværk) ISBN 978-8299056854
• Kielland, Else Christie (1958) Harriet Backer, 1845-1932 (Oslo: Aschehough)
• Durban, Arne (1951) Paintings from Norway: Popular pictures by Harriet Backer, Frits Thaulo, Gerhard Munthe and Theodor Kittelsen (Forlaget Norsk Kunatreproduksjon)
• Lone, Erling (1924) Harriet Backer: med en skildring av barndoms (Kristiania: Aschehoug)