1. Albert Samuel Anker was a Swiss painter and illustrator who has been called the "national painter" of Switzerland because of his enduringly popular depictions of 19th-century Swiss social life.
10 Facts About Albert Anker
1. 2.
In 1836 his father became veterinarian in Neuchatel, and the Albert Anker family moved there.
3.
Albert Anker attended school in Neuchatel, where his teacher in sketching was Frederic-Wilhelm Moritz.
4.
Albert Anker installed a studio in the attic of his parents' house and participated regularly in exhibitions in Switzerland and in Paris.
5.
Apart from his regular wintertime stays in Paris, Albert Anker frequently travelled to Italy and other European countries.
6.
Albert Anker's paintings depict his fellow citizens in an unpretentious and plain manner, without idealising country life, but without the critical examination of social conditions that can be found in the works of contemporaries such as Daumier, Courbet or Millet.
7.
Also prominent in Albert Anker's work are the more than 30 still lifes he created.
8.
Between 1866, the year Albert Anker settled to Paris and 1892, Albert Anker decorated more than 500 faience plates for the Alsatian pottery industrial Theodore Deck.
9.
Albert Anker was quick to reach his artistic objectives and never strayed from his chosen path.
10.
Albert Anker's work made him Switzerland's most popular genre painter of the 19th century, and his paintings have continued to enjoy a great popularity due to their general accessibility.