Theodor Severin Kittelsen (27 April 1857 – 21 January 1914) was a Norwegian

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

. He is one of the most popular artists in Norway. Kittelsen became famous for his nature

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

s, as well as for his

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

s of

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...

s and

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

s, especially of

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human ...

Early life

Kittelsen was born in the coastal

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

Kragerø Kragerø () is a town and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Grenland and the smaller Vestmar. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kragerø. The city of Kra ...

in Grenland,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. His father died when he was young, leaving a wife and eight children in difficult circumstances. Theodor was only 11 years old when he was apprenticed to a watchmaker. When at the age of 17 his talent was discovered by Diderich Maria Aall, he became a pupil at

Wilhelm von Hanno Andreas Friedrich Wilhelm von Hanno (15 December 1826 – 12 December 1882) was a German-born Norwegian architect, sculptor and painter. He was among the leading architects in Norway during the middle of the 1800s. Biography Wilhelm von Hanno ...

s drawing school in Christiania (now Oslo). Because of generous financial support by Aall he later studied in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. However, in 1879 Diderich Aall could no longer manage to support him, so Kittelsen had to earn his money as a draftsman for German newspapers and magazines.

Career

In 1882 Kittelsen was granted a state scholarship to study in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. In 1887 he returned to Norway for good. When back in Norway, he found nature to be a great inspiration. He spent the next two years in

Lofoten Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolv� ...

where he lived with his sister and brother-in-law at Skomvær Lighthouse. Kittelsen also started to write texts to his drawings there. Kittelsen and his family settled in a home and artist studio which he called Lauvlia near

Prestfoss Prestfoss is the administrative center of Sigdal municipality in Buskerud, Norway. Highway Fv287 passes through Prestfoss. Both Fv132 and Fv133 start from here. Summary The population of Pressfoss as of 2005 was 465. Prestfoss is located 1.5 ho ...

during 1899, he spent his best artistic years here. During this period, Kittelsen was hired to illustrate

Norwegian Folktales ''Norwegian Folktales'' ( no, Norske folkeeventyr) is a collection of Norwegian folktales and legends by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. It is also known as ''Asbjørnsen and Moe'', after the collectors. Asbjørnsen and Moe Asbj� ...

(Norwegian: ''Norske Folkeeventyr'') by the Norwegian folklore collector Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. In 1908 he was made Knight of The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. However, he was forced to sell and leave Lauvlia in 1910 due to failing health. Kittelsen was granted an artist’s stipend in 1911; he died in Jeløya in 1914. After his death, his widow Inga Kittelsen was granted an annual salary from the

Storting The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years ...

Style

Kittelsen's style had elements of Neo-Romantic and

naïve Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may ...

painting. As a national artist he is highly respected and well known in Norway, but doesn't receive much international attention, which is the reason that his name is often not included in registers of internationally recognized painters and artists.

Dedicated museums

* Lauvlia, his home from 1899 to 1910, is located in Sigdal north of

along Highway Fv287, with scenic view of Lake Soneren. The surrounding area, in particular Mount

Andersnatten Andersnatten is a mountain located at Eggedal in the municipality of Sigdal in Buskerud, Norway. Andersnatten is a distinctive, round-topped mountain that rises out of the valley floor. Norwegian artists Theodor Kittelsen and Christian Skredsvi ...

which overlooks the lake a few kilometres north, inspired some of Kittelsen's most famous landscapes. Today Lauvlia is a private museum featuring an exhibition of Kittelsen’s original work. Lauvlia is decorated with Kittelsen's own woodcarvings and murals. A new exhibition of original Kittelsen works is opened each year with painting and drawing activities arranged for children. The paintings exhibited are rotated each year. * Theodor Kittelsen Museum at Blaafarveværket is at the Skuterudhøyden ridge by the Cobalt Mines. Kittelsen’s poetical interpretations of nature, the forest, the mountains and trolls are presented in the form of carved furniture, oil paintings, watercolours and drawings. New exhibitions each year. In 2014 are Blaafarveværket in charge of arranging the biggest exhibition held ever in modern times. *The house where the artist grew up in

is also currently a museum devoted to his legacy.

Cultural references

Black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

and

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exam ...

bands such as

Burzum Burzum (; ) was a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a part of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black me ...

Empyrium Empyrium is a German symphonic folk/doom metal and (later) neofolk/ dark folk band. History Empyrium was founded in 1994 by Markus Stock (mostly using the pseudonym Ulf Theodor Schwadorf) and Andreas Bach, but later many other musicians par ...

, Otyg and Satyricon have used some of his pictures as album art, notably illustrations taken from Kittelsen's book ''Svartedauen'' (The Black Death). Musician

Phil Elverum Philip Whitman Elverum (; born May 23, 1978) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and visual artist, best known for his musical projects The Microphones and Mount Eerie. Based in Anacortes, Washington, in the mid-2000s he bega ...

named the tenth song on his 2017 album

A Crow Looked at Me ''A Crow Looked at Me'' is the eighth studio album by Mount Eerie, a solo project of the American musician Phil Elverum. Released in 2017, it was composed in the aftermath of his 35-year-old wife Geneviève Castrée's diagnosis with pancreati ...

after Kittelesen's painting "Soria Moria" specifically, using it as an illustration of his grief. Kittelsen's 160th birthday was celebrated in a Google doodle on 27 April 2017, giving him some exposure outside of Norway.

Paintings and drawings

File:Nøkken at Nasjonalgalleriet.jpg, ''Nøkken'', 1887–92 ( The Nix) File:Theodor Kittelsen Ekko 1888.jpg, ''Ekko'' ( Echo), 1888 File:Theodor Kittelsen Huldra forsvant.jpg, ''Huldra forsvant'' (The

Hulder A hulder (or huldra) is a seductive forest creature found in Scandinavian folklore. Her name derives from a root meaning "covered" or "secret". In Norwegian folklore, she is known as huldra ("the rchetypalhulder", though folklore presupposes ...

That Disappeared) File:Theodor Kittelsen - Hakkespett, 1912 (Woodpecker).jpg, ''Hakkespett'', 1912 (Woodpecker) File:Theodor Kittelsen - Kornstaur i måneskinn, ca 1900 (Stooks of Corn in Moonlight).jpg, ''Kornstaur i måneskinn'', c. 1900 (Stooks of Grain in Moonlight) File:Trollet som grunner på hvor gammelt det er.jpg, ''Trollet som grunner på hvor gammelt det er'', 1911 (The

who wonders how old he is) File:Theodor Kittelsen - Det rusler og tusler rasler og tasler, 1900 (Creepy, Crawly, Rustling, Bustling).jpg, ''Det rusler og tusler rasler og tasler'', 1900 (Creepy, Crawly, Rustling, Bustling) File:Theodor Kittelsen - Skogtroll, 1906 (Forest Troll).jpg, ''Skogtroll'', 1906 (Forest Troll) File:Theodor Kittelsen-En uheldig bjørnejakt.jpg, ''En uheldig bjørnejakt'' (An Unfortunate Bear Hunt) File:TheodorKittelsen-KvitebjørnKongValemon(1912).JPG, ''Kvitebjorn Kong Valemon'', 1912 (

White-Bear-King-Valemon White-Bear-King-Valemon (''Kvitebjørn kong Valemon'') is a Norwegian fairy tale. The tale was published as No. 90 in Asbjørnsen and Moe's '' Norske Folke-Eventyr. Ny Samling'' (1871). George Webbe Dasent translated it for his ''Tales from ...

) File:Op under Fjeldet toner en Lur.jpg, ''Op under Fjeldet toner en Lur'', 1900 (Up in the Hills a Clarion Call rings out) File:Theodor Kittelsen - Nøkken som hvit hest.jpg, ''Nøkken som hvit hest'', 1909 (The Nix as a white horse) File:Juletroll.jpg, ''Juletroll'', 1907 (Christmas Troll) File:Theodor Kittelsen 12 villender 1897.jpg, ''12 villender'', 1897 (The 12 wild ducks) File:Theodor Kittelsen Streik 1879.jpg, ''Streik'', 1879 (Strike action) File:Gutt på hvit hest.jpg, ''Gutt på hvit hest'' (Boy on white horse)

Illustrations for ''Svartedauen'' (Black Death)

Image:Theodor Kittelsen - Fattigmannen, 1894-95 (The Pauper).jpg, ''Fattigmannen, 1894–95 (The Pauper)'' Image:Theodor Kittelsen - Pesta i trappen, 1896 (Pesta on the Stairs).jpg, ''Pesta i trappen, 1896 (Plague on the Stairs)'' Image:Theodor Kittelsen - Pesta Kommer, 1894-95 (Pesta's Coming).jpg, ''Pesta Kommer, 1894–95 (Plague's Coming)'' Image:Theodor Kittelsen - Musstad, 1896.jpg, ''Musstad, 1896'' (Mouse town)

Bibliography

Books illustrated by Theodor Kittelsen:''Theodor Kittelsen: Drawings and Watercolours''. (Leif Østby. Dreyer, 1975) * ''Fra Livet i de smaa Forholde I-II'' (1889–1890) * ''Fra Lofoten I-II'' (1890–1891) * ''Troldskab'' (1892) * ''Glemmebogen'' (1892) * ''Har dyrene Sjæl?'' (1894) * ''Kludesamleren'' (1894) * ''Im Thierstaate'' (1896) * ''Ordsprog'' (1898) * ''Svartedauen'' (1900) * ''Billeder og Ord'' (1901) * ''Folk og trold. Minder og drømme'' (1911) * ''Soria Moria slot'' (1911) * ''Løgn og forbandet digt'' (1912) * ''Heimskringla'' (1914)

References

Other sources

* Holger Koefoed (1994) ''Møter med Th. Kittelsen'' (Oslo: Gyldendal Tiden)

External links

* *
The big size Kittelsen's illustrations

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071007152357/http://lauvlia.no/node/18 Theodor Kittelsen's home in Sigdal, Norway (museum)
A huge gallery of Kittelsen's works

Kittelsen's work in the collection of The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kittelsen, Theodor 1857 births 1914 deaths People from Kragerø Norwegian illustrators Norwegian children's book illustrators 19th-century Norwegian painters 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters Norwegian male writers People from Buskerud 20th-century illustrators of fairy tales People from Sigdal 19th-century Norwegian male artists 20th-century Norwegian male artists