Kai Breder Fjell (; March 2, 1907 – January 10, 1989) was a Norwegian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

and

scenographer A scenographer or scenic designer, also production designer, is a person who develops the appearance of a stage design, a TV or movie set, a gaming environment, a trade fair exhibition design or a museum experience exhibition design. The term ori ...

Personal life

Fjell was born on a farm in the village

Skoger Skoger is a village in Drammen Municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The village is located just north of the Vestfold county border, about south of the centre of the town of Drammen. The villages of Klever and Eikeberg are located about ...

near

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

. His father was a farmer and a painter, Conrad Bendiks Fjeld. His mother was a sister of

Marie Hamsun Marie Hamsun (born Marie Andersen) (19 November 1881 – 4 August 1969) was a Norwegian actress and writer. Biography Marie Andersen was born in Elverum in Hedmark county, Norway. She was the eldest child in an affluent family. In 1897 the fam ...

. Fjell married Ingeborg Helene Holt (1907–1999) in 1931. They had two children, Sindre and Håvard Fjell.

Career

Kai Fjell became a pupil of Carl von Hanno in Oslo in 1926. A year later, he enrolled 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. ...

of Oslo, where his main teachers were August Eiebakke and Olaf Willums from 1929. His debut exhibition in Oslo Art Society in 1932 was largely unsuccessful. Fjell achieved immediate success with his exhibition at

Kunstnernes Hus Kunstnernes Hus ( Norwegian for "Artists' House") is an art gallery in Oslo, Norway. It is Norway's largest gallery under the direction of artists, and has served as a major center for exhibits of Norwegian and international contemporary art. It ...

at Oslo in 1937, where all the exhibited paintings were sold. Kai Fjell early developed an ornamental

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. His pictures are heavily influenced by rural life and traditional Norwegian

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

. Fjell's early paintings are dominated by dark and earthy hues and often has grotesque motifs. His later works are significantly brighter, more daring in their use of colour, and tranquil in mood. He also found an outlet as a book illustrator and as a scenographer. Throughout his long career, the female figure and various fertility-symbols are recurring motifs in Fjell's pictures. Fjell's main work consists of ''Kalven reiser seg'', ''Violinen'' and ''Likkjøreren'' on display at the Nasjonalmuseet. He was appointed Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 1976. He was active as a painter until the end of his life. Kai Fjell died in his home at

Lysaker Lysaker is an area in Bærum Municipality, Akershus County, Norway. Lysaker is the easternmost part of Bærum and borders Oslo proper. Lysaker was initially a farming community, later becoming a residential area. Today it is primarily known as ...

Selected works

*''Barnemorderske'', 1934 *''Likkjøreren'', 1936 *''Kalven reiser seg'', 1936 *''Under takrenna'', 1936 *''Modellenes hyllest'', 1936 *''Gratulanter'', 1937 *''Musikanten'', 1937 *''Den sunkne by'', 1954

References

External links

Short biography by Kai Fjell's son Bamse Fjell (In Norwegian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fjell, Kai 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters Expressionist painters 1907 births 1989 deaths Artists from Bærum Order of Saint Olav 20th-century Norwegian male artists