HARRIET BACKER

Harriet Backer (Norwegian, 1845–1932), Evening, Interior, 1890. Oil on canvas, 32 x 34 in. National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Oslo, NG.M.02216. Photo: Børre Høstland © The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design

Harriet Backer began her training in Oslo’s art schools. She moved to Paris in 1878, enrolling in the studio of Madame Trélat de Vigny. There she met a number of fellow women artists, including Kitty Kielland, with whom she shared housing and traveled through France and Norway. In 1888, she returned to Oslo and established a school for painters, which she ran until 1910. She participated in the 1889 and 1900 Expositions Universelles, earning a silver medal in 1889.

A fully illustrated catalogue, Women Artists in Paris, 1850–1900, has been published by the American Federation of Arts and Yale University Press. Along with an art-historical overview by curator Laurence Madeline, the catalogue includes essays by Jane R. Becker, collections management associate, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Richard Kendall, former curator at large, Clark Art Institute; Bridget Alsdorf, associate professor, History of Art, Princeton University; and Vibeke Hansen, curator, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo.