Else Kai Sass

Else Kai Sass née Brasen Bjernede (1912–1987) was a Danish art historian. After a period as a custodian at Thorvaldsens Museum, with her appointment as history of art professor at Aarhus University in 1954, she became the third woman in Denmark to hold a professorship. Over the following 25 years she was a key figure in the development of the history of art as a modern academic discipline, becoming a professor at the University of Copenhagen in 1967. Her books include Thorvaldsens portrætbuster, published in three volumes (1963–65) and still considered to be the standard work on the many portrait busts created by Bertel Thorvaldsen.

Early life and family Born in Copenhagen on 6 January 1912, Else Kai Brasen was the daughter of the clerk Valdemar Bjernede (born 1885) and Karen Margrethe Brasen (1878–1921). In March 1934, she married the painter Kai Louis Sass (1898–1957) with whom she had three children: Lotte (1934), Pernille (1938) and Karsten (1941). After matriculating from Rysensteen Gymnasium in 1930, she began studying art history at the University of Copenhagen. As a result of interruptions caused by stays in Paris and Rome and her marriage in 1934, she did not earn her master's degree until 1944.

Else Kai Sass died in Copenhagen on 16 December 1987 and was buried in the cemetery at Tibirke Cemetery near Tisvilde.