Gerda Marie Fredrikke Wegener ( Gottlieb; 15 March 1885 – 28 July 1940) was a Danish illustrator and painter. Wegener is known for her fashion illustrations and later her paintings that pushed the boundaries of her time concerning gender and love. These works were classified as lesbian erotica at times and many were inspired by her partner, transgender painter Lili Elbe.

Early life

Gottlieb was born in , Denmark to Justine (née Østerberg) and Emil Gottlieb, a vicar in the Lutheran church. She was raised in a conservative milieu. Later on in France, Wegener created work showing women displaying seductive power or engaging in sexual activities. This risqué art was considered "lesbian erotica" and published in illicit art books.

Paris, France

In 1912, Wegener and her partner, Lili Elbe, moved to Paris, France. She was exhibited in the Salon des Humoristes, the Salon des Indépendants, and the Salon d’Automne. They married in 1904, when Gerda was 19 and Lili was 22. They travelled through Italy and France, eventually settling in Paris in 1912. The couple immersed themselves in the Bohemian lifestyle of the time, befriending many artists, dancers and other figures from the artistic world, often attending carnivals and other public festivals.

During this time Elbe began to wear female clothing, and adopted her female name and persona, becoming Gerda Wegener's favourite model, in paintings of beautiful women with haunting almond-shaped eyes dressed in chic fashions. In 1913, the art world was shocked when they learned that the model who had inspired her depictions of petite femmes fatales was in fact her "husband". In 1930 Elbe underwent one of the first sex reassignment surgeries. She faced financial instability and kept an income by selling hand-painted postcards.

The Danish Girl, David Ebershoff's 2000 novel about Gerda and Lili, was an international best-seller and was translated into a dozen languages. Gerda Wegener is portrayed by Swedish actress Alicia Vikander in the 2015 film The Danish Girl, also starring British actor Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe. The film received some criticism for obscuring the actual story of a historical trans person and omitting certain facts and for being based on a fictional book that does not tell the true story of the couple. The topic of Gerda Wegener's own sexuality, which she never talked about publicly, is not mentioned in the film or book.

Select works illustrated by Wegener

thumb|right|Two Mermaids, 1918

thumb|[[Madonna (art)|Madonna and Child, surrounded by musical angels, 1935]]

thumb|right|Les femmes fatales

  • Den skønne Ubekendte by Andreas Winding (1912)
  • L'Anneau ou La Jeune fille imprudente by Louis de Robert (1913)
  • Amour Etrusque by J.-H. Rosny aîné (1914)
  • Les Aventures amoureuses d'Eustache Leroussin by Daniel Barrias (1914)
  • Le Peplos vert by Maurice de Waleffe (1915)
  • Les Colombes poignardées by Maurice Magre (1917)
  • La Guerre est morte by Louis Delluc (1917)
  • Le Journal de Marinette by une Femme curieuse (1917)
  • La Petite faunesse by Charles Derennes (1918)
  • La Tendre Camarade by Maurice Magre (1918)
  • L'Abdication de Ris-Orangis by Léo Larguier (1918)
  • Contes de mon Père le Jars by Eric Allatini (1919)
  • Le Parfait Suiveur by Maurice Magre (1919)
  • Le Livre des vikings by Charles Guyot (1924)
  • Douze sonnets lascifs by Louis Perceau (1925) - accompanied by the suite of aquarelles Les Délassements d'Éros
  • Une Aventure d'amour à Venise by Giacomo Casanova (1927)
  • La Mythologie (1928) - album of twelve plates
  • Les Contes by La Fontaine (1928–1929)
  • Sur Talons rouges by Eric Allatini (1929)
  • l'Œuvre du Divin Arétin (1930–1931) - suite of twelve color engravings
  • Fortunio by Théophile Gautier (1934)

References

Literature

  • Editor Niels Hoyer is a pseudonym for E. Harthern. Originally published in Danish as Fra mand til kvinde.
  • Retrospective exhibition at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art 7 November 2015 to 8 January 2017