Die kleinen Schweizer Kinder - paintings by Albert Anker

Strickendes Mädchen mit Korb, circa 1897.

Knabenbildnis, ND.

Die kleinen Strickerinnen, 1892.

Strickendes Mädchen, circa 1883-84.

Die kleine Näherin, watercolor, 1908.

Schulknabe, 1881.

Hüftbild eines Mädchens, the artist's daughter Marie, 1881.

Das kleine Mütterchen, circa 1888.

 Ein Mädchen, das ein Buch betrachtet, watercolor, 1907.

Mädchen mit rotem Haarband, 1868.

Knabe beim Znüni, circa 1897.

 Sitzendes Mädchen mit Katze, watercolor, 1903.

Strickendes Mädchen, 1888.

Schreibunterricht II, 1865.

Knabenbildnis, ND.

Des Künstlers Tochter Louise, the artist's daughter Louise, 1874.

 Fleißig, 1886.

Mädchen, mit Dominosteinen spielend, circa 1900.

Porträt eines Knaben mit Mütze, ND.

Schulmädchen bei den Hausaufgaben, 1879.

Mädchenbildnis, ND.

Die kleine Kartoffelschälerin, 1886.

Schulknabe, circa 1875.

Porträt eines Mädchens, 1899.

*

Albrecht Samuel Anker (1 April 1831, Ins - 16 July 1910, Ins), Swiss painter and illustrator, often called the "national painter" of Switzerland because of his depictions of 19th-century Swiss village life. Born the son of a veterinarian and member of the constituent assembly of the Canton of Bern, Anker attended school in Neuchâtel, where he also took early drawing lessons. (In French-speaking Neuchâtel he began using the name Albert instead of Albrecht.) From 1849 he attended the Gymnasium Kirchenfeld in Bern and, afterwards, he studied theology, first in Bern and then at the university of Halle, Germany. But in Germany he was inspired by the many great public art collections, and by 1854 he had convinced his father to let him pursue an artistic career.

He then moved to Paris, where he attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts from 1855 to 1860. He soon installed a studio in the attic of his parents' house and participated regularly in exhibitions in Switzerland and in Paris. In 1864 he married Anna Rüfli, and they had six children together; the four surviving children - Louise, Marie, Maurice, and Cécile – appear in many of Anker's paintings.

During his student years, he produced work with historical and biblical themes. Soon after returning to Ins, though, he turned to what would become his signature theme: the everyday life of people in rural communities. His paintings depict his fellow citizens in an unpretentious and plain manner, without idealizing country life, though also without the critical examination of social conditions that can be found in the works of contemporaries such as Daumier, Courbet, or Millet. He also painted still-lifes, hundreds of commissioned watercolors and drawings - mostly portraits and illustrations - and even decorated more than 500 faience plates for the Alsatian producer Théodore Deck.

In 1866, he was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Salon, and in 1878 he was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. From 1870 to 1874 he was a member of the Grand Council of Bern, where he advocated the construction of the Kunstmuseum Bern. Apart from regular wintertime stays in Paris, he frequently traveled to Italy and other European countries. He served two terms as a member of the Swiss Federal Art Commission, and in 1900 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern. A stroke in 1901 was debilitating, but he continued to make work almost up until the time of  his death in 1910 at the age of seventy-nine. Since his death, many Swiss postage stamps and other media have featured his work, and his studio in Ins has been preserved as a museum by the Albert Anker Foundation.

 Schlafender Knabe im Heu, 1897.