During a recent visit to Copenhagen, I visited Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and saw two great exhibitions, both of female artists from the 20th century. The first, of works by Danish sculptor Anne-Marie Carl Nielsen (1863-1945), closed on 27 February, so all you can do now is read about it. Anne-Marie Carl Nielsen was a sculptor, and wife of the great composer Carl Nielsen. Uniquely among female sculptors, she won assignments such as creating the equestrian statue of King Christian IX on the square behind Christiansborg, Denmark’s Parliament, or creating the bronze gates of Ribe Cathedral.
The second artist is French painter Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938). That exhibition just started on 24 February and runs until the end of July, so if you find yourself in Copenhagen during the next few months, you owe it to yourself to see it. Valadon worked as a model for male painters in Paris for almost a decade, which gave her a unique perspective on the female nude when she took up painting herself. The portrait and nudes exhibited here are some of the greatest examples of the respective genres that I have ever seen.
The two artists have one thing in common: both were very successful during their lifetimes but have been somewhat forgotten in recent decades. These two exhibitions rectify that, beautifully. My own photos from the visit to Glyptoteket on 25 February are here.