Per Lysne (December 9, 1880 – September 21, 1947) was a

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans () are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 milli ...

artist most associated with bringing the traditional Norwegian folk art of

Rosemåling Rose-painting, , or is a Scandinavian decorative Folk art, folk painting that flourished from the 1700s to the mid-1800s, particularly in Norway. In Sweden, rose-painting began to be called , c. 1901, for the region Dalecarlia where it had been ...

to the United States.

Biography

Per Andersen Lysne was born on the Ljøsne farm in

Lærdal Lærdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Lærdalsøyri. The old Filefjell Ko ...

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; literally "Parish and the Fjords") was a Counties of Norway, county in western Norway, from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsda ...

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 ...

. He had been trained in rosemaling by Anders Olsen, an artist whose work was recognized at the Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1893. Lysne married Ingeborg Nundal (1882–1940) in 1906. Lysne and his wife immigrated to

Stoughton, Wisconsin Stoughton ( ) is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It straddles the Yahara River about southeast of the state capital, Madison, Wisconsin, Madison. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,173. Stoughton is part of the Madison ...

in 1907. After the death of his first wife, Lysne married Olga Ethun (1882–1956) in 1945. He died at a Stoughton hospital in 1947 following a heart attack. Lysne specialized in redecorating antique chests and painting large platters. He developed a thriving rosemaling enterprise and taught the art to a select few. His signature piece, the smorgasbord plate, was not an object that typically had been decorated, but Lysne's new form had a pervasive influence. Lysne also decorated home interiors in southeastern Wisconsin. The Stoughton Historical Museum has an exhibit devoted to Lysne's work. The Per Lysne Collection is maintained at the

Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa is the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, with over 33,000 artifacts, 12 historic buildings, and a library and archives. This treasure showcases one of the most extensive ...

References

Other sources

* ''The Fathers of American Decorative Painting'' (The Decorative Arts Collection. Gretchen Cagle Publications, Inc.) *Benedict, Claus Matthias (ed) (2012) ''Per Lysne'' (Phon)

External links

*
Stoughton Historic SocietyWisconsin Historical Society
1880 births 1947 deaths 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters Artists from Wisconsin People from Stoughton, Wisconsin People from Lærdal Norwegian emigrants to the United States 20th-century Norwegian male artists {{DEFAULTSORT:Lysne, Per