Benedicte Marie Wrensted was a notable Danish-American photographer, who emigrated to the United States after running a studio for a few years in Horsens, Denmark.
13 Facts About Benedicte Wrensted
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Benedicte Wrensted was an obscure photographer who is most notably remembered for her documentation of the Northern Shoshone, Lemhi, and Bannock tribes in Idaho between 1895 and 1912.
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Benedicte Wrensted is remembered above all for the many photographs she took of the Shoshone native people in Idaho.
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Benedicte Wrensted's parents were Captain Carl V Wrensted, later an innkeeper, and Johanne Borgen.
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Benedicte Wrensted grew up and attended school in Frederikshavn in the far north of Jutland.
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Benedicte Wrensted then opened a studio of her own in Horsens which she ran for a few years before emigrating to the United States with her mother in 1894.
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Benedicte Wrensted operated a photography studio in 1895 where she took photographs of the local and regional inhabitants and recorded the growth of the town.
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Benedicte Wrensted was known for her expressive handling of natural light and the painterly quality of her photographs.
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Benedicte Wrensted photographed The Edmos, a prominent Native American family from the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, quite often.
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Benedicte Wrensted became a US citizen in 1912, at age 53, and the same year she ended her career as a photographer.
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Benedicte Wrensted sold her studio in Pocatello and moved to Los Angeles where she died on January 19,1949, shortly before her 90th birthday.
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Benedicte Wrensted consulted tribal elders from the nearby Fort Hall Indian Reservation, wrote letters to people, checked business directories and looked through tons of museums and libraries in an effort to uncover the background of Wrensted and her photographs.
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Benedicte Wrensted captured their presence with a dignity and beauty that transcend time and place.