Erik Egeland (21 July 1921 – 19 March 1996) was a Norwegian journalist and art critic.

Life

He was born in

Bekkelaget Bekkelaget is a neighborhood in the borough Nordstrand in Oslo, Norway. Originally, Bekkelaget was the maritime area south of Oslo city, in Aker municipality adjacent to the Bunnefjorden. With the opening of the Østfold Line, Bekkelaget station ...

as a son of John Oscar Egeland (1891–1985) and Eva Puntervold Winther (1896–1969). The family soon moved to

Frogner Frogner is a residential and retail borough in the West End of Oslo, Norway, with a population of 59,269 as of 2020. In addition to the original Frogner, the borough incorporates Bygdøy, Uranienborg and Majorstuen. The borough is named after ...

. He was the father of journalist and editor

John Olav Egeland John Olav Egeland (born 2 November 1951) is a Norwegian journalist and editor. He was born in Oslo as a son of writer Erik Egeland and grandson of John Oscar Egeland. He was a journalist in ''Orientering'' from 1973 to 1975, and was the chief edi ...

. He lived at Løkenlia in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

in his later life. He graduated from secondary school at

Oslo Commerce School Oslo Commerce School (Norwegian language, Norw. ''Oslo Handelsgymnasium'') is a full-time public school in Oslo, Norway, specialising in the teaching of Business school, financial and business management. The school was founded in 1875 as Christi ...

in 1941. Socially he was a part of a group of socialist school students, but would later change adherence to

Moral Re-Armament Moral Re-Armament (MRA) was an international moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, developed from American minister Frank Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman headed MRA for 23 years until his death in 1961. In 2001, the movement was renamed Ini ...

. He took his

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

in 1945, and also had unfinished studies 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 ...

. He also studied briefly at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, Fresno College and

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

. His media career started as subeditor of ''Ungdom'' in 1945, and in 1948 he was hired in the London correspondent's office of ''

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseavi ...

''. After his studies at the Académie Julian he worked in the magazine ''NÅ'' before returning to ''Morgenbladet''. He was cultural editor of ''Morgenbladet'' from 1960 to 1970, then a culture journalist, art critic and commentator in ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

'' from 1970 to 1988. He chaired

Oslo Kunstforening ] Oslo Kunstforening is a contemporary art gallery and art society located in Oslo, Norway. History Oslo Kunstforening is located at ''Rådhusgata 19''. The gallery, situated in one of the oldest houses in the Kvadraturen area, is the oldest art ...

from 1955 to 1958 and a local

Riksmål (, also , ) is a written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as . Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish wri ...

association from 1965 to 1967. He wrote books about many artists: Kai Fjell (1977), reissued 1990), Jakob Weidemann (1978, 1986),

Ernst Neizvestny Ernst Iosifovich Neizvestny (russian: Эрнст Ио́сифович Неизве́стный; 9 April 1925 – 9 August 2016) was a Russian sculptor, painter, graphic artist, and art philosopher. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1976 and lived and ...

(1984, translated to Swedish and English) and Øistein Thurman (1989). He wrote histories on the companies '' Christiania Dampkjøkken'' in 1957 and ''De norske gjær- & spritfabrikker'' in 1968. The memoirs ''Tidsinnstilt. Fra liv og presse'' (which he also illustrated) were issued in 1987, and the personal story ''Blå skygge'' came in 1996 shortly before his death from cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Egeland, Erik 1921 births 1996 deaths Norwegian art critics Norwegian non-fiction writers Norwegian illustrators Writers from Oslo Writers from Bærum Norwegian Christians Deaths from cancer in Norway Morgenbladet people 20th-century Norwegian writers 20th-century Norwegian journalists Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom