Autumn 2021 will see the opening at the Glyptotek of a special, research-based exhibition about the sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen (1863-1945). Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was Denmark’s greatest female sculptor, yet her work is still unknown to many people. This exhibition will be the most comprehensive presentation of the artist and her work since 1946, featuring sculpture, process, sketches, accounts of her major public commissions, her extensive range of subjects, and her huge international success and remarkable personal story.

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was the first woman in the world to undertake two of the most prestigious projects in the world of professional sculpture: an equestrian statue of a king (Christian IX in the Christiansborg Palace Riding Grounds) and bronze doors for a cathedral (Ribe Cathedral). In addition to her numerous awards and major exhibitions both in Denmark and abroad, Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was also well represented in foreign museums. She was the co-founder of Den Frie Udstilling (‘The Free Exhibition’), helped establish the Danish Women’s Art Association and was an active advocate for women’s admission to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

Paradoxically, while her extensive, tireless work in plaster and bronze has made Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen an inspiring role model for generations of Danish sculptors, it has not yet earned her a justified place in art history.

The Glyptotek exhibition will present Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s oeuvre in innovative interaction with the museum’s polychromy research and reception of Antiquityin both the archaeological and modern collections.

The exhibition is funded by the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Foundation.