View source for Elna Borch

{{short description|Danish sculptor}}
[[File:Elna_Borch.jpg|thumb|200px|Elna Borch]]
'''Elna Inger Cathrine Borch''' (6 December 1869 – 3 October 1950) was a Danish sculptor. Although her known work is considered high quality by art dealers, Borch is today largely forgotten and little known to the general public.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/VisWeilbach.do?kunstnerId=1452&wsektion=alle |title=Elna Borch |publisher=Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbach Kunstnerleksikon |author=Anette Sørensen |access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref>
==Biography==
[[File:Death and the Maiden by Elna Borch, 1905 - Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek - Copenhagen - DSC09501.JPG|alt=Death and the Maiden sculpture|thumb|left|Elna Borch's sculpture, ''Death and the Maiden'' (1905)]]
Borch was born in Roskilde, Denmark. She was the daughter of merchant Anders Jacob Borch (1834–1904) and Martha Petrine Willumsen (1845–1922). She came from a family full of artists, including her uncle [[Jacob Kornerup]] (1825–1913), who taught her how to draw. She later learned sculpture in Copenhagen from sculptor [[August Saabye]], who became her instructor when she was at the Academy of Fine Arts for Women (''Kunstakademiets Kunstskole for Kvinde'').<ref name="kvinfo1">{{cite web |url=http://www.kvinfo.dk/side/170/bio/199/M/ |title=Elna Borch |author=Elisabeth Fabritius |publisher=Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon |access-date=19 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Jacob_Kornerup |title=Jacob Kornerup |website=Den Store Danske |access-date=January 1, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/August_Saabye |title=August Saabye |website=Den Store Danske |access-date=January 1, 2021}}</ref>
She debuted at the [[Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition]] in 1891 and continued to exhibit there for several years. She gained the opportunity to study abroad and moved to Paris in 1900 and later to Italy. Her sculptural style references [[Realism (art)|naturalism]] and [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.askart.com/artist_bio/Elna_Borch/11172513/Elna_Borch.aspx |title=Elna Borch - Artist Biography for Elna Borch |website=Askart.com |access-date=19 November 2017}}</ref> In Paris in 1901, she sculpted the bust ''Laughing Faun'', and in 1902, she visited northern Italy, where she made the figure ''Sorrowful Boy'' which later received the Neuhausen Prize.
Borch took interest in symbolism and became one of the few Danish sculptors in this form of expression. In 1905, she made a major breakthrough with ''Death and the Maiden'' with clear stylistic references to international symbolism. She was the first female sculptor represented in [[Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek]], where her most famous sculpture ''Death and the Maiden'' resides.<ref name="kvinfo1"/>
Abroad, her work was presented in 1927 at the Danish National Exhibition in [[Brooklyn, New York]]. She was involved in the cause of animal rights. In 1936, she received the travel scholarship [[Tagea Brandts Rejselegat]], a Danish award for women who have made significant contributions in the fields of science, literature or art.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Tagea_Brandts_Rejselegat |title= Tagea Brandts Rejselegat |website=Den Store Danske |access-date=January 1, 2021}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* Svensk Uppslagsbok, published between 1929 and 1955 in two editions. Elna Borch is presented in 1939.
* Kraks Blå Bog, published between 1910-1988. Elna Borch is presented in 1989.
==External links==
* {{cite journal|url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00023094|title=Borch, Elna Inger Cathrine (born 1869), Sculptor : Benezit Dictionary of Artists - oi|website=Oxfordindex.oup.com|access-date=19 November 2017|doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00023094}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borch, Elna}}
[[Category:1869 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Danish sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish women artists]]
[[Category:19th-century Danish women artists]]
[[Category:Danish women sculptors]]
[[Category:People from Roskilde]]
[[Category:Symbolist sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century women sculptors]]