Synnøve Anker Aurdal (8 December 1908 – 2 April 2000) was a Norwegian

textile artist Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials use ...

. Her awards include Jacob-prisen, Maihaugenprisen, the Prince Eugen Medal, Arts Council Norway Honorary Award, and the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

Early and personal life

Anker Aurdal was born in

Kristiania 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, an ...

(now Oslo), Norway to Nils Botvid Anker (1878–1943) and Gudrun Nilssen (1875–1958). She was the sister of

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

Øyvind Anker Øyvind Anker (13 July 1904 – 30 December 1989) was a Norwegian librarian. Personal life He was born in Frankfurt am Main as a son of engineer Nils Botvid Anker (1878–1943) and artist and pianist Gudrun Nilssen (1875–1958). He grew up in ...

(1904–1989) and

granddaughter Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as m ...

of educator Herman Anker (1839–1896). She was married to

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 ...

Leon Aurdal (1890–1949) from 1944 until his death in 1949. She was married to painter and sculptor

Ludvig Eikaas Ludvig Eikaas (20 December 1920 – 5 September 2010) was a Norway, Norwegian painter, graphic artist and sculptor. Eikaas was among the first artists in Norway to work in a purely non-figurative idiom. Biography Ludvig Eikaas was born in the sma ...

(1920–2010) from 1949. She received private schooling in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

and studied at the State Women's Industrial School (''Statens lærerhøgskole i forming'') in Oslo from 1932 to 1934.

Career

In 1941 Anker Aurdal had her first exhibition in the Oslo Association of Artists. Her works include ''Flammedans'' from 1955, ''Blå rytmer'' from 1956 and ''Telegram'' from 1968. In 1958, she jointly won the competition for the textile decoration of Håkonshallen in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

. Her work ''Høyseteteppet'' (1958–1961) appears in Håkonshallen together with works by artists Sigrun Berg and

. She represented Norway at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in 1982. Her work (1968) is included in the Tangen collection at Kunstsilo in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

. She was awarded the Jacob-prisen in 1967, and Maihaugenprisen in 1969. In 1978, she received the Oslo City art award (''Oslo bys kunstnerpris''). She was decorated Knight, First Class of the

in 1980. In 1990, she received the Prince Eugen Medal, and in 1991 the Arts Council Norway Honorary Award (''Norsk kulturråds ærespris'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurdal, Synnove Anker 1908 births 2000 deaths Artists from Oslo Norwegian tapestry artists Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal Synnove 20th-century women textile artists Norwegian textile designers