Page 44 - Studio International - March 1965

with a simpler subject, as in the drypoint of his wife.
Knut Rumohr (b.1916), and Ludvig Eikaas (b.1920).
appear as the major printmakers of the middle genera­
tion. Rumohr, particularly impressive in woodcut and
wood-engraving, produced delicate figurative work
until the later 1940s, when he turned to a very personal
near-abstract style. Composition, 1963, with its refined
primitivism and sense of strange atmosphere, shows,
however, that nature has not been abandoned. Alter­
natively, his work can be of a fanciful. yet robust
humour. Eikaas has moved in the less common direc­
tion. from an abstract style to a highly selective and
suggestive figuration. His prints have a spontaneous
look about them. sometimes verging on the calligraphic.
sometimes moving close to a Pop idiom. Eikaas like
Nesch, with whom he worked for a time, has also
realised the beauty of the block itself. and has at times
produced these, cast in bronze. as finished artwork.
Inger Sitter (b.1929), is another distinguished artist,
whose prints are both delicate and sophisticated. In
addition to their work as printmakers, all these three are
well-known for their paintings.
Rolf Nesch Tapestry-weaving is another form of art which has
The V✓ind attracted some original minds. Hannah Ryggen
Oil colour and metal plates
42 x 55 cm. (b.1894), who represented Norway at last year's
Bergen Art Gallery Venice Biennale. has been well known for some time
with her very personal and decorative kind of Expres­
sionism. Synnove Aurdal (b.1908). has emerged more
recently as another imaginative. though very different.
artist. Fascinated from childhood by medieval Nor­
wegian weaving, her rich. beautifully-harmonized
tapestries are usually organic designs of a lyrical
nature-poetry, but some of her large-scale public
works. as in Hakonshallen at Bergen, fittingly hint at
traditional motives.
The standard among younger artists is very mixed.
partly, I suspect. because much Norwegian art training
seems rather unsure of itself at the moment. But several
personalities appear to be coming out from the general
picture. Jens Johannessen (b.1934), who has recently
had an important show at Galleri Haaken. looks like
somebody of whom we shall hear more. His paintings
are abstract. but. again. not completely removed from
starting points in nature. His work is bold and painterly,
with rich, sonorous colours. although I have also seen
smaller scale pictures in his studio of a very great
delicacy. Among printmakers. Trond Botnen (b.1937).
is a very strong starter. Despite his youth, his work is
very assured. and it is no surprise to find that he has
already represented Norway in important exhibitions
abroad. Figurative in a very personal, stylized way, his
prints are elegant and polished. with a most sensitive
use of line.
What conclusions can one come to then? Surely, good
ones. Despite a little time-lag, which may not be a bad
thing, the best Norwegian art has real flavour. The old
attitude which I heard of in some quarters. that one
Synnove Aurdal should be proud of being a little amateurish, that to be
Red Rhythms, 1962 smooth is to be suspect. seems to be dying; an artist like
Tapestry 182 x 252 cm.
Norwegian American Line Gundersen can be polished without losing impact. The
enormous importance of nature to Norwegians has
generally proved a strength to contemporary artists. as
with Weidemann and Rumohr. giving their work weight
and point. Only three years ago, Pal Hougen wrote:
'The forests are always the natural destination of the
inhabitants out for their Sunday walks. for the people of
Oslo have not yet learned to live in a town·. And this is
still largely true; urban cynicism has not yet bitten
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