Anders Beer Wilse

Anders Beer Wilse
Anders Beer Wilse ca. 1935
Anders Beer Wilse ca. 1935
Born(1865-06-12)12 June 1865
Died21 February 1949(1949-02-21) (aged 83)
NationalityNorwegian

Anders Beer Wilse (12 June 1865 – 21 February 1949) was a Norwegian photographer who documented Norway in the early to mid-20th century and also worked in the United States.

Wilse was born in Flekkefjord, but grew up in Kragerø and decided early to become a sailor. After having graduated with a technical degree from the technical school in Horten in 1882, Wilse emigrated to the United States in 1884. He did not find work in the beginning, but eventually settled in Seattle working for the United States Geological Survey. He is reported to have acquired his first camera in 1886. He opened a photography store in Seattle in 1897, after having visited Norway, and married Helen Marie Hutchinson.

Wilse's photograph of Knut Hamsun in 1914

In 1900, his wife and children moved to Norway, and Wilse himself joined them, opening a photography store in Christiania in 1901, after 17 years in the United States.