Lars Fletre (June 22, 1904 – September 9, 1977) was a prominent

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans ( nb, Norskamerikanere, nn, Norskamerikanarar) are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Biography

Lars Olavson Fletre was born in Vossestrand,

Voss Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, ...

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

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 the ...

. He was the youngest of seven children born to Ola Oddson Fletre and Kristine Olsdatter ytre Kvårmo. Lars Fletre immigrated to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1923 and attended the

Chicago Art Institute The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

from 1925 until 1931. He returned to Norway to marry Helen Svensson Fletre who he had first met in Chicago. The couple lived in Norway from 1934 (when they were married) to 1954. From 1941 to 1950 he worked as a designer, engraver and decorator for

Hadeland Glassverk Hadeland Glassverk is situated in Jevnaker, Viken 40 km north of Oslo, at the southern tip of lake Randsfjorden. History The glass works was founded in 1762 on land belonging to the Mo estate. Production started in 1765. At the time Norway ...

factory in

Jevnaker Jevnaker is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jevnaker with a population of 4,302. The parish of ''Jævnaker'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see forman ...

. He and his family returned to the United States in 1954, where they resided in Chicago. Both Lars Fletre and Helen Svensson Fletre were prominent members of the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Norwegian colony from 1954 when he and his wife settled there with their 3 children in

Logan Square Logan Square may refer to: * Logan Square, Chicago, a neighborhood on the north side of the city * Logan Circle (Philadelphia) or Logan Square, a park in Philadelphia **Logan Square, Philadelphia Logan Square is a neighborhood in Philadelphia. Bou ...

. With Helen Svensson Fletre, he had three children (Anita, Oddgier, & Valborg) & five grandchildren (Steinar, Erik, Asia, Hjordis, & Bente) & five great grandchildren (Shane, Brandie, Roman, Lars, & Naomi) & 3 great-great grandchildren (Konnor, Camryn, & Kaden). One of his more prominent works was a monument sculpted from granite for the fallen soldiers from the Fjordane Regiment, which included soldiers from Voss,

Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestr ...

Hardanger Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord and its inner branches of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord. It consists of the municipalities of Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik and Kvam, and is ...

, Sunnfjord and

Nordfjord Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district of Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the muni ...

. This memorial was unveiled at the former military camp at Bømoen in Voss on August 1, 1948. Some of Fletre's other work includes restored buildings in Florence, Italy as well as work on the

National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the ca ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Additional he worked on churches and missions in

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern Ne ...

and

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

. ''Fjordane Regiment'' (Allkunne AS)
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Selected works

*''The Vossing Correspondence Society of 1848 and the Report of Adam Løvenskjold

References

Other sources

* Haugan, Reidar Rye ''Prominent Artists and Exhibits of Their Work in Chicago'' (Chicago Norske Klub. Nordmanns-Forbundet, 24: 371–374, Volume 7, 1933)

External links

Lars Fletre mention in Voss genealogy
(PDF)
Vesterheim - Location of his donated works to the Norwegian-American community
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletre, Lars 1904 births 1977 deaths Norwegian artists Norwegian male artists People from Voss Artists from Chicago Norwegian emigrants to the United States 20th-century Norwegian sculptors 20th-century Norwegian male artists