Aasta Hansteen

Aasta Hansteen was a Norwegian painter, writer, and early feminist. She was the daughter of Christopher Hansteen, a noted professor of astronomy, geophysics and applied mathematics at the University of Oslo. She started her art education in Copenhagen and Düsseldorf, where she studied fine brush alignment. She exhibited her work at the 1855 World's Fair in Paris and became the city's only portrait artist for several years. She also developed an interest in Norwegian dialects and the New Norwegian language movement. She published anonymously a small book written in New Norwegian in 1862 and some poems in the same language. She was influenced by John Stuart Mill's On the Subjection of Women and became an active lecturer and writer on women's rights. She criticized the state church and resigned her membership. She faced a lot of opposition and ridicule for her views and left Norway for the United States in 1880. She spent nine years in Boston and Chicago, where she met and supported other reformers and suffragists. She returned to Norway in 1889 and was welcomed as a pioneer of the women's movement. She continued to advocate for women's rights until her death in 1908. She was a strong and controversial personality, who inspired some of the characters in Henrik Ibsen's and Gunnar Heiberg's plays. She was honored with a bust by Gustav Vigeland, a statue by Nina Sundbye, and a portrait by Oda Krogh.