Norway art

H.M. QUEEN SONJA'S ART COLLECTION

Karin Hellandsjø

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
#4 2012 (37)

Queen Sonja’s personal engagement in Norwegian art and culture goes back a long way. Over the years, the Queen has actively participated in Norway’s artistic and cultural spheres not just as its high patron but also as an important key figure; her efforts in casting light upon and promoting Norwegian art has gained her respect throughout Norway and far beyond.

H.M. QUEEN SONJA'S ART COLLECTION

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY. WE WERE ON A HIKE IN NORTHERN NORWAY. IN LEIRFJORD A LARGE RECTANGULAR STEEL INSTALLATION HAD BEEN PLACED IN THE LANDSCAPE. EVERYONE THOUGHT IT WAS ODD. BUT I INSISTED - WE SHOULD NOT BE DISCOURAGED. WE SHOULD GO AND HAVE A LOOK! AS WE APPROACHED, WE SAW THAT THE SEEMINGLY RANDOMLY SITED CONSTRUCTION FRAMED THE LANDSCAPE IN AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PERSPECTIVES, DEPENDING UPON WHERE ONE WAS STANDING. THE LANDSCAPE HAD BEEN THERE SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME. ART HELPS US REALIZE THAT. WHAT MORE CAN WE ASK?

ROUTES TO RUSSIA. PICTURES BY NORWEGIAN ARTISTS IN RUSSIAN PRIVATE AND MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Anna Poznanskaya

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

The interest in Norwegian painting arose in Russia at the end of the 19th century. Painting in Norway and Russia of this period has some similar features that can been seen in both the works of individual artists and artistic groups. Such distinctive features developed and co-existed as part of general trends taking places in European art at that time.

ROUTES TO RUSSIA. PICTURES BY NORWEGIAN ARTISTS IN RUSSIAN PRIVATE AND MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

The interest in Norwegian painting arose in Russia at the end of the 19th century. Painting in Norway and Russia of this period has some similar features that can been seen in both the works of individual artists and artistic groups. Such distinctive features developed and co-existed as part of general trends taking places in European art at that time.

NIDAROS CATHEDRAL ST. OLAV AND RUSSIA THE HISTORY OF ST. OLAV

Øystein Ekroll

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

When the thaw of spring in the year 1030 finally broke the grip of the Russian winter, a band of warriors left Novgorod and went west. They were led by Olav Haraldsson, a king without a country since he had fled his Norwegian kingdom two years earlier. The Norwegian noblemen had allied themselves with Canute the Great, king of Denmark and England, who wanted to add a third crown to his head, and they had succeeded in chasing Olav out of the country.

NIDAROS CATHEDRAL ST. OLAV AND RUSSIA THE HISTORY OF ST. OLAV

When the thaw of spring in the year 1030 finally broke the grip of the Russian winter, a band of warriors left Novgorod and went west. They were led by Olav Haraldsson, a king without a country since he had fled his Norwegian kingdom two years earlier. The Norwegian noblemen had allied themselves with Canute the Great, king of Denmark and England, who wanted to add a third crown to his head, and they had succeeded in chasing Olav out of the country.

H.M. QUEEN SONJA'S ART COLLECTION

Karin Hellandsjø

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

Queen Sonja’s personal engagement in Norwegian art and culture goes back a long way. Over the years, the Queen has actively participated in Norway’s artistic and cultural spheres not just as its high patron but also as an important key figure; her efforts in casting light upon and promoting Norwegian art has gained her respect throughout Norway and far beyond.

H.M. QUEEN SONJA'S ART COLLECTION

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY. WE WERE ON A HIKE IN NORTHERN NORWAY. IN LEIRFJORD A LARGE RECTANGULAR STEEL INSTALLATION HAD BEEN PLACED IN THE LANDSCAPE. EVERYONE THOUGHT IT WAS ODD. BUT I INSISTED - WE SHOULD NOT BE DISCOURAGED. WE SHOULD GO AND HAVE A LOOK! AS WE APPROACHED, WE SAW THAT THE SEEMINGLY RANDOMLY SITED CONSTRUCTION FRAMED THE LANDSCAPE IN AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PERSPECTIVES, DEPENDING UPON WHERE ONE WAS STANDING. THE LANDSCAPE HAD BEEN THERE SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME. ART HELPS US REALIZE THAT. WHAT MORE CAN WE ASK?

THE NEW MUSEUM ASTRUP FEARNLEY IN OSLO

Sune Nordgren

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

2012 has been a great year for the arts in Oslo – and in Norway. The new museum at Tjuvholmen (Thieves’ Islet) with its expected “Astrup Fearnley effect” should change the art scene in Oslo. Some of the city’s best galleries have already moved out to be under its wings and more will follow. With its density and its attractiveness to also other creative industries, not to mention all side-effects such as cafés, restaurants and shops, it will establish this new part of the city in years to come as Oslo’s first “gallery district”. Similar developments have previously happened in several cities around Europe, where the arrival of a major art institution has become a new hub of the creative wheel: London’s Tate Modern is such an example, where previously derelict neighbourhoods around the old power station were revitalized, and today are jointly presented as “Better Bankside”.

THE NEW MUSEUM ASTRUP FEARNLEY IN OSLO

2012 has been a great year for the arts in Oslo - and in Norway. The new museum at Tjuvholmen (Thieves' Islet) with its expected "Astrup Fearnley effect" should change the art scene in Oslo. Some of the city's best galleries have already moved out to be under its wings and more will follow. With its density and its attractiveness to also other creative industries, not to mention all side-effects such as cafes, restaurants and shops, it will establish this new part of the city in years to come as Oslo's first "gallery district".

BERGEN KUNSTHALL

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

The largest collection of the prominent Norwegian artist Kaare Espolin Johnson (1907-1994) is held at the Espolin Gallery in Kabelvåg, Lofoten, which opened in 1992 as a municipal gallery on the basis of a donation from the artist. Espolin Johnson is well-known for his portrayal of the lives of coastal people in Northern Norway, and today the collection consists of 250 artworks. The local community is small with only 9,000 inhabitants, but over the summer season some 300,000 tourists visit the Lofoten Islands.

BERGEN KUNSTHALL

BERGEN KUNSTHALL IS A PROMINENT ARENA FOR INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART. THE INSTITUTION HAS ITS ORIGIN IN THE BERGEN ART SOCIETY, WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1838 AND UP TO THIS DAY IT HAS REMAINED AN INSTITUTION WITH A FOCUS ON THE DISSEMINATION AND PRESENTATION OF ART FOR OVER 170 YEARS.

BERGEN KUNSTHALL IS A HIGHLY ACTIVE SPACE FOR CULTURAL PRAXIS, AND TODAY IT IS AN IMPORTANT FORUM FOR INNOVATIVE CULTURE ACROSS THE GENRE BOUNDARIES.

PAR EXCELLENCE KAARE ESPOLIN JOHNSON, THE QUINTESSENTIAL LOFOTEN ARTIST

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

The largest collection of the prominent Norwegian artist Kaare Espolin Johnson (1907-1994) is held at the Espolin Gallery in Kabelvag, Lofoten, which opened in 1992 as a municipal gallery on the basis of a donation from the artist. Espolin Johnson is well-known for his portrayal of the lives of coastal people in Northern Norway, and today the collection consists of 250 artworks. The local community is small with only 9,000 inhabitants, but over the summer season some 300,000 tourists visit the Lofoten Islands.

PAR EXCELLENCE KAARE ESPOLIN JOHNSON, THE QUINTESSENTIAL LOFOTEN ARTIST

The largest collection of the prominent Norwegian artist Kaare Espolin Johnson (1907-1994) is held at the Espolin Gallery in Kabelvag, Lofoten, which opened in 1992 as a municipal gallery on the basis of a donation from the artist. Espolin Johnson is well-known for his portrayal of the lives of coastal people in Northern Norway, and today the collection consists of 250 artworks. The local community is small with only 9,000 inhabitants, but over the summer season some 300,000 tourists visit the Lofoten Islands.

SACRED TEARS

Stig Sæterbakken

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

QUICQUID DEUS CREAVIT PURUM EST, it reads above the entrance to Tomba Emmanuelle, EVERYTHING CREATED BY GOD IS PURE, in what seems to be the perfect antithesis to the dark inferno of sex and death one enters seconds later. But only seems. For what, if not purity, is the very essence of the VITA, with its never-ending cycle of birth, growth and death, purity of vision, and purity of form, all of mankind’s vitality and anxieties and unspeakable fears frozen in almost ornamental patterns of naked figures? The scenes are those of both productive and counterproductive human activity, men and women engaged in Kama-Sutra-like lovemaking side by side with skulls and bones and decomposing corpses, with the ultimate synthesis of life and death conjured up in what is perhaps the most extreme image of them all, that of two skeletons copulating at the base of a monolith of levitating infants.

SACRED TEARS

1. QUICQUID DEUS CREAVIT PURUM EST, it reads above the entrance to Tomba Emmanuelle, EVERYTHING CREATED BY GOD IS PURE, in what seems to be the perfect antithesis to the dark inferno of sex and death one enters seconds later. But only seems. For what, if not purity, is the very essence of the VITA, with its never-ending cycle of birth, growth and death, purity of vision, and purity of form, all of mankind's vitality and anxieties and unspeakable fears frozen in almost ornamental patterns of naked figures?

GUSTAV VIGELAND. THE MAN BEHIND THE VIGELAND PARK

Jarle Strømodden

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) is perhaps the best known Norwegian sculptor, a fame confirmed by the Vigeland Park in Oslo. This area, measuring about 340 acres and mainly designed and shaped by Vigeland, has more than 200 of his sculptures, and since its completion in the 1950s been very popular, both with locals and with tourists. Despite this, Vigeland has never made a particular impact on Norwegian sculpture - he is not like one of his famous contemporaries, the painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944). Vigeland had a modest upbringing, went through a struggling period as a student and in his early career, but ended up as an acclaimed sculptor.

GUSTAV VIGELAND. THE MAN BEHIND THE VIGELAND PARK

Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) is perhaps the best known Norwegian sculptor, a fame confirmed by the Vigeland Park in Oslo. This area, measuring about 340 acres and mainly designed and shaped by Vigeland, has more than 200 of his sculptures, and since its completion in the 1950s been very popular, both with locals and with tourists. Despite this, Vigeland has never made a particular impact on Norwegian sculpture - he is not like one of his famous contemporaries, the painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944).

FOLLOWING THE SUN. PIONEERING ART IN THE DECORATION OF PUBLIC SPACES

Petra Pettersen

Article: 
INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA
Magazine issue: 
Special issue. NORWAY–RUSSIA: ON THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

As part of Kristiania's Royal Frederik University's centenary celebrations in 1911, a new festival hall - the Aula - was planned as the artistic and symbolic highlight of the jubilee. Separated from its union with Sweden in 1905, Norway had become a sovereign state, and the young country had a desire to proclaim its national status. The decoration of the Aula's eleven wall panels was included in the plan for the university's centennial celebration in September 1911. Edvard Munch entered the competition to decorate the Aula in spring 1909 and his draft was accepted for further development in March 1910, along with proposals made by the artist Emanuel Vigeland.

FOLLOWING THE SUN. PIONEERING ART IN THE DECORATION OF PUBLIC SPACES

As part of Kristiania's1 Royal Frederik University's centenary celebrations in 1911, a new festival hall - the Aula - was planned as the artistic and symbolic highlight of the jubilee. Separated from its union with Sweden in 1905, Norway had become a sovereign state, and the young country had a desire to proclaim its national status. The decoration of the Aula's eleven wall panels was included in the plan for the university's centennial celebration in September 1911.

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