Women visualising the modern. Danish art 1880-1910

Feminine Moments at Randers Kunstmuseum. Text by Birthe Havmøller

Young Woman in a Forest (Toni Möller) (1892) by Bertha Wegmann.

Women visualising the modern. Danish art 1880-1910

(Kvindernes moderne gennembrud. Dansk kunst 1880-1910)
Randers Kunstmuseum
February 8 – May 11, 2025

I went to Randers Kunstmuseum to see the new feminist exhibition Women Visualising the Modern. Danish art 1880-1910. The travelling exhibition presents works by 25 Danish artists both famous artists such as Anna Ancher (1859-1935), Agnes Slott-Møller (1862-1937), Marie Krøyer (1867-1940) and four unknown or forgotten lesbian painters: Emilie Mundt, Marie Luplau, Bertha Wegmann and Louise Ravn-Hansen.

At the entrance to the exhibition, I was surprised to see an old billboard-size photo by one of Denmark’s first professional female photographers lesbian Mary Steen (1856-1939). The photo is a portrait of lesbian painter Marie Luplau (1848-1925) in the studio she shared with her wife painter Emilie Mundt (1841-1922). Their career goes well with the theme of the exhibition: the emerging professional female artists of the 19th century. Emilie Mundt and Marie Luplau were professional artists and teachers at the drawing and painting school for women they had opened in 1886 in Copenhagen.

Portrait of Emilie Mundt (1892) by Marie Luplau.

Study of a seated model (1880) by Emilie Mundt

The Hirschsprung Collection writes about the exhibition, Women Visualising the Modern. Danish art 1880-1910, ‘The Modern Breakthrough is a firmly established part of the story of the birth of modern Denmark. Using the Modern Breakthrough as a lens, The Hirschsprung Collection homes in on the women’s contribution to the visual arts of the period, mapping out their production, the themes they addressed and the questions and problems they put up for discussion. The exhibition unpacks how they processed and renegotiated subjects, themes and strategies they encountered in established art. In so doing, we expand, nuance and challenge the established perception of this landmark period, presenting a selection of works previously unknown to the public from a crucial turning point in Denmark’s history.’

 

Portrait of Artist Marie Triepcke (1885) by Bertha Wegmann.

Painter Bertha Wegmann (1847-1926) is the queen of portrait painting. Her lovely portrait of A Young Woman, her colleague Marie Triepcke from 1885 is one of the exhibition’s centerpieces. She is one of the forgotten lesbian artists, from before the word lesbian even existed. She studied in Germany and lived for 13 years in Munich, where she met her significant other Swedish painter Jeanna Bauck (1940-1926). She took several study trips to Italy with Jeanna. In 1881, they moved to Paris where Wegmann exhibited at several salons and received an “honourable mention”. Later they split up. Wegmann returned to Copenhagen where she became the first woman to hold a chair at the Royal Danish Academy and Jeanna Bauck returned to Munich, Germany to become an art teacher, however, they kept in contact for the rest of their lives. From 1987 through 1907, Bertha Wegmann was a member of the board for the “Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder” (Drawing and Art Industrial School for Women). She continued to exhibit widely and represented Denmark at several world fairs, including the Chicago World’s Fair in Chicago, USA in 1893.

Many of the women artists presented in this exhibition worked hard to improve the conditions for women, female artists and art students, creating both professional and social networks. Many women artists were involved in the women’s suffrage movement, among others Emma Eleonore Meyer (1959-1921) the partner and travelling companion of landscape painter Louise Ravn-Hansen (1849-1909).

Lyngby Lake (1884) by Louise Ravn-Hansen.

It was a thrill to see the show’s four rooms many fine paintings by female painters, a treat you do not often get to see. I recommend this exhibition. Go spend an afternoon in the worlds of all the women painters who painted portraits, themselves or their colleagues at work in the studio, still lives, flowers, landscapes and cityscapes as well as images of friends and members of their family at home in the living room. You must see this feminist exhibition about the lives and oeuvre of the female Danish painters!

Two women in a garden (1903) by Emilie Mundt.

Read more about the exhibition Women Visualising the Modern. Danish art 1880-1910.