Anna Katarina Boberg was a Swedish artist. She was a representative of such style as Art Nouveau. Boberg worked with different materials, including ceramics and textiles, and tried her hand in set design and writing.
Background
Boberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 3, 1864. She was a daughter of Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander, an architect, and Catharina Sofia Nyström. Anna Boberg was a granddaughter of Axel Nyström, who also was an architect. She had six siblings, including Sven, Eleonora Sofia and Torkel Fredrik Scholander.
Education
Anna Boberg never received any formal training in the arts, and is considered a self-taught painter. She studied French, and only briefly entered the Académie Julian (now part of ESAG Penninghen) in Paris to study painting.
Career
Boberg started to paint during her trip to Spain in 1882. She was accompanied by her mother and some of her siblings. Around 1887 Boberg began painting in earnest and devoted to it most of her time. She mainly used watercolour, and she held her first show in 1888.
During the 1890s Anna Boberg began painting "tapestries," oil paintings on rough canvas reminiscent of woven tapestries. These works were presented in Hôtel Rydberg, which was later demolished, and her tapestries were transferred to Årsta Castle. Besides, Boberg also produced wall decorations for the Wallenberg Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden. Boberg displayed her artworks at the Palace of Fine Arts at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.
Boberg worked with applied arts in the late 1890s. She designed the Peacock Vase (Påfågelvasen) for Rörstrand in 1897, glass for Reijmyre glassworks, and also several textile works. At the World Fair in Paris in 1900 Anna Boberg created numerous textiles. In addition, she was also the writer and set designer for Wilhelm Stenhammar's opera Tirfing, which was performed in 1898.
During a trip to northern Sweden and Norway with her husband in 1901, Anna Boberg was impressed by the magnificent scenery and nature of northern Norway, particularly Lofoten. For the following 33 years, Boberg depicted mainly the landscapes and people of Lofoten. In 1904, her husband bought a small house for Anna Boberg, where she could stay during her numerous trips to Lofoten.
Boberg exhibited her Lofoten artworks for the first time in Stockholm in 1903. The reactions were different. After her exhibition in Paris in 1905, she received greater success and overwhelmingly positive feedback. Starting from 1915, Anna Boberg extensively travelled through Sweden for the "Swedish images" project. Her trips were initially made in a Scania Vabis bus with a driver. She made diary notes along the way, which were later published.
In 1925 Anna Boberg and her husband were forced to sell Villa Vintra on Södra Djurgården, where they had lived since 1903. The couple moved to Paris. Boberg's last exhibition took place in 1927. In March 1929, they moved back to Stockholm, settling in Villa Blecktornet on Södermalm until Boberg's death.
Fishing Harbour with Sunlit Mountains. Study from North Norway
Summer, Store Molla. Study from Lofoten
Northern Lights; Study from North Norway
Svolvaer Harbour at the Height of the Fishing Season. Study from Lofoten
Study from the South of France
Study from Spoleto, Italy
Lac en montagne
Motiv från Lofoten
Assan, Egypten
Bergslandskap
Insjölandskap med stuga
Vue d'un fjord
Vase
Lofoten
Lofoten
Menaggio
Vinterhamn, Lofoten
Coucher de soleil sur les fjords à Djurgarden
Among the Fishing Boats in Svolvaer. Study from Lofoten
An Arctic Spring Day. Study from North Norway
At the Foot of the Mountain. Study from Lofoten
An August Night. Study from North Norway
By Lago di Como. Study from Italy
Fir Trees in front of the Mountains. Study from North Norway
Fishing Boats in the Harbor
A Fishing Harbour. Study from North Norway
Fog Rising from the Sea. Study from Lofoten
The Graveyard in the Mountains. Study from Lofoten
Lofoten Landscape
Connections
Anna Boberg met her future husband Ferdinand Boberg, an architect, in Paris. The couple was engaged in 1884. They married in 1888, initially staying with her family until their improved income allowed them to move into their own flat.