COMPARE & CONTRAST NORWEGIAN ARTIST HARRIET BACKER

TO THE CHARACTER NORA HELMER

Pre-Reading/Viewing

Pre-reading Journal Entry: Summarize the societal effects on Nora during

this historical time period.

Information on Harriet Backer

1845-1932 Norwegian painter. Backer was born to an affluent family in Holmestrand in Vestfold county, Norway. At 12, she moved with her family to Christiania (now Oslo) where she took lessons in drawing and painting. Later she travelled extensively in Europe with her sister Agathe, a composer and pianist. She copied works in major museums and took occasional art lessons; she later considered this experience to have been of fundamental importance to her artistic development. Little Red Riding Hood (1872; Oslo, N.G.) is impressive in technique, and the early portrait of her sister, Agathe Backer-Grendahl (1874; Holmestrand, Komm.), shows a refined color scheme. At the age of nearly 30 Backer decided to train professionally as a painter and in 1874 went to Munich. She was never attached to a particular institution, but the influence of her friend the artist Eilif Peterssen was crucial to her development. In Munich she made a thorough study of perspective, which formed a secure basis for her later work.

During Reading/Viewing

As you view each painting by Norwegian artist Harriet Backer, take notes on what you see and feel. Pay attention to the title of each painting. Try to keep yourself in the historical context of late 19th century Europe.

Answer the text-dependent questions.

Interior med figurerInterior with Figures (1886)

Text-dependent questions: What do you think the woman is looking at through the window? Based on the items in the room, what do you think this woman’s life is like?

Storebror spillerBig Brother Plays (1890)

Text-dependent questions: To what extent can this little girl’s older brother influence her?

Kone som syrWife Who Sews (1890)

By Lamplight (1890)

Post-Reading/Viewing Activity:Interpreting the Text

How do Harriet Backer’s paintings relate/connect/compare to choices Henrik Ibsen made in his play A Doll’s House?

How are Harriet Backer’s paintings different or in contrast to characters and the plot of A Doll’s House?

Based on the images you’ve seen and the text you’ve read, what strikes you about women in the late 1800s?