Karen Kristine Holtsmark (11 November 1907 – 7 March 1998) was a Norwegian painter.

Biography

Holtsmark was born at Ås in

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

, Norway. She was a daughter of

Gabriel Gabrielsen Holtsmark Gabriel Gabrielsen Holtsmark (1 February 1867 – 20 July 1954) was a Norwegian educator, physicist and actuary. Personal life He was born in Asker as a son of farmer and mayor Bent Holtsmark and his wife Anne Elisabeth Gabrielsen. He was a brot ...

(1867–1954) and his wife Margrete Weisse (1871–1933). Her father was a physicist, and her mother was an educator. She was a maternal granddaughter of philologist

Johan Peter Weisse Johan Peter Weisse (13 August 1832 – 7 March 1886) was a Norwegian philologist. Personal life He was born in Fluberg as a son of physician Joachim Frederik Weisse and his wife Grethe Fleischer. His grandfather had migrated to Norway from Brande ...

, and a paternal granddaughter of agriculturalist and politician Bent Holtsmark. She was a niece of politicians

Bernt Bernt is a Scandinavian variant of the German masculine given name Berend, which is the Low German form of Bernard (Bernhard). The name Bernhard means "strong bear" (from Old German ''bero'', "bear", and ''harti'', "strong"). Its use in Sweden was ...

and Torger Holtsmark, and a sister of professors

Johan Johan * Johan (given name) * Johan (film), ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** Johan (album), ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunav ...

and

Anne Holtsmark Anne Elisabeth Holtsmark (21 June 1896 – 19 May 1974) was a Norwegian philologist. Personal life She was born in Kristiania, the second of five children of Gabriel Gabrielsen Holtsmark (1867–1954) and Margrete Weisse (1871–1933), and grew up ...

. She married Haakon R. Brækken in July 1936, but the marriage was dissolved.

Career

Holtsmark attended 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 1924 to 1927 and 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" ...

from 1927 to 1930. Her most important teacher was

Axel Revold Axel Revold (24 December 1887 – 11 April 1962) was a Norwegian painter, illustrator, and art professor at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts for twenty years. He was highly decorated for his merits. Personal life Revold was born in ...

, and she was also influenced by

Vilhelm Bjerke-Petersen Vilhelm Bjerke-Petersen (December 24, 1909 - September 13, 1957) was a Danish painter, writer, and art theorist. Life Born in Copenhagen, he studied under Axel Revold at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts from 1927 to 1929, and then und ...

to take up the

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

style. Some of her paintings were

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. She also became a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and stayed several times in France where she also studied under

Georg Jacobsen Georg Jacobsen (17 September 1887 – 14 February 1976) was a Danish painter. Jacobsen studied under Viggo Johansen at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1906 to 1911. He later spent time in Paris, from 1919 to 1935, a ...

in 1936. In 1932 Holtsmark participated in a group exhibition at the Kunstnerforbundet in Oslo with Bjarne Rise, Johannes Rian and

. She had her first exhibit at Kunstnerforbundet in 1935 and had major exhibits 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 ...

in 1935 and

Lund, Sweden Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

in 1937. In 1959 she was one of the winners of a contest to be displayed in the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

. Her work ''Solens gang'' was woven by

Else Halling Else Halling (3 July 1899 – 14 February 1987) was a Norwegian textile artist. She is known for her reconstructions of old Norwegian tapestry, and taught weaving in Trondheim, Drammen and Oslo. She decorated public institutions such as the Roya ...

between 1959 and 1965 and was displayed in the Central Hall. Some of her works, especially the main work ''Mennesket og vilkårene'' (1935), were controversial, and it was not bought by 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 ...

until 1993. The National Gallery now holds twelve of her landscape paintings. Her art is also on display at

Lillehammer Art Museum Lillehammer Art Museum ( no, Lillehammer kunstmuseum) is an art gallery located in Lillehammer, Norway. The museum was founded in 1921 as a gift from merchant Einar Lunde. It has three main collections: one consisting of over 100 paintings from ...

and Bergen Billedgalleri. Holtsmark retired in 1970 because of an eye condition. She died in March 1998 in Ås.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holtsmark, Karen 1907 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Norwegian women artists 20th-century Norwegian painters People from Ås, Akershus Oslo National Academy of the Arts alumni Norwegian expatriates in France Norwegian surrealist artists Women surrealist artists Expressionist painters Norwegian communists Norwegian women painters