Astrid Kjellaug Nordsjö (November 14, 1926 – March 31, 2021) was a Swedish-Norwegian artist. Nordsjö is considered one of the Nordic countries' foremost

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...

painters. She is represented in the

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( ar, دير القدّيسة كاترين; grc-gre, Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

, in churches in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, but most of her artistic work is found in churches and chapels along with private collections in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and Sweden. UppenbarelsenskapellKDK

Kjellaug Nordsjö was born in 1926 in Vestfossen,

, to a farming family with five daughters, where she was the oldest. The farm where the family lived was occupied during the German occupation of Norway during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

by German soldiers. After the war, Nordsjö began studying at an art school in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) 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 ...

, where she was accommodated by acquaintances of her family. Later she was employed at the Norwegian Seamen's Church in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, and at the same time she could continue studying at a local art school there. In Rotterdam. she came in contact with icons and icon painting. Back home in Vestfossen, she married the local parish minister Per Nordsjö. The couple soon moved to Sweden where the shortage of ministers in the Diocese of Karlstad was the reason why Norwegian ministers with families were attracted there. One of them was the Nordsjö family, who settled near the Norwegian border in Bogen's vicarage in northern Gunnarskog. Besides her duties in the vicarage, she did some artistic work, mainly

batik Batik is an National costume of Indonesia, Indonesian technique of Resist dyeing, wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of ...

and painting. When her husband retired and the family moved to

Arvika Arvika is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Arvika Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 14,244 inhabitants in 2010. Geography The town of Arvika is situated at Kyrkviken, a bay of Glafsfjorden, Sweden's only inland fjord, a ...

, her artistic activity increased. Her husband took care of the household and finally Nordsjö was able to devote herself to icon painting full time. In 1982-1987, she participated in art courses in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

for the icon painter Robert de Caluwé. She also worked with icon painters Erland Forsberg, Gothenburg, and George Drobot, Paris.Ikonostasion : Världens ikonmålare
by Diman Modig Georgiades. Kjellaug Nordsjö painted almost 3,000 icons ranging from the small format to big pictures. She died at the age of 94 in 2021 in Arvika, Sweden.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nordsjö, Kjellaug 1926 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Swedish painters Norwegian emigrants to Sweden People from Buskerud