Background
Friis was born in Trustrup on the Fjursland peninsula in 1871.
Friis was born in Trustrup on the Fjursland peninsula in 1871.
He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1895-1899.
He participated on the Danish Expedition to Northeast Greenland in 1906-1908 from where he created a large number of works, both landscape paintings and portraits, as well as a Written account which was published in 1909. He later published several published several comprehensive and richly illustrated works with descriptions of the nature and cultural history of different oparts of Denmark. He has also created decorative works for the Bing & Grøndahl porcelain manufacturer.
He learned etching techniques from Carl Locher in 1900-1901.
In 1906-1908, Friis participated in the Denmark Expedition to northeastern Greenland. Friis" works from the expedition included both landscape paintings and numerous portraits, both of expedition members and local Inuit.
Friis" and Bertelsen"s works from the Denmark Expedition was featured in an exhibition at the Rudolph Tegner Museum in 2911. Friis also wrote the official travel account from the edpedition, Danmark Ekspeditionen til Grønlands Nordøstkyst, which was published in 1909 and reissued in 2005.
Friis and Aage Bertelsen"s works from the Denmark Expedition was featured in an exhibition at the Rudolph Tegner Museum in 2011.
A comprehensive excreact from Friis" and Bertelsen"s diaries was published in 2013. In the 1920s and 1930s, Friis published three comprehensive wrols with descriptions of the nature and cultural history of different parts of Denmark. They are collectively referred to as De Danskes Land (.
The 1200-page De Danskes Øer.
Ekspeditionen til de 132 øer ("The Danish Islands Expedition to the 132 Islands") was published in three volumes between 1926 and 1928. In 1932-1933, it was followed by the two-volume De Jyders Lan ("Land of the Jutlanders") about Jutland.
In 1936-1937, Friis published Danmarks Store Øer ("Denmark"s Large Islandfs") in two volumes. All three works contain ullustrations by Friis as well as Johannes Larsen.
Andreas Friis and Knud Kyhn have also contributed with illustrations to Danmarks Store Øer.
He designed ceramics and porcelain for Bing & Grøndahl. His designs included a number of their Christmas plates in the 1920s and 1930s. Friis also played the mandolin and mandola.
His trio, Achton Friis Trio, was consisted His trio, Achton Friis Trio, was completed by Johan Tolstrup on mandolin and Frederik Birket-Smith theorbo and guitar.
He is buried at Vestre Cemetery in Copenhagen.
Another artist, Aage Bertelsen, was also a member of the expedition.