Albert Anker

A realist painter, he divided his activities between Ins and Paris, where he maintained a studio and regularly exhibited at the Salon. After studying theology, he trained in Paris under the Vaud painter Charles Gleyre and acquired a classical education.

Anker painted scenes of everyday life, portraits and historical subjects. The inhabitants of Ins, particularly children and elderly people, occupy an important place in his paintings. Far from idealising the countryside, he depicted ordinary gestures, school, reading and work with precise observation.

The Centre Albert Anker emphasises that his scenes of readers and pupils present an educated rural population, called upon to participate in civic life. His portraits of children are among the most recognisable aspects of his œuvre, but his practice also included studies, faience works and watercolours made during travels, particularly in Italy.

Education was also a concern of his public engagement. Anker served on the school board of Ins and in the Grand Council of Bern, where he notably supported the creation of the Kunstmuseum Bern. His interest in education thus runs through both his painting and his political activity.

The Kunstmuseum Bern devoted an exhibition to his representations of young female readers: works such as La liseuse (1883), Schulmädchen mit Schiefertafel und Nähkörbchen (1878) and Das Schulexamen (1862) connect the motif of study with the question of girls’ access to education.

The popularity of his village scenes has at times eclipsed the diversity of his work and the cosmopolitan dimension of his career. His repeated stays in Paris, his exchanges with artistic circles and his activity within federal commissions testify to an artist engaged in the debates of his time. A book, a slate or a concentrated face connects the intimate scene with the transformations of the community.