Queen Sonja one of the contributors to Juleroser 2016

Juleroser («Christmas Roses») was a Christmas magazine (booklet) published between 1881 and 1944 (with a short break 1937–1940) by Ernst Bojesen in Copenhagen, Denmark. The magazine contained literary texts and illustrations by well-established authors and artists.

Juleroser was intended to be a Christmas magazine for all the Nordic countries, and from 1895 the magazine also had editors for Norway and Sweden. According to the nynorsk («New Norwegian») version of Wikipedia, the magazine had the subtitle Skandinavisk Juleblad («Scandinavian Christmas Magazine») from 1885 to 1888 and in 1892, while in the period from 1889 to 1891 the subtitle was Nordisk Juleblad («Nordic Christmas Magazine»).

Juleroser was revived as a literary Christmas magazine last year by the publishers Samlaget and with the singer and actress Herborg Kråkevik as editor. 

In this year's edition Queen Sonja of Norway has contributed with four photos, of which 3 stem from the series «Former» («Forms») taken at Svalbard. See one of the photo illustrations in today's VG.no. Other contributors are Kim Leine, Anne B. Ragde, Kolbein Falkeid, Brit Bildøen, Gro Dahle, Bit Vejle, Vetle Lid Larssen, Helge Torvund, Theodor Kittelsen, Marianne Heske, Håkon Gullvåg and Sverre Malling.

Photo: Cover of Juleroser 2016, Samlaget.

Painter of Crown Princess Märtha portrait finally identified

© Photo: Jan Haug, Det kongelige hoff (The Royal Court).

The portrait of Crown Princess Märtha of Norway (1901–1954) has been a part of The Royal Collections in Oslo, Norway ever since World War II. Unfortunately the portrait was both unsigned and undated. And as the years went by, the few people who knew the history of the painting, were not at the court any longer. Apparently any sort of documentation of its history, for instance correspondence or other paper work, was missing. Until last weekend the identity of the painter of the portrait, which for many years has been hanging in Den gule salong (The Yellow Parlour) at the Royal Palace in Oslo, has been a mystery. A new art book helped to solve the puzzle.

 © Photo: Jan Haug, Det kongelige hoff (The Royal Court). The Yellow Parlour at the Royal Palace in Oslo. The Crown Princess portrait can be seen in the background.

But before I tell the story on how the painter was identified, I would like to cross the Atlantic for a while to tell part of the story from the painter's perspective. Or rather, I should start in Horten, Norway. Because that is the little town where Herbjørn Peter Egeli was born on 15 November 1900 as the eldest of three sons of Even Egeli (1874–1915) and Josefine Mathilde Wennerstrøm (1875–1921). Even Egeli was at the time underkanonér (assistant gunner) at Karljohansvern (naval base), but later took his family to Kristiania (later named Oslo) where Herbjørn went to school at Vålerenga. Besides school, he took art classes and wood-carving taught by his uncle Herman Ekeli (1885–1946). The spelling of the family name – Egeli or Ekeli – has varied in the different branches, I should add. As the story goes in the Egeli family, Herbjørn once sat model for the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943). The Vigeland Museum in Oslo has not found any evidence of this, however, as pointed out in a letter to me back in November 2003, and thought it was most likely a family myth, but could not rule it out completely.

True or not, Herbjørn descended from an artistic family. As I have written in this blog before, Herbjørn's father was born in Kristiansand, but the Egeli family originally came from the cotter's farm Øykjeli at Haukeli in Vinje, Telemark, where Herbjørn's great-great-grandfather Svein Olsen Egeli (1779–1853) settled around 1826. The Egeli family were well-known for their artistic skills. Bjorn Egeli's great-great-uncle Tor Sveinsen (1825–1882) was a recognized rosepainter in Telemark before he together with his family as well as 2 brothers and also his widowed mother emigrated to Wisconsin, USA in 1861. Tor's father Svein Olsen Egeli and brother Even (1822–1873) were both skilled ski carpenters. After Even Sveinsen's death two of his children – Svein and Hæge – and eventually also his widow Liv Tollevsdatter (1824–1905) – emigrated to the United States, leaving behind the eldest son Herbjørn Evensen Egeli (1848–1893). Herbjørn, who served in Kristiansand as an (non-commissioned) officer and later settled down as a fireman, was Herbjørn's grandfather.

Anyway, when his dad Even died in 1915, Herbjørn went to sea, and after seven years he went on shore in the United States to enter Brooklyn School of Art in New York. After another period at sea, he continued his education at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. He later became a well-known portrait painter (but also painted many maritime subjects) and painted portraits of among others President Dwight D. Eisenhower and President Richard M. Nixon. Herbjørn, who in the States went by the name Bjorn, bought the Glebe Farm in Valley Lee, St. Mary's County, Maryland in 1942, died on 20 October 1984, nearly 84 years old. His five children Peter, Cedric, Bjorn James, Mary Lois and Carolyn all became professional artists. Also several grandchildren followed the same path.

Bjorn Egeli's children knew that he had once painted a portrait of Crown Princess Märtha, but where it had ended up was a mystery to them, and they didn't know too many details about it either. When the American and Norwegian Egeli branches reconnected – one of Bjorn's first cousins, Torborg Hoelseth, née Ekeli (1924–1992), was the grandmother to yours sincerely, and I traced Peter and his family in 1997 – I was asked by Peter if I could try to locate the portrait on this side of the pond. In early 1998 I wrote to the Royal Palace about it, but the court had no knowledge on the matter. At the time I had the understanding that the portrait was of both (the then) Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha, which was also what the Royal Court commented on. But at the time the court had no information which could lead to connecting the Crown Princess Märtha portrait to Bjorn Egeli. Peter and I had several discussions on where the portrait could have ended up. I remember I once suggested the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where Crown Princess Märtha stayed several times while visiting New York City during World War II, and which also had another Norwegian connection, as Jørgine (Georgia) Rolfsdatter Slettede from Bøverdalen (1887–1971) got married to the hotel director and owner Lucius Boomer (1878–1947) and later became the hotel's co-owner and also continued to manage the hotel even after Hilton took over. I never got as far as to contact the hotel to ask if the portrait was there, though.

Now it is on due time to turn back to Oslo again! The Royal Palace houses a number of collections, including paintings, sculptures and silver objects. There is an ongoing effort to catalogue and document the items in these collections, as explained at the Royal Court's website.. One of the people responsible for this task is the art historian Ingeborg Anna Lønning, who is head of The Royal Collections, a section under the Department of Royal Estates and Culture. She has been working at the Royal Palace since 2002, and is the one who solved the mystery of the unknown painter. All thanks to a wonderful art book which was published in 2015.

The Art of Diplomacy. The Art Collection of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (Oslo: Forlaget Press, ISBN 9788275477185) was written by the art historian Kathrine Lund in 2015. There is also a Norwegian edition, Diplomatiets kunst. Utenriksdepartementets samling (Oslo: Forlaget Press, ISBN 9788275477185). The book's photographer is Guri Dahl. Kathrine Lund works as a senior advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was from 2001 to 2012 responsible for the ministry's art collection. As the book title suggests, the book presents a selection of artworks owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and housed in the foreign missions, ambassador residences and in the ministry at Victoria terasse in Oslo. The reader will find many great photos and presentations of artists like Johan Fredrik Eckersberg, Amaldus Nielsen, Edvard Munch, Brynjulf Strandenæs (who made portraits of King Haakon VII and Queen Maud) and many, many others. I might come back to the book another time, as it certainly deserves to be thoroughly presented and reviewed. The book is not on general sale, as it is first of all meant for the ministry's relations and as a documentation of what the ministry has in its collections.

Nevertheless, at least one copy of the book ended up at the Royal Palace, and was studied and enjoyed by Ingeborg Lønning. On page 104 and 105 a portrait of Ambassador Wilhelm Thorleif von Munthe af Morgenstierne (1887–1963) was described and pictured. The portrait, which was made in 1956 by the aforementioned Norwegian-American artist Bjorn Egeli, is displayed in the Norwegian embassy in Washington, DC. Morgenstierne was among others Norway's Consul General to New York City and later minister plenipotentiary and ambassador in Washington, DC. In the very same room where the Morgenstierne portrait is displayed, a portrait of George C. Marshall, who was among other things USA's secretary of state 1946–49, can also be viewed. The portrait is made by Bjorn's son Peter. I visited the embassy to see the portraits during my first visit to the United States in September 1999.

But back to Lønning again! She made a note of, as she has told me by e-mail earlier this week, Bjorn Egeli's portrait of Ambassador Morgenstierne published in the said book, and started to search for information about the artist on the Internet. She learned among others that Peter Egeli fairly recently had published a book about his father. She thought that the photographs of Egeli's portraits showed similarities to the portrait of Crown Prince Märtha displayed at the Royal Palace. She also made a point of the fact that Crown Princess Märtha and her children during WW2 lived in exile at Pook's Hill at Bethesda in Maryland outside Washington, D.C. and was part of the same social circles as Ambassador Morgenstierne. In addition, Bjorn Egeli lived in the Washington, D.C. area during the war and also came from Norway originally. All this strengthened Lønning's newborn theory that he could be the painter of the Crown Princess Märtha portrait. She contacted Peter Egeli, who immediately recognized the portrait as being made by his father, although he had never seen it before. Peter Egeli, who has a large collection of photos of his father's portraits, studied with his father to become an artist and knows the style of his paintings well. He maintained that the Crown Princess portrait showed a classic Bjorn Egeli pose as well as details to colour, figure and lighting. The mystery of the unknown painter has finally been solved! And the Egeli family finally got to know where the portrait is being displayed!

• Information on the Egeli family (some of the dead links will be dealt with soon)

My gratitude goes to Ingeborg Anna Lønning, Jan Haug and Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen at the Royal Court for giving background information and permission to publish the photos. Many thanks also to Kathrine Lund for giving information about and also a copy of her book!

Postscript 24 January 2016: Ingeborg Lønning, head of the Royal Collections at the Royal Palace in Oslo, has sent some new details about the portrait after the article above was posted on late Thursday 21 January 2016:

The portrait is measured at 105,5 cm (width)  x 102, 5 cm (height). Oil on cancas. Unsigned. Inventory number DKS.S01271.

The portrait has earlier been on display at the Crown Princely estate at Skaugum in Asker, but the court does not know when it was transferred to the Royal Palace. It was probably not at the Palace in the 1970s as it was not mentioned in Kavli/Hjelde's book Slottet i Oslo. The portrait was hanging on on the same place (in The Yellow Parlour) when Lønning took her position at the Palace in 2002. 

Last time updated on Sunday 24 January 2016 at 14.30 (postscript added), Monday 11 September 2023 at 19:50 (link corrected).

The Crown Princess Märtha statue outside Asker Church, Norway

The statue of Crown Princess Märtha with her son Prince Harald, now King Harald V, on her arm was made by sculptor Dyre Vaa (1903-1980).

Princess Märtha of Sweden (and of Norway until 1905) (1901-1954) married the then Crown Prince Olav of Norway (1903-1991) at Our Saviour's Church in Oslo in 1929. The couple lived at the Skaugum estate in Asker not far from Asker Church.

The bronze statue was cast in 1959, but first unveiled by King Olav V on 29 August 1969. The original plan was to place the statue in a park planned to be constructed west of Asker, but the statue was finally placed outside Asker Church. The statue is 2,80 m high (including the base the monument is around 5 m high) and the base of the statue is made of syenite.

Present at the unveiling ceremony were besides King Olav and the sculptor also Crown Princess Märtha's siblings Princess Margaretha of Denmark and Prince Carl Bernadotte as well as Crown Prince Harald, Crown Princess Sonja, Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner, Johan Martin Ferner, Cathrine, Benedikte and Alexander Ferner, Prince Georg and Princess Anne of Denmark, Count Flemming and Countess Ruth of Rosenborg and Asker's mayor Jon Fossum.

(To the right when you pass the Southern gate of the cemetery behind the statue one can find the grave of Crown Princess Märtha's eldest daughter Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen (1930-2012).

Sources: Aftenposten 3 March 1959 No. 104, p. 4; Aftenposten 12 June 1969 No. 261, p. 1; Aftenposten 30 August 1969 No. 397, pp. 1 and 18.

Postscript 7 July 2013 at 23:40:  It should be added that Asker og Bærum Leksikon (Encyclopaedia), 2006, p. 355, claims that the statue was unveiled on 28 September 1969 (after being stored since 1958). This is definately wrong, cf. the newspaper references above. However, the entry about the Crown Princess Märtha monument also claim that it is 4 m high (statue + base), while Aftenposten 12 June 1969 No. 261, says it is about 5 m high. I really have no idea. The monument is named "A happy mother to a little boy" and after all the disagremeents over where to place the statue it was King Olav himself who ended the discussion by expressing his wish that the statue should be outside the church.

Updated on 8 JUly 2013 at 13:15 (corrected "main gate" to "Southern gate").

The King Olav V statue, Asker, Norway

The statue of King Olav V in an admiral's uniform at Asker Torg was unveiled in 1998. The sculptor was Joseph Grimeland (1916-2002).

Bjorn Egeli: A Life in Images by Peter E. Egeli

A biography of the Norwegian-born US American portrait painter Bjorn Egeli (1900-1984) has recently been published, and I received my copy today. The book of 65 pages gives a short introduction to Bjorn Egeli's life and artistic career and includes several wonderful images of his works, including a portrait of President Dwight D. Eisenhower (Egeli also painted a portrait of President Richard Nixon).

Information about the book, Bjorn Egeli: A Life in Images, by Peter E. Egeli (ISBN: 978-0-615-81743-9) can be found at the website BjornEgeli.com.

Bjorn Egeli, originally Herbjørn Peter Egeli, was born in Horten in Norway on 15 November 1900 as the eldest son of Even (Herbjørnsen) Egeli (1874-1915) of Kristiansand and Josephine Mathilde Wennerstrøm (1875-1921) of Hidra outside Flekkefjord. While Even Egeli and his two brothers Torkild and Hermann were born in Kristiansand, the Egeli family originally came from the cotter's farm Øykjeli at Haukeli in Vinje, Telemark, where their great-grandfather Svein Olsen Egeli (1779-1853) settled around 1826. The Egeli family were well-known for their artistic skills. Bjorn Egeli's great-great-uncle Tor Sveinsen (1825-1882) was a recognized rosepainter in Telemark before he together with his family as well as 2 brothers and also his widowed mother emigrated to Wisconsin, USA in 1861. Tor's father Svein Olsen Egeli and brother Even (1822-1873) were both skilled ski carpenters. After Even's death two of his children - Svein and Hæge - and eventually also his widow Liv Tollevsdatter (1824-1905) - emigrated to the United States, leaving behind the eldest son Herbjørn Evensen Egeli (1848-1893). Herbjørn, who served in Kristiansand as an (non-commissioned) officer and later settled down as a fireman, was the artist Bjorn Egeli's grandfather.

Bjorn Egeli moved with his family (he got two younger brothers, Arne Torleif (1902-1973) and Odd Eivind (1910-1970) from Horten to Kristiania (now Oslo) where he went to school. The family eventually settled in the parish of Vålerenga. After his father's death (he died of tuberculosis, as did Bjorn's grandparents and two first cousins) in 1915, Bjorn went to sea, where he spent 7 years before settling down in the United States, where he was trained as an artist. In 1931 he returned to Norway to visit his family. This turned out to be his last visit to his homeland. In 1932 he was married to Lois Baldwin (1908-1993) and had five children - Peter, Cedric, Bjorn James, Mary Lois and Carolyn - who all became professional artists. Also several grandchildren followed the same path. Bjorn, who bought the Glebe Farm in Valley Lee, St. Mary's County, Maryland in 1942, died on 20 October 1984, nearly 84 years old.

I know the Egeli family well, as Bjorn's father Even Egeli (1874-1915) was the elder brother of my great-grandfather Torkild Johan Ekeli (1878-1939), and thus Bjorn was the first cousin of my grandmother Torborg Hoelseth (1924-1992). Having worked on my family genealogy for years, I tracked down the Egelis in Maryland in 1997 (for unknown reasons the Ekeli branch of Sandefjord - the spelling of the family name varied in the various branches - must have lost contact with Even Egeli's branch after Bjorn went to sea - there is no indication that Bjorn met his Sandefjord relatives during his visit in 1931 - the Sandefjord Ekelis kept in touch with Even and Torkild's younger brother Hermann, however).

Since 1997 we have visited eachother in Norway and in the United States several times, and Bjorn's eldest son Peter and his wife were guests in my wedding in 2007. Considering the family connections, there is no wonder why the new book will become a treasured item in my library!

Some information about the Egeli/Ekeli family - including links to several Egeli websites in the United States - can be found at my website. See also the biography of Bjorn Ekeli at Wikipedia.

King Olav V embroidery

Embroideries with royal subjects are not an unusual sight, but still nice to see! The embroideries pictured above were made in connection with King Olav V of Norway's 75th birthday in 1978 (photo 1) and his 80th birthday in 1983 (photo 2 - a pity the photo quality was not better) and are displayed at Glomstad Guesthouse in Øyer municipality not far from the Olympic City of Lillehammer.

I don't think this King Harald V purse is for sale, but have to say that at least the embroidery is nicely done! The blog Linens and Royals shows photos of King George VI coronation samplers and has links to other embroidery-themed articles.

1712 - Das Werden eines Landes (1712 - A country emerges)

If you have ever dreamt of visiting the principality of Liechtenstein one day, maybe 2012 should be the year to do something about it? This year Liechtenstein celebrates the tercentenary of the purchase of the county of Vaduz by Prince Johann (Hans) Adam I Andreas of Liechtenstein (1657-1712), and in this connection the Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum has created a special exhibition called 1712 - Das Werden eines Landes ("1712 - A country merges") where one through a series of documents, paintings and other valuable objects can learn the history of the purchase and of the key players.

In 1699  Prince Hans Adam I ("the Rich") had purchased the duchy of Schellenberg, which corresponds to the present-day Liechtenstein Unterland. As explained in the press release from Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum, when both Vaduz and Schellenberg were bought, the Liechtenstein dynasty gained control of non-intermediate territories which were held directly under the imperial throne. The purchase enabled the princes to qualify for a seat and a vote in the Imperial diet of the Holy Roman Empire. In other words a foundation was laid for the later sovereign country of Liechtenstein.

I learned about the exhibition through the Liechtenstein Marketing's June 2012 newsletter, which arrived in my mailbox today. The exhibition opened already on 5 April this year and can be visited until 14 October. More details can be found in the said press release (there is a summary in English) with photos of several of the exhibition objects. Seems like a great exhibition! Unfortunately I will probably not be able to visit Liechtenstein this year. My only visit to the principality so far took place in May 2005. I will return with a blog article from my visit later on.

The portrait of Prince Hans Adam I shown above is displayed in the exhibition. The image is taken from the museum's press photo section.

Painting Canada

A.Y. Jackson: Winter, Quebec, 1926 (National Gallery of Canada. Courtesy of the Estate of the late Dr. Naomi Jackson Groves. Photo © NGC)

F.H. Varley: Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay, 1921 (© Varley Art Gallery / Town of Markham. Photo © NGC)

Tom Thomson: The Jack Pine, 1916–1917 (National Gallery of Canada. Photo © National Gallery of Canada).

Franz Johnston: The Fire Ranger, ca. 1921 (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo © NGC)

The images are made available for the press at the National Gallery's website.

HM Queen Sonja Norway attended the opening of the exhibition "Painting Canada. Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven" at the National Gallery (a department of The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design) in Oslo on Thursday 26 January 2012. She was accompanied by the charge d'affaires at the Canadian embassy in Oslo, Gilles Normann, the vice director of the National Gallery of Canada, Karen Colby-Stothard, curator at the National Gallery of Canada Charles Hill, director of Dulwich Picture Gallery, Ian Dejardin, besides representatives of the National Museum/National Gallery in Oslo.

I visited the exhibition on Sunday 29 January and really enjoyed it. I visit art exhibitions from time to time, but more often while I am on vacation abroad. But I was attracted to this particular exhibition because of its topic - I must admit that I have got a soft spot for Canada ever since my visits to Canada in 2006 and 2008. At the moment I am improving my knowledge of USA's big, little brother by reading the 6th edition of A Short History of Canada by Desmond Morton (Kindle Edition, 2008). Another reason for my interest in Canada is that I also had relatives who lived there: My great-uncle Herulf Ekeli (1905-1983), who settled in Ontario, but I haven't been able to find out too many details about him, and my great grandfather's younger brother Salve Trygsland (1874-1964), who was a farmer at Youngstown, Alberta, and is buried at Cottrell Cemetery in Cereal. Neither of them got their own family in Canada, though. It should be added that Queen Sonja's uncle Halvor "Havven" Haraldsen (1893-1970) and his wife Inger Elisabeth "Lisbeth" Haraldsen, née Rydgren (1904-1994) lived at Fredericton, New Brunswick, for many years, but are buried together with Sonja's parents at Ris cemetery in Oslo.

But back to the exhibition again! According to the press release it presents works by the most important pioneers of Canadian landscape painting from the early years of the 20th century. The love the painters - Tom Thomson (1877-1917) and the group of seven, Lawren Harris (1885-1970), J.E.H. MacDonald (1873-1932), A.Y. Jackson (1882-1974), Franklin Carmichael (1890-1945), Frederick Horsman Varley (1881-1969), Frank Johnston (1888-1949) and Arthur Lismer (1885-1969) - had of their homeland "encouraged them to explore the wilderness of Canada's national parks". The Group of Seven - they begun to exhibit collectively in 1920 and got their great breakthrough at the British Empire Exhibition in London in 1924 - laid the foundations for Canadian modernism, and were inspired by their counterparts in Scandinavia and the "dream of the Nordic".

The exhibition is put together by the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, which I visited in 2008, and the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and shows more than 120 paintings from major museums and collections in Canada and thus provides a representation of this particular chapter of Canadian modernism. The exhibition in Oslo lasts until 13 May. Before that the British could enjoy the paintings at the Dulwich Picture Gallery from 19 October 2011 to 8 January 2012, and after Oslo the exhibition moves on to Groningen (3 June-28 October 2012).

Now, I have never studied arts history, so please don't expect me to go into depth about different styles and periods. I just enjoyed this exhibition because of its topic and the period it represented and because it was well organised with good introductions to the different artists. The paintings showed magnificent landscapes, but were fortunately not photographic representations. It was something about the colours and the light that particularly appealed to me. Tom Thomson is of course an example of this - A Northern Lake (c. 1916), Birches (several paintings!), Northern Lights (1916 or 1917), Path behind Mowat Lodge (1917) and Spring in Algonquin Park to mention a few. Franklin Carmichael's Autumn Hillside (1920), October Gold (1922; just think about the wonderful title!), Lawren Harris's Trees and Pool (1920), Frank Johnston's The Fire Ranger (1921; see above) and Serenity, Lake of the Woods (1922), MacDonald's Fall, Montreal River (1920) and Jackson's Winter, Quebec (1926; see above) were other favourites. Lawren Harris's paintings of the Canadian north and Arctic were very different in style from the others, but the light was wonderful! One example is Albert Harbour, North Baffin Island from 1930. Don't miss out on this!

Along with the exhibition goes the catalogue with the same title, Painting Canada, Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, which gives a great introduction to the painters and the period they represented and with a wonderful gallery attached. The price is only NOK 198. ISBN: 978-0-85667-686-4.

See also the reviews of the exhibition in London by The Guardian and The Telegraph as well as the blog Making a Mark.



Updated on Saturday 4 February 2012 at 11:40 (links added). last time updated on Monday 13 April 2015 at 00.25 (small error corrected).

The Prince as collector. New Acquisitions under Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein

I have subscribed to Newsletter Liechtenstein Tourismus ever since I was planning my first trip to the tiny principality back in 2005. The November 2010 newsletter, which I received today, had an interesting headline, Fürstliches im Kunstmuseum. The short article provides a link to the official website of the Art Museum in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, where you can read about the current exhibition The Prince as collector. New Acquisitions under Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein.

The exhibition opened already on 24 September 2010 (but as far as I know the newsletter hasn't mentioned it until the said November issue) and lasts until 16 January 2011, so there is still time to visit.

You can subscribe to the Newsletter Liechtenstein Tourismus from here.

Arthur Egeli Paintings and other blogs

I follow a lot of blogs, and not only royalty-related ones. My third cousin Arthur Bjorn Egeli is a well-stablished painted residing in Pasadena, California. His blog Arthur Egeli Paintings is worth checking out, although I wish he updated it more often. He has a website as well, by the way.

Arthur's first cousin Lisa from Maryland, who like Arthur is also my third cousin, doesn't have a blog, but she has a great website, and she is on Facebook and Twitter as well. For more on the Egeli artists, please go to my Ekeli page.

Some times it is funny to just click on "Next blog" (at least Blogspot.com has that option) and see what happens. There are some talented artists and bloggers out there, like Drawman, Karen Thumm, Bill Guffey and Elephant Art.

If you are into genealogy, you might want to check out Arnfrid Mæland's blog Fjellsiden (The Mountain Side), where you can among read about the Norwegian ancestry of Arlene Carol Dahl and Joni Mitchell. You need to understand some Norwegian though. But the Joni Mitchell article has a link to another Mithell article written in English.

And if you have realized how much history and genealogy you can learn from visiting a cemetery, then maybe A Morbid Fascination is a blog to visit?

Mandal artist Olaf Isaachsen (1835-1893) in focus

Sunday 20 September 2009 was the last day of the exhibition of the Mandal artist Olaf Isaachsen’s paintings in the Blomqvist gallery in Oslo. But if you were unfortunate enough to miss the exhibition, you can still enjoy Isaachsen’s art by reading Tone Klev Furnes’ book «Olaf Isaachsen – Med livet som pamflett», which was published in late August 2009.

The exhibition was opened on Thursday 3 September by former Norwegian prime minister Kåre Willoch, who descends from the Isaachsen family.

Olaf Wilhelm Isaachsen was born at Mandal on 21 March 1835 as the second son of Daniel Peter Christian Isaachsen (1811-1882) and Cecilie Marie Wattne (1811-1895), and thus belonged to the Isaachsen-Willoch family’s branch 1 line 2, while Kåre Willoch descends from line 4. The architect Thomas Willoch, b. 1933, who for many years worked at the Royal Palace in Oslo as Palace Superintendent, belongs to the third line.

Isaachsen was educated at an arts academy in Düsseldorf, Germany and was also an apprentice with the French artists Thomas Couture and Gustave Courbet.

Isaachsen was one of the first Norwegian artists who after finishing his education decided to settle in Norway to live on his art. He struggled to get recognition in his lifetime, and after his death at Kjos in Kristiansand on 22 September 1893 he was for a long period a forgotten painter. Today Isaachsen is regarded as one of Norway’s most prominent artists and greatest colourists with motives from Setesdalen and the coast landscape of Southern Norway.

Olaf Isaachsen married at Düsseldorf on 23 August 1864 Antonie Johanne Prehr (1838-1870), daughter of veterinary Wilhelm Heinrich Prehr and Jeanette Walther. The couple had four children – William (1865-1942), who emigrated to New Zealand; Eivind (1866-1926); Johanna Maria (1867-1872) and Harald (1869-1942). Only the latter continued to live in Mandal, but his children ended up in Oslo and in the United States.

The author Tone Klev Furnes has also written other books about artists from Mandal. In 2000 she published «Amaldus Nielsen – kystens maler» and five years later she finished the book «Én by – fem kunstnere» («One city – five artists») about the artists Adolph Tidemand, Olaf Isaachsen, Amaldus Nielsen, Gustav Vigeland and Emanuel Vigeland.

Sources:

• The article «Willoch (Isaachsen-Willoch)» in Norsk Slektskalender, 3^rd volume, Oslo, 1979, pp.193-212.
• Kulturkompasset.no (September 2009)
• Tone Klev Furnes at BibSys
• Vest-Agder fylke, Halse i Mandal, Klokkerbok no. B 1C (1834-1838)
• Vest-Agder fylke, Kristiansand, Ministerialbok no. A 18 (1890-1897)
• Lindesnes 19 September 2009 No. 217, p. 10.
• New Zealand - Birth, Death and Marriage Historical Records (death reg.no. 1942/22581)

Updated Thursday 24 September 2009 at 22:10.