Beer Wilse is different

Anders Beer Wilse (around 1935)

Anders Beer Wilse (born June 12, 1865 in Flekkefjord , † February 21, 1949 in Oslo ) was one of Norway's most influential photographers .

The son of the engineer Lauritz Marius Wilse and his wife Karoline Dorothea Beer grew up in Kragerø , went to sea at the age of 13 and completed an engineering training at the Teknisk Skole (technical school) in Horten in 1882 . In 1884 he emigrated to the USA , where he initially could not find work. The United States Geological Survey finally employed him as a cartographer . This work required many trips, especially through the Northwest of the USA. One of Wilse's tasks was to take photographs of the area to be surveyed; in this way he came into contact with the still young medium for the first time. In 1888 Wilse survived the sinking of the Danish passenger ship Geiser , which sank after a collision in the North Atlantic. He was on his way from New York to Copenhagen to spend the winter in his homeland.

Wilse had already bought his first camera in 1886 . From 1897 he ran a photo studio in Seattle , with which he quickly had success. At the request of his family, however, he moved back to Norway in 1900, where he opened his own shop a year later in Kristiania, now Oslo. He quickly became the leading Norwegian landscape photographer. At the same time he worked temporarily as a correspondent for the newspaper Aftenposten in far away Svalbard , which at that time was not yet developed for tourism. Wilse also combed through otherwise inaccessible terrain with his ten kilogram camera and with his photographs from all parts of the country ensured a documentation of Norwegian cities and landscapes. In addition, he photographed people, primarily in work processes, such as the fishermen in Lofoten before the introduction of motor boats. He also portrayed the most famous cultural figures of his time. In Oslo, the National Theater , founded in 1899, became a photographer's favorite motif. In addition to exterior shots, he owes many scenes of great theatrical historical value.

While Wilse was still alive, his son and long-time partner Robert Charles took over the business and ran it until 1958. After Wilse's death, the Norsk Folkemuseum acquired no fewer than 112,000 negatives from the pioneer. The Oslo Bymuseum (City Museum of Oslo) collects and preserves his Oslo photographs , while about 1,000 portraits of Wilses belong to the collection of the Nasjonalbiblioteket today . Its extensive archive provides a unique insight into the changes in Norwegian society around and since 1900.

Wilse has received several awards, such as the Royal Medal of Merit in Gold and the Golden Button of the Norwegian Tourist Association. From 1937 he was an honorary member of the Norwegian Association of Photographers.

Web links

Commons : Anders Beer Wilse  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Short biography on www.fotohistorie.no, with examples of his work (Norwegian)

literature

• Arne Knudsen, Wilse. Med camera long norskekysten . Oslo 2003 ISBN 82-516-1916-5