Odd Hilt (8 March 1915 – 9 December 1986) was a Norwegian sculptor.

Biography

Hilt was born at

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardan ...

, Norway. He was the son of

Christian Hilt Christian Gottlieb Hilt (29 January 1888 – 5 August 1958) was a Norway, Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Norwegian Labour Party, Labour and Communist Party of Norway, Communist parties. Hilt was born in Bergen, and started stud ...

(1888–1958) and Ragnhild Hansen (1896–1957). He was trained 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 ...

(''Statens Håndverks- og Kunstindustriskole'') from 1931 to 1933 and under

Wilhelm Rasmussen Wilhelm Rasmussen (15 June 1879 – 6 December 1965) was a Norwegian sculptor. Wilhelm Robert Rasmussen was born in Skien in Telemark county, Norway. He studied under Norwegian sculptors Brynjulf Bergslien and Lars Utne (1862–1922), and late ...

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" ...

(''Statens kunstakademi'') from 1933 to 1936. In 1941 he was arrested in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

and was imprisoned at the

Falstad concentration camp '', '' no, Falstad fangeleir'', construction=1895-1910 Falstad concentration camp (Norwegian: ''Falstad fangeleir'', German: ''SS-Strafgefangenenlager Falstad'') was situated in the village of Ekne in what was the municipality of Skogn (now in the ...

outside

Levanger Levanger is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the district of Innherred. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Alstadhaug, Ekne, ...

. In 1942 he escaped to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

until the end of

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He performed several works in exile including apostle figures for the altarpiece in Malmberget Church (1944). From 1935 to 1951 he contributed to the decoration of the

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral ( no, Nidarosdomen / Nidaros Domkirke) is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of Olav II of Norway, King Olav II (c. 995–1030, reigned 1015–102 ...

, with about forty works. Among his other sculptural works are ''Fortuna'' at

Frognerkilen Frognerkilen is a bay in the inner Oslofjord of Norway, east of the Bygdøy peninsula. Its name stems from the neighbourhood Frogner, a name which was taken from a farm. It was formerly known, with Bestumkilen, under the name of Ladegaardsfjordene ...

, ''Arkebusering'' at

Falstad '', '' no, Falstad fangeleir'', construction=1895-1910 Falstad concentration camp (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Falstad fangeleir'', German language, German: ''SS-Strafgefangenenlager Falstad'') was situated in the village of Ekne in what was ...

, ''Ved vannposten'' at

Tøyen Tøyen is a residential area in the central parts of Oslo, Norway, part of the borough of Gamle Oslo. Location There are two different stations which carry the name Tøyen. Tøyen Railway Station is located on the Gjøvik Line, while Tøyen ...

and several war memorials. He is represented with eight sculptures 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 ...

Personal life

In 1945, he married med Guðrun Laura Briem (1918–1996). He was the father of actress

Ragnhild Hilt Ragnhild Hilt (20 September 1945 – 25 June 2014) was a Norwegian actress. She was born in Oslo as a daughter of sculptor Odd Hilt. She took her education at the National Academy of Theatre, and spent her entire career at the Det Norske Teatret ...

Selected works

*''Arkebusering'' (1945–46)

*''Appell'' (1947–50)

Horten is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the town of Åsgårdstrand an ...

*''Fortuna'' (1966–73)

*''Ved vannposten'' (1977)

References

1915 births 1986 deaths People from Drammen Oslo National Academy of the Arts alumni Norwegian resistance members Norwegian prisoners and detainees Norwegian Marxists 20th-century Norwegian sculptors {{norway-sculptor-stub