HARDANGER FJORD PAINTED BY WILLIAM H. JOHNSON

WILLIAM H. JOHNSON (1901-1970) 

 Hardanger Fjord (700m - 2, 287ft)

Norway

In Mountain and sea, Hardanger Fjord, Norway, ca.1938,
Oil on burlap, Smithsonian American Art Museum

The mountain 

The Hardangerfjord, whose highest peak is 700 meters (2, 287ft) high, stretches from the Atlantic to the Hardangervidda plateau in Hordaland County, western Norway. It is the fourth fjord in the world and the second in Norway by its length. This vertiginous rock overlooks Ringedalsvatnet Lake in Odda. It is a hiking destination that attracts enthusiasts from all over the world. But this is not the only extraordinary site on the edge of the Hardangerfjord.

"Norway boasts a number of impressive rock platforms, offering panoramic views and photographs of genuine postcards. Trolltunga is one of the best, "writes Lonely Planet about one of the most spectacular rock formations in Norway.

Although nature often seems intact and difficult to access, the site offers excellent infrastructure, with well-signposted trails and hotels and cottages to spend the night. One can take a guided hike on the blue ice of the Folgefonna glacier or take one of the national tourist routes: these are carefully selected routes, located in the most spectacular parts of Norway.

Sources:

- Visit Norway 

The painter 

William Henry Johnson was an modernist African-American painter. He became a student at the National Academy of Design in New York City, working with Charles Webster Hawthorne. He later lived and worked in France, where he was exposed to modernism. After Johnson married Danish textile artist Holcha Krake, the couple lived for some time in Scandinavia. There he was influenced by the strong folk art tradition. The couple moved to the United States in 1938. Johnson eventually found work as a teacher at the Harlem Community Art Center, through the Federal Art Project. Johnson's style evolved from realism to expressionism to a powerful folk style, for which he is best known. In 1947, in Oslo (Norway) he was diagnosed as suffering from syphilis which had impaired both mental and motor function. As a U.S. citizen who was no longer considered mentally competent, he was sent back to New York by the U.S. Embassy in Oslo. An attorney was appointed by the court as his legal guardian, and his belongings were put into storage. He no longer painted after 1955.
 A substantial collection of his paintings, watercolors, and prints is held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which has organized and circulated (in 1991 and 2006) major exhibitions of his works.
 An expanded version of this exhibition traveled to the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, Alabama in 2007.  The William H. Johnson Foundation for the Arts was established in 2001 in honor of the 100th birthday of William Johnson. Beginning with Laylah Ali in 2002, the Foundation has awarded the William H. Johnson Prize annual to an early career African American artist.
In 2012, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in Johnson's honor, recognizing him as one of the nation's foremost African-American artists and a major figure in 20th-century American art. The stamp, the 11th in the "American Treasures" series, showcases his painting Flowers (1939–1940), which depicts brightly colored blooms on a small red table.
Source:
- Smithsonian American Art Museum

NORTH CAPE PAINTED BY PEDER BALKE

PEDER BALKE (1804 -1887)

North Cape  (307m - 1,007 ft)

Norway

The cliff 
North Cape (307m - 1,007 ft), Nordkapp in  Norwegian, named by the Englishman Steven Borough, captain of the Edward Bonaventure, which sailed past in 1553 in search of the Northeast Passage, is a cape on the northern coast of the island of Magerшya in Northern Norway. The cape is in Nordkapp Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The European route E69 highway has its northern terminus at North Cape, since it is a popular tourist attraction. The cape includes a 307-metre (1,007 ft) high cliff with a large flat plateau on top where visitors can stand and watch the midnight sun or the views of the Barents Sea to the north. A new visitor centre was built in 1988 on the plateau with panoramic views, a cafй, restaurant, post office, souvenir shop, and a so-called super video cinema.
The steep cliff of North Cape is located at 71°10′21″N 25°47′04″E, about 2,102.3 kilometres (1,306.3 mi) from the North Pole. It is often referred to as the northernmost point of Europe. However, the neighbouring Knivskjellodden point, just to the west actually extends 1,457 metres (4,780 ft) further to the north. Furthermore, both of these points are situated on an island; the northernmost point of mainland Europe is located at Cape Nordkinn (Kinnarodden) which lies about 5.7 kilometres (3.5 mi) further south and about 70 kilometres (43 mi) to the east. That point is located near the village of Mehamn on the Nordkinn Peninsula. The northernmost point of Europe including islands is several hundred miles further north, either in Russia's Franz Josef Land or Norway's Svalbard archipelago, depending on whether Franz Josef Land is considered to be in Europe or in Asia.
The North Cape is the point where the Norwegian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, meets the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. The midnight sun can be seen from 14 May to the 31st of July.
The sun reaches its lowest point from 12:14 - 12:24 a.m. during those days.
The North Cape is reached by European route E69 highway through the North Cape Tunnel, an undersea tunnel connecting the island of Magerшya to the mainland. The EuroVelo bicycle route EV1 runs from North Cape to Sagres, Portugal—a 8,196 kilometres (5,093 mi) distance by land and sea.
Regular buses run from the nearby town of Honningsvеg to the North Cape (36 kilometres (22 mi)), and coaches meet the many cruise ships that call at the port of Honningsvеg. The nearest airport is Honningsvеg Airport, Valan.
During winter season, it is also possible to visit North Cape, however the last stretch of road is only open for convoy driving at fixed hours. The road all the way through Norway up to North Cape is kept open during winter and is accessible to regular vehicles with some specific winter precautions being required to deal with the hard snow and wind conditions that may occur in winter. Before this, E69 was the only winter closed E road in Europe.

The painter 
Peder Balke is a Norwegian painter that was even barely known in his home country, until recently. He didn’t encounter success during his lifetime. Having difficulties to sell his paintings, he abandoned his career to focus on social projects and politics but he continued to paint for his own pleasure. Once delivered from the pressure of making a living from his paintings, his style changed to become more personal, more modern.
During the summer 1832, Peder Balke, who was in love with the Norwegian landscapes, decided to go and seek for its most remote, its most desolate and its most distant points by sailing up the west coast of Norway as far as he could go. He went up to the inhospitable and barely accessible far-northern region of Finnmark. He reached the North Cape, the northernmost part of Norway, which was even more impressive at that time because it was the further north you could go, the final limit to knowledge and exploration – beyond it lies nothing (explorers only reached the North Pole in the late 1900s, two decades after his death).

Peder Balke wrote in his memoirs: “I can’t begin to describe how elated I was at having seen and re-tread the land, once again, after satisfying my deep longing to see the northern provinces. No easier is it for me to pen my thoughts on which sublime and mesmerizing impressions the wealth of natural beauty and unrivaled settings leave upon the mind of an observer. These impressions not only overwhelmed me for a brief moment, but they, too, influenced my entire future since I never yet, neither abroad nor other places in our country, have had the occasion to gaze at something so awe-inspiring and exciting as that which I observed during this journey to Finnmark. Unsurpassed in the norther provinces is the beauty of nature, while humans – nature’s children – play but a minor role, in comparison”.

The 1832 journey had a momentous effect upon his development as an artist; the eerie, isolated, dramatic and gloomy Arctic landscapes became a leitmotiv as he continued to paint them from his memory for the rest of his life. 

Peder Blake’s early paintings are quintessentially romantic, the product of a man awed by nature, overwhelmed by the often-horrifying beauty of his own land.

Long forgotten, Peder Balke is today increasingly recognized as an important precursor of modern painters.

GAUSTATOPPEN PAINTED BY PEDER BALKE

Painted in 1858 by Peder Balke 

PEDER BALKE (1804-1887)

 Gaustatoppen (1,883 m - 6,178 ft)

 Norway

1.   In Gaustatoppen, 1877, watercolor, National gallery of Norway  

2.  In Gaustatoppen, 1858, oil on canvas, Private collection 

The mountain 

Gaustatoppen (1,883 m -6,178 ft) is the highest mountain in the county Telemark in Norway. The view from the summit is impressive, as one can see an area of approximately 60,000 kmІ, one sixth of Norway's mainland.  Inside the mountain there is a railway (with an electric locomotive) that cost one million US dollars to build from 1954 to 1959. and a elevator. It was built to access the military radio station built on the top.  Nowadays, mlilitary installations are not used anymore, but they are still there as a tourist attraction. The mountain is popular for downhill skiing in winter, and competitions have been held on its slopes. These competitions include the "Norseman triathlon", billed as "the world's most brutal iron-distance triathlon". It starts in Eidfjord and finishes at the top of Gaustatoppen. The summit is accessible on foot in the summer, on a rocky pathway of medium difficulty, although the southern side of the mountain is very dangerous and inaccessible.  

Fist ascent was made in 1810 by Jens Esmark.

The wreckage of an airplane crash lies there, as it is too difficult to remove it.

The painter 
Peder Balke is a Norwegian painter that was even barely known in his home country, until recently. He didn’t encounter success during his lifetime. Having difficulties to sell his paintings, he abandoned his career to focus on social projects and politics but he continued to paint for his own pleasure. Once delivered from the pressure of making a living from his paintings, his style changed to become more personal, more modern.
During the summer 1832, Peder Balke, who was in love with the Norwegian landscapes, decided to go and seek for its most remote, its most desolate and its most distant points by sailing up the west coast of Norway as far as he could go. He went up to the inhospitable and barely accessible far-northern region of Finnmark. He reached the North Cape, the northernmost part of Norway, which was even more impressive at that time because it was the further north you could go, the final limit to knowledge and exploration – beyond it lies nothing (explorers only reached the North Pole in the late 1900s, two decades after his death).

Peder Balke wrote in his memoirs: “I can’t begin to describe how elated I was at having seen and re-tread the land, once again, after satisfying my deep longing to see the northern provinces. No easier is it for me to pen my thoughts on which sublime and mesmerizing impressions the wealth of natural beauty and unrivaled settings leave upon the mind of an observer. These impressions not only overwhelmed me for a brief moment, but they, too, influenced my entire future since I never yet, neither abroad nor other places in our country, have had the occasion to gaze at something so awe-inspiring and exciting as that which I observed during this journey to Finnmark. Unsurpassed in the norther provinces is the beauty of nature, while humans – nature’s children – play but a minor role, in comparison”.

 The 1832 journey had a momentous effect upon his development as an artist; the eerie, isolated, dramatic and gloomy Arctic landscapes became a leitmotiv as he continued to paint them from his memory for the rest of his life. 

Peder Blake’s early paintings are quintessentially romantic, the product of a man awed by nature, overwhelmed by the often-horrifying beauty of his own land.

Long forgotten, Peder Balke is today increasingly recognized as an important precursor of modern painters.

____________________________________________
2016 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

STETIND PAINTED BY PEDER BALKE

PEDER BALKE (1804-1887)

Stetind or Stetinden  (1,392 m - 4,567 ft)

Norway 

1. In Steditnden, 1864, oil on canvas, National gallery of Norway 
2.  In Steditnden from coastline of Stefjorden, 1821, oil on canvas

The mountain 
Stetind or Stetinden is a mountain in Tysfjord, Nordland county, Norway. It is located about 15 kilometres (9 mi) northeast of the village of Kjшpsvik. The mountain has very smooth sides reaching all the way to the fjord. Stetind has an obelisk-shape which gives it a very distinct look.  The shape of the mountain has been compared with a  "ste" which means "anvil" and the last element is the finite form of tind which means "mountain peak".  In 2002 it was voted to be the "National Mountain" of Norway by listeners of NRK.
Climbing 
The mountain had several attempts at first ascents. First was the German Paul Gussfeldt  and the Norwegian Martin Ekroll in the summer of 1888. The Dane Carl Hall and the Norwegian mountain guide Mathias Soggemoen attempted in 1889.
Neither group succeeded, but Carl Hall built a cairn on the lower summit about 500 metres (1,600 ft) southeast of the main summit. That cairn is now called Halls fortop (elevation 1,304 metres or 4,278 feet). Around 1900, William Cecil Slingsby also failed to reach the summit.
It was not until 30 July 1910 that Ferdinand Schjelderup, Carl Wilhelm Rubenson, and Alf Bonnevie Bryn finally reached the summit of Stetind.  The weather conditions were good. It was Rubenson's 25th birthday, and he was given the honor of being first in the rope. The hardest part was to pass the smooth crag "Mysosten", which Rubenson finger traversed along a tiny crack. After this passage there was an easy climb to the summit. The same three climbers continued their 1910 tour by making first ascents of the Lofoten summits Svolvaergeita and Trakta. Arne Naess, Ralph 
Hoibakk, and K. Friis Baasted did the first winter climb of Stetind in 1963 on the eastern wall. In 1966, Arne Naess and four others were the first ones to summit via the west wall.


The painter 
Peder Balke is a Norwegian painter that was even barely known in his home country, until recently. He didn’t encounter success during his lifetime. Having difficulties to sell his paintings, he abandoned his career to focus on social projects and politics but he continued to paint for his own pleasure. Once delivered from the pressure of making a living from his paintings, his style changed to become more personal, more modern.
During the summer 1832, Peder Balke, who was in love with the Norwegian landscapes, decided to go and seek for its most remote, its most desolate and its most distant points by sailing up the west coast of Norway as far as he could go. He went up to the inhospitable and barely accessible far-northern region of Finnmark. He reached the North Cape, the northernmost part of Norway, which was even more impressive at that time because it was the further north you could go, the final limit to knowledge and exploration – beyond it lies nothing (explorers only reached the North Pole in the late 1900s, two decades after his death).

Peder Balke wrote in his memoirs: “I can’t begin to describe how elated I was at having seen and re-tread the land, once again, after satisfying my deep longing to see the northern provinces. No easier is it for me to pen my thoughts on which sublime and mesmerizing impressions the wealth of natural beauty and unrivaled settings leave upon the mind of an observer. These impressions not only overwhelmed me for a brief moment, but they, too, influenced my entire future since I never yet, neither abroad nor other places in our country, have had the occasion to gaze at something so awe-inspiring and exciting as that which I observed during this journey to Finnmark. Unsurpassed in the norther provinces is the beauty of nature, while humans – nature’s children – play but a minor role, in comparison”.

 The 1832 journey had a momentous effect upon his development as an artist; the eerie, isolated, dramatic and gloomy Arctic landscapes became a leitmotiv as he continued to paint them from his memory for the rest of his life. 

And I totally understand why. I myself went to the North Cape region and can testimony that it’s still a rather hostile place but that the landscapes are breathtaking, inspiring and unforgettable.

Peder Blake’s early paintings are quintessentially romantic, the product of a man awed by nature, overwhelmed by the often-horrifying beauty of his own land.

Long forgotten, Peder Balke is today increasingly recognized as an important precursor of modern painters.

_______________________________

2016 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

TROLLTINDENE PAINTED BY PEDER BLAKE

PEDER BALKE (1804-1887)

Trolltindene  or Seven Sisters (1,072 m - 3,517 ft)

Norway 

In Mountain Range Trolltindene, oil on canvas, 30.8 x 41.9 cm, c. 1840, 

Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, Tromsø, Norway

About the painting
One of Peder Balke's earliest surviving paintings of the coast is the romantic and dramatic Mountain Range Trolltindene  (or Seven Sisters) from about 1840. Its carefully framed clear patch in the clouds reveals this part of a mountain chain rising to over 1000 m, at the western edge of the great Rondane National Park in central Norway.

The mountains 
Trolltindene  or Seven Sisters (1,072 m - 3,517 ft)  is a mountain range on the island of Alsten in Alstahaug Municipality in Nordlandcounty, Norway.The mountain range consists of seven peaks on the southeastern half of the island. whicg are (listed from northeast to southwest):

- Botnkrona (1,072 m - 3,517 ft)
- Grytfoten (1,019 m - 3,343 ft)
- Skjæringen (1,037 - 3,402 ft)
- Tvillingene (980 m- 3,220 ft)
- Breitinden  (910m - 2,990 ft)
The range is popular with hikers and offers scenic views over the surrounding area. On clear days visitors can truly understand why the surroundings are called "The kingdom of the thousand isles" by the locals.

The painter 
Peder Balke is a Norwegian painter that was even barely known in his home country, until recently. He didn’t encounter success during his lifetime. Having difficulties to sell his paintings, he abandoned his career to focus on social projects and politics but he continued to paint for his own pleasure. Once delivered from the pressure of making a living from his paintings, his style changed to become more personal, more modern.
During the summer 1832, Peder Balke, who was in love with the Norwegian landscapes, decided to go and seek for its most remote, its most desolate and its most distant points by sailing up the west coast of Norway as far as he could go. He went up to the inhospitable and barely accessible far-northern region of Finnmark. He reached the North Cape, the northernmost part of Norway, which was even more impressive at that time because it was the further north you could go, the final limit to knowledge and exploration – beyond it lies nothing (explorers only reached the North Pole in the late 1900s, two decades after his death).

Peder Balke wrote in his memoirs: “I can’t begin to describe how elated I was at having seen and re-tread the land, once again, after satisfying my deep longing to see the northern provinces. No easier is it for me to pen my thoughts on which sublime and mesmerizing impressions the wealth of natural beauty and unrivaled settings leave upon the mind of an observer. These impressions not only overwhelmed me for a brief moment, but they, too, influenced my entire future since I never yet, neither abroad nor other places in our country, have had the occasion to gaze at something so awe-inspiring and exciting as that which I observed during this journey to Finnmark. Unsurpassed in the norther provinces is the beauty of nature, while humans – nature’s children – play but a minor role, in comparison”.

The 1832 journey had a momentous effect upon his development as an artist; the eerie, isolated, dramatic and gloomy Arctic landscapes became a leitmotiv as he continued to paint them from his memory for the rest of his life. 

Peder Blake’s early paintings are quintessentially romantic, the product of a man awed by nature, overwhelmed by the often-horrifying beauty of his own land.

Long forgotten, Peder Balke is today increasingly recognized as an important precursor of modern painters.

___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

NEWTONTOPPEN ( SPITZBERGEN) BY CHARLES HAMILTON SMITH

CHARLES HAMILTON SMITH (1776-1859)
Newtontoppen (1,713 m - 5,620ft)
Norway (Svalbard- Spitzbergen)

In Spitzbergen, Bearing South,  watercolor and graphite from Views of Polar region, Yale Center for British arts, USA

The mountain
Newtontoppen  (1,713 m - 5,620ft) or Newton Peak, named in 1898 after Isaac Newton, is the largest and highest mountain in Svalbard. Its peak is the highest point on Svalbard.  It is located at the north east corner on the island of Spitsbergen in the Chydeniusfjella range.  The nearest settlement is the formerly Soviet coal mining settlement, Pyramiden. The mountain is mostly made of Silurian granite. The mountain was first ascended by Helge Backlund on 4 August 1900.  Spitsbergen, (sharp mountains) is an island belonging to Norway and located in Svalbard, an archipelago forming a territory of this country. The island bears the name of Spitsbergen since1920, date of the signing of the treaty which regulates in particular fishing rights (whaling among others). The treaty signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden, leads all the contracting states to recognize the sovereignty of Norway over this territory.  France has two scientific research stations at Spitzbergen: the Charles Rabot base and the Jean Corbel base, the latter (created in 1964) being the oldest of the archipelago's scientific stations.
Spitsbergen was discovered by chance by Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz in 1596 while en route to China via the Northeast Passage. He then named the island Spitsbergen in reference to the craggy peaks he saw.  Nevertheless, the archipelago seems to have been known by Russian Pomor hunters as early as the 12th and 14th centuries. Tourism is nowadays  one of Spitsbergen's main sources of income with cruise ships, including those of the Hurtigruten company. The island is also served by the airports of Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund.

The artist
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hamilton Smith, was an English artist, naturalist, antiquary, illustrator, soldier, and... spy as well !. His military career began in 1787, when he studied at the Austrian academy for artillery and engineers at Mechelen and Leuven in Belgium (his native country). Although his military service, which ended in 1820 and included the Napoleonic Wars, saw him travel extensively (including the West Indies, Canada, United States, Southern and Northern Europe and ...Antarctica).
As a prolific self-taught illustrator (over 38,000 drawings!) He left quite an important number of books of beautifully watercolored landscapes taken all around the world. those nooks of watercolors are nowadays in the collections of the Yale Center From British Art. Among them :
- Views of France, Volume I (81 watercolors), Views of France, Volume II (93 watercolors),
- Views of England and Wales, Volume I (82 watercolors), Views of England and Wales, Volume II (74 watercolors),
- Views of Northern Europe, Volume I (68 watercolors), Views of Northern Europe, Volume II (78) watercolors),
- Views of Polar Regions (75 watercolors) (see above)
- Views of Spain, Volume I (69 watercolors), Views of Spain, Volume II (72 watercolors), But one of his noteworthy achievements was an 1800 experiment to determine which color should be used for military uniforms. He is also known in military history circles for Costume of the Army of the British Empire, produced towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars and an accurate depiction of contemporary British uniform.
As an antiquarian, he also produced, in collaboration with Samuel Rush Meyrick, Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands, 1815, and The Ancient Costume of England, with historical illustrations of medieval knights, ladies, shipsm and battles.
He also wrote on the history of the Seven Years' War and The Natural history of dogs.
Quite a productive fellow !

___________________________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

SOGNEFJORD PAINTED BY THERESE FUCHS

THERESE FUCHS  (1849-1898)

Sognefjord (1, 306m - 4, 291ft)

 Norway 

In Sommertag im Sognefjord, 1898, oil on canvas,  Private collection 

The mountains 

The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (1,308 metres -4,291 ft deep) is the largest and best known fjord in Norway and  the deepest in its  central parts near Haeyanger. Located in Sogn og Fjordane county in Western Norway, it stretches 205 kilometres (127 mi) inland from the ocean to the small village of Skjolden in the municipality of Luster. The fjord takes its name from the traditional district of Sogn, which covers the southern part of the county.

The fjord runs through many municipalities: Solund, Gulen, Hyllestad, Hшyanger, Vik, Balestrand, Leikanger, Sogndal, Laerdal, Aurland, Еrdal, and Luster.   Near its mouth, the bottom rises abruptly to a sill about 100 metres (330 ft) below sea level. The seabed in Sognefjord is covered by some 200 metres (660 ft) thick sediments such that the bedrock is some 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) below sea level. The fjord is up to 6 km wide. Cliffs surrounding the fjord rise almost sheer from the water to heights of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and more.

The inner end of the Sognefjord is localized southeast of a mountain range rising to about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level and covered by the Jostedalsbreen, continental Europe's largest glacier.  Hurrungane range at the eastern end of the fjord reaches 2400 m. The greatest elevation from sea bed to summit is at Sogndal. Several rivers pour fresh water into the fjord with an annual "spring" flood in June.The mouth of the fjord is surrounded by many islands including Sula, Losna, and Hiserшyna.

Boats connect settlements along the fjord and its sidearms. Larger villages on the fjord and its branches include Leirvik, Ytre Oppedal, Vadheim, Hшyanger, Vikшyri, Balestrand, Hermansverk, Sogndalsfjшra, Gudvangen, Flеm, Aurlandsvangen, Laerdalsшyri, Еrdalstangen, Gaupne, and Solvorn. Gudvangen is situated by the Naerшyfjord, a branch of the Sognefjord particularly noted for its unspoiled nature and dramatic scenery, and only 300 metres (980 ft) across at its narrowest point. The Naerшyfjord is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From the village of Flеm, the Flеm Railway climbs 864 m (2,835 ft) up to Myrdal Station in a distance of only 20 kilometres (12 mi)—the steepest unassisted railway climb in the world.

Around the inner end of the fjord, three of Norway's famous stave churches have survived: Kaupanger and Urnes (along the shoreline) and Borgund (30 kilometres or 19 miles into the Laerdal valley). The Sognefjord Span (power lines) crosses the fjord with a span of 4,597 metres (15,082 ft). This is the second largest span of power lines in the world. The fjord has become a tourist attraction with summer tourists being an important part of the local economy.

The painter 

Therese Fuchs was a German artist of the Dusseldorf School of Painting  who is known to have lived in Norway for a considerable time.  A prolific painter, she created atmospheric works depicting Alpine scenes, fiords, lakes and snowy landscapes, signing her work 'Th. Fuchs'. Many sources give her date of death as 1898 but this may be the year of her last dated painting as other sites state 'after 1898'. ​In the Getty Library Repository there is a letter from Therese Fuchs, dated 1901, sent to the German artist Melchior Lechter which might prove she was still alive in 1901...
Between 1819 and 1918, some 4000 artists belonged to the Düsseldorf school of painting, a school which  had a significant influence on the Hudson River School in the United States.  Albert Bierstadt applied but was not accepted.  His American friend Worthington Whittredge became his teacher while attending Düsseldorf.

NORTHCAPE PAINTED BY THOROLF HOLMBOE

THOROLF HOLMBOE (1866-1935) 

North Cape (307m - 1,007 ft)

Norway

In Midnight Sun at the North Cap, oil on canvas

The cliff 
North Cape (307m - 1,007 ft), Nordkapp in  Norwegian, named by the Englishman Steven Borough, captain of the Edward Bonaventure, which sailed past in 1553 in search of the Northeast Passage, is a cape on the northern coast of the island of Magerшya in Northern Norway. The cape is in Nordkapp Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The European route E69 highway has its northern terminus at North Cape, since it is a popular tourist attraction. The cape includes a 307 metres (1,007 ft) high cliff with a large flat plateau on top where visitors can stand and watch the midnight sun or the views of the Barents Sea to the north.
The North Cape is the point where the Norwegian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, meets the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. The midnight sun can be seen from 14 May to the 31st of July.
During winter season, it is also possible to visit North Cape, however the last stretch of road is only open for convoy driving at fixed hours. The road all the way through Norway up to North Cape is kept open during winter and is accessible to regular vehicles with some specific winter precautions being required to deal with the hard snow and wind conditions that may occur in winter.
Before this, E69 was the only winter closed E road in Europe.

The painter 

Thorolf Holmboe (10 May 1866 – 8 March 1935) was a Norwegian painter, illustrator and designer.
He was born in Vefsn, in Nordland county. He studied under Hans Gude in Berlin between 1886 and 1887 and Fernand Cormon in Paris between 1889 and 1891. He was inspired by many different styles at different points in his career, including Naturalism, Neo-romanticism, Realism and Impressionism. He is represented with thirteen works in the National Gallery of Norway.

____________________________________________
2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

RONDSLOTTET PAINTED BY NIKOLAI ASTRUP

NIKOLAI ASTRUP  (1880-1928)

Rondslotett (2,178m - 7,146ft) 

Norway

In Vinternatt  Rondslottet, oil on canvas

The mountain 

Rondslottet (2,178m - 7,146ft)  is the highest mountain in the Rondane mountain range and is also the highest mountain in the county Hedmark. The landscapes of Rondane are well known to have inspired the work Peer Gynt (1867), a play by Henrik Ibsen, and a opera by Edvard Grieg which is partly set in Rondane. Rondane is the finite plural of the word rond. Several mountains in the area have the ending-ronden (Digerronden, Høgronden, Midtronden, Storronden and Vinjeronden), and this is the finite singular of the same word. The word rond was probably originally the name of the long and narrow lake Rondvatnet ('Rond water/lake') - and the mountains around were then named after this lake. For the meaning see under Randsfjorden.

Rondane National Park (Norwegian: Rondane nasjonalpark) is the oldest national park in Norway, established on 21 December 1962.  The park contains ten peaks above 2,000 metres (6,560 ft), with the highest being Rondeslottet at an altitude (see above). The park is an important habitat for herds of wild reindeer. The park was extended in 2003, and now covers an area of 963 km2 (372 sq mi) in the counties Oppland and Hedmark. Rondane lies just to the east of Gudbrandsdal and two other mountain areas, Dovre and Jotunheimen are nearby.

Visitors to Rondane are free to hike and camp in all areas of the park, except in the immediate vicinity of cabins. Apart from being closed for motor traffic, not many special regulations apply. Fishing and hunting is available to licensees. The Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (DNT) is an association that owns and manages a network of mountain cabins in the service of hikers. In Rondane, there is a central cabin by the southern end of the lake Rondvatnet, Rondvassbu. There is also Dørålseter and Bjørnhollia at the northern and eastern rims of the park. All three cabins are manned, and provide food and limited accommodation. There are also un-manned cabins in the Park, like Eldåbu where a key is needed. The service cabins are also open during the winter season, although they are sometimes only self-serviced off season. Ski trails are marked and sometimes prepared, either by DNT or some of the hotels and skiing resorts close to the park.

The painter 
Nikolai Astrup was a Norwegian painter born in Bremanger in Nordfjord, but grew up in Ålhus in Jølster where his father worked as a priest.  Nikolai studied  drawing and painting subjects in Oslo where he was a student at Harriet Backer's popular school of painting.
He later lived for a while in Paris and in Germany before returning to Jølster. He got married there and had 8 children. The economy was very tight and he struggled with poor health. Astrup died of pneumonia in 1928 at the age of 47.
Astrup preferred clear, strong colors and usually made landscape art depicting his surroundings in Jølster. Having spent the majority of his life in Jølster, the Nordic landscape proved a strong influence and through his paintings he sought 'a national "visual language" that evoked the traditions and folklore of his homeland'. His paintings describe an intimate interaction between nature and the built environment, characterized by bold lines and distinctive rich color. Astrup is regarded as a neo-romantic painter, but he also worked with woodcuts. He is looked upon as one of the greatest Norwegian artists from the early 1900s ; several of his paintings have been sold at auctions for approximately $500,000 USD. Astrup's works have been likened to those of his contemporary Edvard Munch, though Astrup's style has been described as being 'so much brighter – not just in colour, but also in mood'.
Although well known in Norway, Astrup is little-known in the rest of the world. The first exhibition of his work outside of Norway is taking place at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London from 5 February - 15 May 2016. The exhibition will display over 90 oil paintings and prints, including works from private collections never exhibited before.

2017 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

THE WATZMANN BY JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL

JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL  (1788-1857) 

The Watzmann (2, 713m - 8, 901ft) 

Germany 

In Der Watzmann, 1825, oil on canvas, 45 x 33 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet,  Oslo

The mountain 
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Sьdspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann. The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres). Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940...
Full entry  =>

The painter
Johan Christian Claussen Dahl, often known as J. C. Dahl or I. C. Dahl, was a Norwegian artist who is considered the first great romantic painter in Norway, the founder of the "golden age" of Norwegian painting, and, by some, one of the greatest European artists.  He is often described as "the father of Norwegian landscape painting". He was the first to acquire genuine fame and cultural renown abroad. As one critic has put it, "J.C. Dahl occupies a central position in Norwegian artistic life of the first half of the 19th century.
Although Dahl spent much of his life outside of Norway, his love for his country is clear in the motifs he chose for his paintings and in his extraordinary efforts on behalf of Norwegian culture generally. Indeed, if one sets aside his own monumental artistic creations, his other activities on behalf of art, history, and culture would still have guaranteed him a place at the very heart of the artistic and cultural history of Norway. He was, for example, a key figure in the founding of the Norwegian National Gallery and of several other major art institutions in Norway, as well as in the preservation of Norwegian stave churches and the restoration of the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim and Håkonshallen in Bergen
Many of his works may be seen in Dresden, and in The Bergen Kunstmuseum in Bergen, as well as in  The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design  The National Gallery in  Oslo  which has a large collection of Dahl's.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT WHITNEY PAINTED BY PAUL LAURITZ

    

                                                          PAUL LAURITZ (1889–1975)

Mount Whitney  (4,421 m - 14,505 ft)

United States of America (California) 

 In The High Sierras,  oil on canvas, circa 1929 , The  Crocker Art Museum 

The mountain 
Mount Whitney (4,421 m - 14,505 ft) is the tallest mountain in California, as well as the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada.  It is in Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties. The west slope of the mountain is in Sequoia National Park and the summit is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail which runs 211.9 mi (341.0 km) from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. The east slope is in the Inyo National Forest in Inyo County.
The rise is caused by a normal fault system that runs along the eastern base of the Sierra, below Mount Whitney. Thus, the granite that forms Mount Whitney is the same as the granite that forms the Alabama Hills, thousands of feet lower down.  The raising of Whitney (and the downdrop of the Owens Valley) is due to the same geological forces that cause the Basin and Range Province: the crust of much of the intermontane west is slowly being stretched.
In July 1864, the members of the California Geological Survey named the peak after Josiah Whitney, the State Geologist of California and benefactor of the survey.

The painter 
Born in a small art colony of  Norway, Lauritz was exposed to art at an early age, studying with local and foreign artists in Larvik. At age 16 he moved to eastern Canada to live with his sister and found work as a hardrock driller in a mine. Working his way west, he worked as a commercial artist in Vancouver and Portland, OR where he began painting landscapes and portraits. The meager existence in artwork led him to Alaska with the Gold Rush. Unsuccessful as a miner, he again turned to painting and became a close friend of artist Sydney Laurence. The two artists held a joint exhibition before Lauritz left Alaska. In 1919 he settled in Los Angeles and established a studio-home in the Lyceum Theatre on Spring Street. When not teaching at the Chouinard and Otis Art Institutes
or in his studio, he made painting excursions to the Sierra, up the California coast as far north as Carmel, to Mexico (1921), the Columbia River (1924), and Norway (1925).
While in his native land, he was commissioned by the King of Norway to do a painting for the royal palace. Lauritz was an involved member of the Los Angeles art community and served for six years on the Los Angeles Municipal Art Commission. A versatile painter, his diverse subjects include desert scenes, portraits, snow scenes, marines and landscapes.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau, #BlogWanderingVertexes, #mountainpaintings

HIGRAVSTINDEN PAINTED BY THOROLF HOLMBOE

 THOROLF HOLMBOE (1866-1935) 

Higravstinden (1,146 m - 3,760 ft) 

Norway 

In  Fishing village, Lofoten, oil on canvas, 

The mountain 

Higravstinden or Higravstindan  (1,146 m - 3,760 ft) is the tallest mountain on the island of Austvеgшya in the Lofoten archipelago. It is located on the border of the municipalities of Hadsel and Vеgan in Nordland county, Norway. The village of Laupstad and the European route E10 highway are located about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of the mountain and the village of Liland is located about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of the mountain. 

There is a glacier located on the east side of the mountain.

The painter 

Thorolf Holmboe (10 May 1866 – 8 March 1935) was a Norwegian painter, illustrator and designer.
He was born in Vefsn, in Nordland county. He studied under Hans Gude in Berlin between 1886 and 1887 and Fernand Cormon in Paris between 1889 and 1891. He was inspired by many different styles at different points in his career, including Naturalism, Neo-romanticism, Realism and Impressionism. He is represented with thirteen works in the National Gallery of Norway.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT KOLSASS PAINTED BY CLAUDE MONET

 

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)
Kolsås or Kolsass mountain (342 m - 1,122 ft)
Norway

In "Le village de Sandviken, près du Mount Kolsaas" Norvège, 1895, Huile sur toile 73,4 x92, 5 cm - Art Institute Chicago

Monet and Mount Kolsass
A text in french from the book Claude Monet, une vie dans le paysage by Marianne Alphant - Editions Hazan, 1993. (You may use the Google translation tool in this blog to tranlaste into your own langage)
« Au cours l'hiver 1895 le peintre français fit un séjour en Norvège. et peignit a plusieurs reprises à différentes heures du jour et dans différentes conditions climatiques une montagne, le mont Kolsaas. Mais sitôt réalisées leur auteur n'en fut guère satisfait et elles furent vite éclipsées par l'exposition des Cathédrales. Des vingt-sept ou vingt-huit qui furent recensées, le musée Rodin n'en propose qu'une douzaine, issues de collections publiques (Orsay, Marmottan) aussi bien que privées (Japon, Etats-Unis) et déjà présentées à Stavanger, en Norvège.
Monet effectua ce long voyage vers le Nord sur l'invitation de son beau-fils Jacques Hoschedé, pour saisir quelques effets de neige qu'il escomptait bien capter facilement là-bas. En quoi il se trompait généreusement, erreur à l'origine d'un de ses plus intéressants ratages.
Les quatre «portraits» du mont Kolsaas sont assez intrigants en ce que l’on y perçoit tout l'art du peintre pour «rendre» l'impalpable bien que cela l'entraînent vers des contrées inexplorées. « Le motif se met à flotter dans une atmosphère qui ne le porte plus, ne le soutient plus, l'abandonnant au gré d'une humeur vagabonde, à la manière d'un nuage libre de dériver au gré des vents. L'impression d'échec provient alors d'une incapacité à arrimer la figure, à saisir l'objet à bras le corps, à se tenir d'aplomb face à ce qui le surplombe. Mais la valeur inestimable de cet apparent échec excède largement cet effet de brouillon. (…)
Les peintures ne doivent pas leur sentiment d'incomplétude à une quelconque précipitation mais bien plutôt au désir de se fondre dans un immense éloge à la blancheur. (…)
Le mont Kolsaas ressemble de la sorte au dernier souffle ou à l'éternuement d'un linceul qui, l'instant suivant, s'affaissera dans l'indéterminé d'une forme sans contour. Autrement dit, l'informe. Ces quelques peintures représentent sans doute l'une des rares tentatives de distinguer la neige de la blancheur, de séparer les deux corps comme on le ferait dans une expérience chimique de dissociation. Car la neige n'est pas blanche, pas plus que le blanc n'est la couleur de la neige. L'un et l'autre entrent doucement en conflit pour que, dans l'intervalle, à la faveur d'une anecdote ­ petit pont ou rivière ­, se glisse l'élément qui permettra de rassurer la vision. Entre la neige et la blancheur, il y a un mariage fatal qu'il faut à tout prix éviter faute de s'y endormir. Entre le ciel et le bleu, c'est pareil mais c'est une autre histoire. Les deux histoires se rejouent chaque fois qu'un peintre essaie de fixer leur frontière, leur bord extrême. Comment cette peinture pourrait-elle alors s'achever ?."

The mountain
Kolsås or Kolsass Mountain (342 m - 1,122 ft) is a wooded mountain ridge in the municipality of Bærum, Norway. Geologically, Kolsås belongs to the Oslo Graben area. Its two peaks (one at 387m the other at 342m) consist of hard rhomb porphyric lava covering softer rocks, forming steep cliffs to the east, south and west. An old farm beneath the mountain has the name Kolsberg. The first element in this name is the genitive case of the old male name Kolr, and the last element is "berg" (mountain). The parish and municipality of Bærum (Old Norse Bergheimr) is probably named after this prominent mountain. The last element in the name of the mountain was later changed to ås (mountain ridge) to distinguish it from the name of the farm.
The French painter Claude Monet painted Mont Kolsaas in 1895 in a series of 4 paintings  one is permanently shown at the Musée d’Orsay , an other in Musée Marmottan. in Paris The 2 others shows on this blog are held in private collections in USA and Japan.

The painter
The painter Oscar-Claude Monet better known as Claude Monet was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting « Impression, soleil levant » (Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874 in the first of the independent exhibitions mounted by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon de Paris.
Monet's ambition of documenting the French countryside led him to adopt a method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons exactly like the japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849) did with his 36 views of Mount Fuji.
  Monet repeated this kinf of "exercise de stylee with his series on Les Petites Dalles.

 
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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MØNS KLINT & SOMMERSPIET BY FREDERIK SØDRING

 

   FREDERIK SØDRING  (1809–1862)

Sommerspiret  (120 m-393 ft)

Denmark

In Part of Mons Klint with the Sommerspiret, 1830,  Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum

The cliff
Sommerspiret (120 m - 393 ft) is one of the chalk cliffs forming Møns Klint, a 6 km stretch of cliffs along the eastern coast of the Danish island of Møn in the Baltic Sea. Some of the cliffs fall a sheer 120 m to the sea below. The highest cliff is Dronningestolen (128 m- 420 ft). The area around Møns Klint consists of woodlands, pastures, ponds and steep hills, including Aborrebjerg which, with a height of 143 m - 469ft), is one of the highest points in Denmark. The cliffs and adjacent park are now protected as a nature reserve. Møns Klint receives around 250,000 visitors a year. There are clearly marked paths for walkers, riders and cyclists. The path along the cliff tops leads to steps down to the shore in several locations.
On 29 May 2007, close to the cliff tops, the GeoCenter Møns Klint was opened by Queen Margrethe. The geological museum with interactive computer displays and a variety of attractions for children traces the geological prehistory of Denmark and the formation of the chalk cliffs. The museum was designed by PLH Architects, the winners of an international design competition.
Møns Klint has been a most popular subject for landscape painters, especially during the Danish Golden Age when the national romanticism movement encouraged artists to take renewed interest in the Danish countryside.

The painter
Sødring was born in Aalborg, Denmark. He spent some time living in Norway with his parents before studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen beginning in 1825. There he initially studied under Jens Peter Møller, but his greatest influence was from the romantic art of Johan Christian Dahl. Between 1829 and 1831 Sødring travelled to Norway and Germany, taking time to study in Munich. He traveled to Norway and Southern Sweden between 1832-36 and returned during 1847. He was awarded the Fund ad Usus Publicos 1836-38. He travelled to Germany (mainly Munich) 1836-38) and to Paris in 1843.He continued to work, sending several paintings back to Denmark. These travels influenced Sødring's later works. Upon his return, he continued to paint, exhibiting landscapes from the Rhine, Southern Germany, and Tyrol. In 1832, he was painted by Christen Købke; the portrait is now part of the Hirschsprung Collection.[
He exhibited at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 1828-36, 1838-40, 1842-47, 1858. Sødring's other exhibition included at the Salon in Paris and University of Copenhagen both in 1843.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

RONDSLOTETT PAINTED BY HARALD SOHLBERG

HARALD SOHLBERG (1869-1935) 

Rondslotett (2,178m - 7,146ft) 

Norway

1.  In Winter night in Rondane, 1901, oil on canvas, National Gallery, Oslo 

2. In Winternight in Rondane, 1914, oil on canvas,National Gallery, Oslo 

3. In Winter night in Rondane, 1918-24,  oil on canvas,National Gallery, Oslo

The mountain 

Rondslottet (2,178m - 7,146ft)  is the highest mountain in the Rondane mountain range and is also the highest mountain in the county Hedmark. The landscapes of Rondane are well known to have inspired the work Peer Gynt (1867), a play by Henrik Ibsen, and a opera by Edvard Grieg which is partly set in Rondane. Rondane is the finite plural of the word rond. Several mountains in the area have the ending-ronden (Digerronden, Høgronden, Midtronden, Storronden and Vinjeronden), and this is the finite singular of the same word. The word rond was probably originally the name of the long and narrow lake Rondvatnet ('Rond water/lake') - and the mountains around were then named after this lake. For the meaning see under Randsfjorden.

Rondane National Park (Norwegian: Rondane nasjonalpark) is the oldest national park in Norway, established on 21 December 1962.  The park contains ten peaks above 2,000 metres (6,560 ft), with the highest being Rondeslottet at an altitude (see above). The park is an important habitat for herds of wild reindeer. The park was extended in 2003, and now covers an area of 963 km2 (372 sq mi) in the counties Oppland and Hedmark. Rondane lies just to the east of Gudbrandsdal and two other mountain areas, Dovre and Jotunheimen are nearby.

Visitors to Rondane are free to hike and camp in all areas of the park, except in the immediate vicinity of cabins. Apart from being closed for motor traffic, not many special regulations apply. Fishing and hunting is available to licensees. The Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (DNT) is an association that owns and manages a network of mountain cabins in the service of hikers. In Rondane, there is a central cabin by the southern end of the lake Rondvatnet, Rondvassbu. There is also Dørålseter and Bjørnhollia at the northern and eastern rims of the park. All three cabins are manned, and provide food and limited accommodation. There are also un-manned cabins in the Park, like Eldåbu where a key is needed. The service cabins are also open during the winter season, although they are sometimes only self-serviced off season. Ski trails are marked and sometimes prepared, either by DNT or some of the hotels and skiing resorts close to the park.

The painter 

Harald Oskar Sohlberg was a Norwegian Neo-romantic painter. Sohlberg attended the Royal School of Art and Design of Christiania. He later trained under the graphic artist and painter Johan Nordhagen. He also studied as a pupil of Kristian Zahrtman,  Erik Werenskiold, Eilif Peterssen and Harriet Backer. He is particularly known for his depictions of the mountains of Rondane and the town of Røros. Perhaps his most widely recognized paintings, in several variations, is Winter's Night in Rondane, presently featured at the National Gallery in Oslo (Nasjonalgalleriet).

Winter Night in the Mountains (Norwegian: Vinternatt i Rondane) is the name of several versions of the same place, created in several techniques and at different moments of the life of the painter, exactly like Claude Monet  did with Mount Kolsaas (in Norway as well)  or Hokusai did with Mount Fuji in Japan. The first version of Winter's Night in Rondane was painted in 1910,  the last in 1918, but the most famous is the oil painting from 1914.

THE WATZMANN BY FREDERIK SØDRING (1809–1862)

FREDERIK SØDRING (1809- 1862)
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft)
Germany (Bavarian Alps)


In Berchtesgaden mit dem Watzmann Öl auf Leinwand,1830, oil on canvas, Private collection

The mountain
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Sьdspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann. The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres). Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940.
Amongst the other permanent snow and icefields the Eiskapelle ("Ice Chapel") is the best known due to its easy accessibility from St. Bartholomä. The Eiskapelle may well be the lowest lying permanent snowfield in the Alps. Its lower end is only 930 metres high in the upper Eisbach valley and is about an hour's walk from St. Bartholomä on the Königssee. The Eiskapelle is fed by mighty avalanches that slide down from the east face of the Watzmann in spring and accumulate in the angle of the rock face. Sometimes a gate-shaped vault forms in the ice at the point where the Eisbach emerges from the Eiskapelle. Before entering there is an urgent warning sign that others have been killed by falling ice. In the east face itself is another icefield in the so-called Schöllhorn cirque, called the Schöllhorneis, which is crossed by the Kederbach Way (Kederbacher-Weg). The cirque and icefield are named after the Munich citizen, Christian Schöllhorn, who was the first victim on the east face. On 26 May 1890 he fell at the upper end of the icefield into the randkluft and was fatally injured. Another small nameless snowfield is located several hundred metres below the Mittelspitze also in the east face.

The artist
Frederik Hansen Sødring was a Danish landscape painter and founder of an endowment. Sødring spent some time living in Norway with his parents before studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen beginning in 1825. There he initially studied under Jens Peter Moller, but his greatest influence was from Johan Christian Dahl. In Sodring's first exhibition, he displayed two paintings. Between 1829 and 1831 Sodring travelled to Norway and Germany, taking time to study in Munich. He continued to work, sending several paintings back to Denmark. These travels influenced Sшdring's later works. Upon his return, he continued to paint, exhibiting landscapes from the Rhine, Southern Germany, and Tyrol. In 1832, he was painted by Christen Kobke; the portrait is now part of the Hirschsprung Collection. He established a scholarship, to be awarded at the annual Charlottenborg Exhibition, and provided funds to support elderly landscape artists and widows of such painters.


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2018 - Wandering Vertexes
A blog by Francis Rousseau

 

KOLSASS MOUNTAIN PAINTED BY CLAUDE MONET

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)

  Kolsås or Kolsass  mountain  (342 m - 1,122 ft)

Norway

Four "portraits" of Mont Kolsass in 1895 

1.  In Mont Kolsass, 1895, oil on canvas,  Musée Marmottan, Paris 

2. In Mont Kolsass, 1895, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay. Paris 

3. In Mont Kolsass, reflets roses 1895, oil on canvas, Private collection, USA.  

4. In Mont Kolsass,  tempête de neige 1895, oil on canvas, Private collection, Japan

The mountain 

Kolsås or Kolsass Mountain (342 m - 1,122 ft) is a wooded mountain ridge in the municipality of Bærum, Norway. Geologically, Kolsås belongs to the Oslo Graben area. Its two peaks (one at 387m the other at 342m) consist of hard rhomb porphyric lava covering softer rocks, forming steep cliffs to the east, south and west. An old farm beneath the mountain has the name Kolsberg. The first element in this name is the genitive case of the old male name Kolr, and the last element is "berg" (mountain). The parish and municipality of Bærum (Old Norse Bergheimr) is probably named after this prominent mountain. The last element in the name of the mountain was later changed to ås (mountain ridge) to distinguish it from the name of the farm.

The area from Kolsås to Dælivannet is a protected landscape area from 1978 (five square kilometers), with four nature reserves: Skotta, Dalbo, Kolsåsstupene and Kolsåstoppen nature reserve.

Kolsås has been a training area for climbers since beginning of the 20th century. Today it is the largest rock climbing area in the Oslo region. The wall Øvre Sydstup on the southern wall has more than 200 climbing routes. The northern hillside of Kolsås has alpine skiing facilities.

Kolsåsbanen is part of the subway rail system Oslo T-bane, running from downtown Oslo to Kolsås station, via Gjettum station and Hauger station.

The military base Kolsås leir, partly located inside the mountain, was home of NATO's Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH) until 1994.

The area has occurrences of old petroglyphs, tumuli and limestone quarries.

The French painter Claude Monet painted Mont Kolsaas in 1895 in a series of 4 paintings (see above)  one is permanently shown at the Musée d’Orsay , an other in Musée Marmottan. in Paris The 2 others shows on this blog are held in private collections in  USA and Japan. 

The painter 

Oscar-Claude Monet better known as Claude Monet  was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting « Impression, soleil levant » (Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874 in the first of the independent exhibitions mounted by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon de Paris.
Monet's ambition of documenting the French countryside led him to adopt a method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons exactly like the japanese artist  Hokusai (1760-1849) did with his 36 views of Mount Fuji.
Monet repeated this kind of exercice de style with his series on Les Petites Dalles

Monet and Mont Kolsass
 A text  in french  from the book Claude Monet, une vie dans le paysage by Marianne Alphant - Editions Hazan, 1993.

 « Au cours  l'hiver 1895 le peintre français fit un séjour en Norvège. et peignit a plusieurs reprises à différentes heures du jour et dans différentes conditions climatiques une montagne, le mont Kolsaas. Mais sitôt réalisées leur auteur n'en fut guère satisfait et elles furent vite éclipsées par l'exposition des Cathédrales. Des vingt-sept ou vingt-huit qui furent recensées, le musée Rodin n'en propose qu'une douzaine, issues de collections publiques (Orsay, Marmottan) aussi bien que privées (Japon, Etats-Unis) et déjà présentées à Stavanger, en Norvège.
Monet effectua ce long voyage vers le Nord sur l'invitation de son beau-fils Jacques Hoschedé, pour saisir quelques effets de neige qu'il escomptait bien capter facilement là-bas. En quoi il se trompait généreusement, erreur à l'origine d'un de ses plus intéressants ratages. 
Les quatre «portraits» du mont Kolsaas sont assez intrigants en ce que l’on y perçoit tout l'art du peintre pour «rendre» l'impalpable  bien que cela l'entraînent vers des contrées inexplorées.  « Le motif se met à flotter dans une atmosphère qui ne le porte plus, ne le soutient plus, l'abandonnant au gré d'une humeur vagabonde, à la manière d'un nuage libre de dériver au gré des vents. L'impression d'échec provient alors d'une incapacité à arrimer la figure, à saisir l'objet à bras le corps, à se tenir d'aplomb face à ce qui le surplombe. Mais la valeur inestimable de cet apparent échec excède largement cet effet de brouillon. (…) 
Les peintures  ne doivent pas leur sentiment d'incomplétude à une quelconque précipitation mais bien plutôt au désir de se fondre dans un immense éloge à la blancheur. (…) 
 Le mont Kolsaas ressemble de la sorte au dernier souffle ou à l'éternuement d'un linceul qui, l'instant suivant, s'affaissera dans l'indéterminé d'une forme sans contour. Autrement dit, l'informe. Ces quelques peintures représentent sans doute l'une des rares tentatives de distinguer la neige de la blancheur, de séparer les deux corps comme on le ferait dans une expérience chimique de dissociation. Car la neige n'est pas blanche, pas plus que le blanc n'est la couleur de la neige. L'un et l'autre entrent doucement en conflit pour que, dans l'intervalle, à la faveur d'une anecdote ­ petit pont ou rivière ­, se glisse l'élément qui permettra de rassurer la vision. Entre la neige et la blancheur, il y a un mariage fatal qu'il faut à tout prix éviter faute de s'y endormir. Entre le ciel et le bleu, c'est pareil mais c'est une autre histoire. Les deux histoires se rejouent chaque fois qu'un peintre essaie de fixer leur frontière, leur bord extrême. Comment cette peinture pourrait-elle alors s'achever ?.  "

 

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2016 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau