John Savio
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John Andreas Savio (28 January 1902 – 13 April 1938Nerhus, Hans (1982) ''John Andreas Savio : Same og kunstner : En monografi'', Forlaget Form og Farge, Oslo. . ) was a
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...
artist from Norway who was known for his
woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s. He is thought to have been
autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...
as artist. Savio was the first Sami artist with a formal arts education; he graduated from The Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry, which is now a part of
Oslo National Academy of the Arts The Oslo National Academy of the Arts (, ''KHiO'') is a tertiary institution in Oslo, Norway, that provides education in visual arts, design and performing arts. It is one of two public institutes of higher learning in Norway that teaches in v ...
.


Early life

Savio was born in Bugøyfjord in
Sør-Varanger Municipality Sør-Varanger (; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kirkenes. Other settlements in the municipality include the vill ...
in
Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. His father was
Per Savio Per John Savio (16 October 1879 â€“ 10 October 1905) was a Norwegian polar explorer and dog sled driver. As a member of the ''Southern Cross'' expedition 1898–1900, Savio together with Ole Must were the first to overnight on the Antarc ...
, a polar explorer who was one of the first two people to spend a night on the Antarctic continent, and his mother was Ellen Strimp, daughter of a wealthy Sámi merchant. His parents died when he was aged three; first his mother from
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
, then his father from drowning on the
Varangerfjord The Varangerfjord (; ; ; ) is the easternmost fjord in Norway, north of Finland. The fjord is located in Finnmark county between the Varanger Peninsula and the mainland of Norway. Extents The fjord flows through the municipalities of Vardø ...
while he was sailing to Vadsø to retrieve his wife's coffin. This left John Savio to be brought up by his maternal grandparents. His grandparents were fairly wealthy by the standards in Finnmark at the time, and they had the means to give the child a good upbringing and education. He was sent to school in
Vardø Vardo or Vardø may refer to: Places * Vardø Municipality, a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway *Vardø (town) (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the administrative centre of Vardà ...
, where he received tutoring in drawing by
Isak Saba Isak Mikal Saba (15 November 1875 – 1 June 1921) was a Norwegian Sami people, Sámi teacher and politician. He was born in 1875 in Nesseby Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway to Per Sabasen and Bigi Henriksdatter Aikio. Saba married Marie ...
.


After attending school in Vardø

After Vardø he spent the year 1918–1919 at Kvæfjord Private Middelskole in
Borkenes Borkenes is the administrative centre of Kvæfjord Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The farming village is located on the island of Hinnøya, about west of the city of Harstad. It is located along the Kvæfjorden (an arm of the Gullesfjor ...
,
Kvæfjord Municipality Kvæfjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the v ...
in
Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...
county. Then he went on to Bodø Gymnas in Bodø,
Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...
county, but he only stayed there for a short time before he went to
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 ...
to study at Ragna Nielsens skole in 1920. In Oslo he also took courses at Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole that year, but he became ill with tuberculosis and had to quit school. He had to get a lung removed, and he was hospitalised for months. He just barely recovered, and the poor health hampered him for the rest of his life. After recovering he went back to Oslo for a short time, before he went back north to Finnmark to try to obtain his inheritance from his now dead grandfather. He found that much of the money had been lost, but he still received some money.


Artist's life

The next years he travelled around in Finnmark, making prints, drawings and paintings. In the early 1930s he travelled in Western Norway and Northern Norway. 1934(-1936?) Savio visited Munich and Cologne and spent about a year in Paris. During his life he had only a few exhibitions, two in
Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...
, and one in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. He spent much time knocking on doors trying to find buyers for his art. He sold his prints very cheaply, just to get by. At the end of his life he moved to Oslo again, where he lived in poverty. John Savio - samischer Kunstpionier
/ref> He "devoted his work to ''life on the
mountain plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Oft ...
'' .


Illness preceding death

During the spring of 1938, he got very ill with tuberculosis again, and he died at Ullevål sykehus on 13 April 1938, at the age of 36. He was buried in Oslo, at
Vestre gravlund Vestre Gravlund is a cemetery in the Frogner borough of Oslo, Norway. It is located next to the Borgen (station), Borgen metro station. At , it is the largest cemetery in Norway. It was inaugurated in September 1902 and also contains a cremator ...
. File:Savio Okto.png, Okto File:Savio bakgårdstak i Tromsø.png, Backyard in
Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...
File:Savio reinkalver.png, Reindeer calves File:John-Savio-Lasso.jpg, Lasso File:John-Savio-Spring.jpg, Spring File:John-Savio-Ung-Mann.jpg, Man with Scythe


References


External links


savio.no
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savio, John 1902 births 1938 deaths Sámi artists Kven people People from Sør-Varanger 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters Norwegian Sámi people Burials at Vestre gravlund 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Norway 20th-century Norwegian male artists Norwegian wood engravers