Ivar Jerven (June 21, 1924 – April 24, 1994) was a Norwegian graphic artist, painter, and drawer.

Biography

Jerven was born at Tune in

Østfold Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...

, Norway. He studied at the

Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry The National College of Art and Design () was established in 1818. In 1996, the National College of Art and Design became part of Oslo National Academy of the Arts (''Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo'', KHiO), along with the Norwegian National Academy of ...

from 1943 to 1947. He then studied for three years under Per Krohg at the

Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts The Norwegian National Academy of Arts () was a former Norwegian tertiary institution in Oslo, offering studies in the area of fine art. Along with four other academies, it merged to form the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (, KHiO) in 1996. ...

(from 1943 to 1947), after which landscape painting became his dominant means of expression. Until 1960 he mostly worked as a graphic artist, drawer, and book illustrator. The motifs in his works were taken from

county,

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, and

Southern Norway Southern Norway (; lit. "The Southland") is the geographical List of regions of Norway, region (''landsdel'') along the Skagerrak coast of southern Norway. The region is an informal description since it does not have any governmental function ...

. Dramatic pictures with the ravages of winter storms became a popular motif for him.Opstad, Gunvald. 1991. ''Sørlandet og malerne''. Oslo: Aschehoug, p. 211. He also painted poetic pictures of trees, often fragile and bare, with an emphasis on structure and rhythm. His color scheme was the initially dark, with green, ocher, rust red, and slate blue as most prominent. Later his palette became brighter and more varied and abstract. Jerven took part in the Autumn Exhibition five times between 1946 and 1980. He was selected to display at the Southern Norway Exhibition () six times, with his last appearance in 1976. He also participated in a series of group and solo exhibitions in Norway and abroad. He supplied decorations for the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

, the

National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design The National Museum (, officially the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design) is a museum in Oslo, Norway which holds the Norwegian state's public collection of art, architecture, and design objects. The collection totals over 400,000 w ...

, the Norwegian Arts Council, and the Municipal Art Collections of Oslo (), among others. His main work is a series of 40 paintings that was purchased by

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norway, Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around th ...

. Jerven was part of an artists' colony that developed in

Flosta Flosta is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Aust-Agder Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 1962. It is currently part of the municipality of Ar ...

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Together with artists such as Ellen Iden,

Kjerstin Øvrelid Kjerstin Marie Øvrelid (March 16, 1929 – January 1989) was a Norwegian painter. She was known for her poetic paintings of flowers and depictions of the sea and skerries, usually those seen from Holmesund, northeast of Arendal, where she had her ...

, Knut Monrad,

Finn Strømsted Finn Strømsted (9 June 1925 – 4 July 2003) was a Norwegian poet and visual artist. He made his literary debut in 1956 with the poetry collection ''Angelicafløyten''. Among his other collections are ''Bidevind'' from 1961, ''Susquehanna Blue ...

, Bodil Cappelen, Finn Henrik Bodvin, and Liv Nergaard, an artistic environment was created that drew inspiration from nature and the

skerries A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to: Geography Northern Ireland *Skerries, County Armagh, a List of townlands in County Armagh#S, townland in Coun ...

. In the mid-1960s, six of these artists exhibited at the Skien Art Association () as the Flosta Artists ().Christensen, Linda. 2016. Malerieutstilling med ny vri. ''Arendals Tidende'' (May 2): 17. Jerven was married to the artist Kjerstin Øvrelid. He died in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jerven, Ivar 1924 births 1994 deaths People from Sarpsborg Oslo National Academy of the Arts alumni Norwegian landscape painters 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters 20th-century Norwegian male artists