Bertha Wegmann

{{Short description|Danish portrait painter (1847–1926)}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Bertha Wegmann | honorific_suffix = | image = Bertha Wegmann by Georg E. Hansen cropped.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Bertha Wegmann<br /> (photograph by [[Georg Emil Hansen]], 1891) | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1847|12|16|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Soglio, Switzerland]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1926|2|22|1846|12|16|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Copenhagen]] | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | nationality = | education = Frederik Ferdinand Helsted, Heinrich Buntzen and Frederik Christian Lund | alma_mater = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | awards = Thorvaldsen Medal <br> Ingenio et Arti medal | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website =  | module = }} '''Bertha Wegmann''' (1847–1926) was a Danish portrait painter of Swiss ancestry.<ref name="DB">[https://runeberg.org/dbl/18/0357.html Dansk Biografisk Lexikon]</ref> She was the first woman to hold a chair at the [[Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts]].

==Life== When Bertha Wegmann was five years old, her family moved to Copenhagen, where her father became a merchant. He was an art lover and spent much of his spare time painting. She showed an interest in drawing at an early age, but received no formal education until she was nineteen, when she began taking lessons from [[Frederik Ferdinand Helsted]], [[Heinrich Buntzen]] and [[Frederik Christian Lund]].<ref name="DB"/>

Two years later, with the support of her parents, Wegmann moved to Munich and lived there until 1881. At first, she studied with the historical painter [[Wilhelm von Lindenschmit the Younger]], later with the [[Genre art|genre painter]] [[Eduard Kurzbauer]], but she was not satisfied with learning in a studio atmosphere and decided to study directly from nature.

She made friends with the Swedish painter, [[Jeanna Bauck]], and took several study trips to Italy with her.<ref name="KV"/> In 1881, they moved to Paris where Wegmann exhibited at several salons and received an "honorable mention".<ref name="KD">[https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/VisKunstner.do?kunstnerId=643 Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon]</ref>

The next year, she returned to Copenhagen, where she was already well-known from works she had been exhibiting at the [[Charlottenborg Palace]] since 1873. A portrait of her sister was awarded the [[Thorvaldsen Medal]] in 1883.<ref name="DB"/>

Four years later, Wegmann became the first woman to hold a chair at the Royal Danish Academy. From that year through 1907, she was a member of the board for the "[[Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder]]" (Drawing and Art Industrial School for Women).<ref name="KV">[http://www.kvinfo.dk/side/170/bio/1396/ Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon]</ref>

She continued to exhibit widely and represented Denmark at several world's fairs, including the [[World's Columbian Exhibition]] in Chicago.<ref name="KV"/>

Wegmann died suddenly while at work in her studio.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

==Selected paintings== <gallery mode=packed heights=180> File:Målarinnan Jeanna Bauck.jpg|''Portrait of Jeanna Bauck'' (1881) File:Wegmann Nähende Frau 1891.jpg|''A Woman Sewing'' File:Bertha Wegmann - Holckenhus view.jpg|''View from the [[Holckenhus]]'' File:Bertha Wegmann - To veninder drikker the i kunstnerens atelier.png|''Two Friends Drinking Tea''<br /> ''in the Artist's Studio'' File:Bertha Wegmann - Pondering the scriptures.jpg|''Pondering the Scriptures'' </gallery>

==See also== * ''[[Bertha Wegmann Painting a Portrait]]''

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commonscat|Bertha Wegmann}} * [https://www.riha-journal.org/articles/2018/0202-rech Carina Rech, Friendship in Representation. The Collaborative Portraits by Jeanna Bauck and Bertha Wegmann, in: RIHA Journal, 30 November 2018] * [http://www.artnet.com/artists/bertha-wegmann/past-auction-results More works by Wegmann] @ ArtNet * {{YouTube|I3MDbYoAC3A|Bertha Wegmann}} * [https://bidtoart.com/en/find-artist/bertha-wegmann/4058 Paintings] @ Bid to Art * [https://bruun-rasmussen.dk/doc/dam/catalogues/899/899_011220_kl16_NY.pdf Source]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegmann, Bertha}} [[Category:1847 births]] [[Category:1926 deaths]] [[Category:People from Bregaglia]] [[Category:Swiss emigrants to Denmark]] [[Category:19th-century Danish painters]] [[Category:20th-century Danish painters]] [[Category:Danish portrait painters]] [[Category:19th-century Danish women painters]] [[Category:20th-century Danish women painters]] [[Category:Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal]] [[Category:Recipients of Ingenio et Arti]]