Peter Alfred Schou

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Peter Alfred Schou, known as P.A. Schou, was a Danish painter (1844–1914). He was born in Copenhagen into a merchant family from Slagelse and was the brother of Ludvig Abelin Schou. At first he followed his father into business and went to trade school. From 1865 he looked after his family’s interests in Hamburg. After his older brother’s death in 1867, he began spending summers taking art classes at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1876 he moved to Paris to study with Léon Bonnat. His first Salon exhibition came in 1880. The next year, one of his works was rejected by the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition’s censorship committee, so he returned to Hamburg. There he started the Aktclub, a place for artists to paint nude models without strict academic rules. Members included Arthur Siebelist, Julius von Ehren and Julius Wohlers.

Schou returned to Denmark in 1902 and participated regularly in annual exhibitions afterward. His paintings are simple and often depict dark interiors with one or two figures, in a Post-Impressionist style. Many works express sad moments, such as the bedside of a tubercular young man. He also did portraits and still lifes.

In 1911 he received the Anckers Scholarship for artists, writers and composers. He won the Eckersberg Medal in 1908 and again in 1912. He died at Frederiksberg and was buried in Solbjerg Park Cemetery.