GERDA ÅKESSON (1909-92). Composition 'Challenger', oil on canvas, signed.

Gerda Åkesson, composition 'Challenger', oil on canvas, signed. H. 100 x 80 cm, framed 102.5 x 83 cm.

Gerda Åkesson was a painter, graphic artist, and ceramicist. Originally trained as a dancer, she began her studies in 1937 at Marcel Gromaire's art school in Paris. Later trained at P. Rostrup Bøyesen's school of painting 1939-42 and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts under Elof Risebye and Vilhelm Lundstrøm in the years 1943-46. She debuted at the Artists' Autumn Exhibition in 1944.
Gerda Åkesson primarily painted ballet motifs and exhibited both in Denmark and in Paris, where she lived for many years.
Married in 1948 to Axel Salto (1889-1961), but from 1962 she lived with the French film producer Jean Painlevé (1902-89).