Kirsten Justesen:
Countess Danner

MAPS presents an exhibition featuring sculptor Kirsten Justesen’s preparatory work for the four-meter-tall Monument to Countess Danner, which now stands on Gyldenløvesgade across from Dannerhuset in Copenhagen.

Justesen’s monument portrays Countess Danner – a remarkable and controversial figure in 19th-century Danish history. Without noble background, she married King Frederik VII and became a visible actor in the transition to the constitutional monarchy. She worked actively to improve the conditions of vulnerable women and girls, leaving behind both an orphanage and a building providing free housing for “poor women of the working class.”

Monument to Countess Danner is not a traditional portrait. The sculpture takes the form of a woman’s body with a pedestal skirt, on which a timeline and accompanying objects depict the Countess’s life as a woman in her historical time – and what has since followed in the lives of Danish women.

The exhibition at MAPS brings together Justesen’s extensive preparatory work and offers a rare insight into the comprehensive artistic process behind the monument – from the first diary notes, sketches, and models to the choices and conditions that shaped the final work.

Kirsten Justesen (b. 1943) was part of the avant-garde scene of the 1960s and is a pioneer of feminist art. She has exhibited internationally since the 1970s and has received numerous honors for her lifelong artistic practice, including the Thorvaldsen Medal.