MANIOBRAS | Christa Zaat

Christa Zaat



Carl Locher (Danish painter) 1851 - 1915
Seascape with Numerous Ships, s.d.
oil on canvas 
30 x 53 cm. (11.81 x 20.87 in.)
signed Carl Locher
private collection

Carl Locher was a Danish realist painter who from an early age became a member of the Skagen group of painters.

Carl Locher was born on 21 November 1851 in Flensburg in the Duchy of Schleswig which was then part of Denmark. From an early age he took an interest in ships and received his first training from his father who painted ship portraits for a living. After the father died, Carl continued his business for a short while and went on several voyages with ships of the Royal Danish Navy. Struck by the grandeur of the Atlantic Ocean, a voyage to the Danish West Indies made a particular impression on him.
Even before he began his studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in 1872, he was encouraged by Holger Drachmann to spend a couple of months in Skagen, the artists colony in the far north of Jutland. He quickly completed paintings of the beach, some with fishing boats or wrecks. He also became interested in the horse-drawn carriage which travelled along the beach on its journey from Frederikshavn.
In the 1870s, Locher continued his studies in Paris but he visited Skagen whenever he was back in Denmark. Ultimately he had a house built there where he lived until his death.
Supported by the State, he opened an etching school for Danish artists in Copenhagen, where he taught until 1900. Skagen painters such as Anna Ancher and Michael Ancher and P.S. Krøyer attended the school.