On the westside wall of Oslo City Hall is Grimdalen's equestrian statue of Harald III of Norway (1950)

Anne Grimdalen (1 November 1899 – 3 October 1961) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

sculptor. She was born on the mountain farm Grimdalen in Skafså,

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

, and later also lived and worked in the so-called ''Kunstnerdalen'' in

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

. She worked mainly with granite, and also bronze. She is represented at the

National Gallery of Norway The National Gallery ( no, Nasjonalgalleriet) is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. , the admission cost is 100 Norwegian kroner. History It was establishe ...

, and was one of the main contributors to the decorations of

Oslo City Hall Oslo City Hall ( no, Oslo rådhus) is a municipal building in Oslo, the capital of Norway. It houses the city council, the city's administration and various other municipal organisations. The building as it stands today was constructed between ...

Education

Grimdalen studied at the

Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry The National College of Art and Design ( no, Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole) was established in 1818. In 1996 the National College of Art and Design became part of Oslo National Academy of the Arts The Oslo National Academy of the A ...

from 1923 to 1926, at the

Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts The Norwegian National Academy of Arts ( no, Statens kunstakademi) is a Norwegian Academy offering studies in the area of Fine Art. The Academy currently offers 3-year bachelor and 2-year MA programmes. The "Norwegian National Academy of the Arts" ...

(1927–1929) under Wilhelm Rasmussen, and in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

under

Einar Utzon-Frank Aksel (Axel) Einar (Ejnar) Utzon-Frank (30 March 1888 – 15 July 1955) was a Danish sculptor and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. During his lifetime, he produced many sculptures, some of which stand as public monuments. ...

. She made study travels to Italy (1933–34), Greece (1935), Paris and Italy (1938), and London (1947). Two of her inspirators were the painters

Henrik Sørensen Henrik Sørensen (12 February 1882 – 24 February 1962) was a Norwegian painter. Personal life Sørensen was born in Fryksände in Sweden as a son of Severin Sørensen and Helene Høibraaten. He was married to Gudrun Klewe, and is father of ...

and

Otto Valstad Otto Valstad (11 December 1862 – 20 June 1950) was a Norwegian educator, painter, book illustrator and children's writer. Biography He was born at Asker in Akershus, Norway. He was the son of Andreas Olsen Valstad (1828–1911) and Lisa Jo ...

Museum

The art museum ''Grimdalstunet'' was later (in 1965) built at her home farm Grimdalen in Skafså (now within

Tokke Tokke is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dalen. The municipality of Tokke was cr ...

municipality), and contains a collection of more than 250 of her sculptures. The mountain farm itself is also a museum, with buildings from the time of barter economy in the 17th century.

Works

Grimdalen is especially known for her many animal sculptures, made in a simplistic style, often in

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

, such as ''Gaupe'' (Lynx, 1928), ''Bjørn'' (Bear, 1933). She made several contributions to the decoration of

, after surprisingly winning the decoration contest in 1938, such as ''Tømmerfløtere'' (Log drivers) and ''Dyrefontene'' (Animal fountain), and the large equestrian statue of Harald III on the west wall (1938–1950). A relief of psalmist

Magnus Brostrup Landstad Magnus Brostrup Landstad (7 October 1802 – 8 October 1880) was a Norwegian parish priest and provost, hymn writer, and poet who published the first collection of authentic Norwegian traditional ballads in 1853. Biography Landstad was born in ...

(1951) is placed outside the church of

Seljord Seljord is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Seljord. The parish ...

. Later works are the monuments of Anders Hovden (1958,

Ørsta is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region of Western Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Ørsta ( ...

Audun Hugleiksson {{Use dmy dates, date=October 2013 Audun Hugleiksson (Hestakorn) ({{circa 1240 – 2 December 1302) was a Norwegian nobleman at the end of the 13th century. He was the king's right hand, both under King Magnus Lagabøte and King Eirik Magnusson. ...

(1959,

Jølster Jølster is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the village of Skei. Other villages in the municipality included Helgheim, Ålhus, Vass ...

) and Håkon den Gode (1961,

Fitjar Fitjar () is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Fitjar municipality includes the northern part of the island of Stord and the hundreds of surrounding islands, most ...

). She is represented at the

(''Jenta på hesten'', Riding girl, bronze, 1931). Image:Rotterdam 095.jpg, Two small playing bears (1956) Rotterdam

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grimdalen, Anne 1899 births 1961 deaths People from Tokke Oslo National Academy of the Arts alumni 20th-century Norwegian sculptors