Christianssands Billedgalleri – the historical beginning of Kunstsilo
Have you heard about Laura Gundersen?
Probably not.
At the end of the 19th century, she was a shining star in the firmament of the Norwegian theatre.
Together with her husband she donated the very first works to the Christianssands Art Association, now Kristiansand Kunsthall (“Kristiansand Art Hall”).
These works formed the foundation for what was eventually named Christianssands Billedgalleri (“Christianssand’s Picture Gallery”). Many years later, these works also formed the core of the collections for, first, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum and now today Kunstsilo.
“Laura Gundersen was from Bergen, and she was one of the pioneers of the Norwegian performing arts. Her husband, Sigurd, was also an actor. He was from Kristiansand, but they lived in Oslo and were key members in the Christiania Theater’s ensemble,” says Karl Olav Mortensen, curator at Kunstsilo.
Laura died in 1898, but the ten works of art that were donated to the Art Association were bequeathed in both of their names.
Among these were paintings by Christian Krohg, Oda Krohg, Frits Thaulow, Edvard Diriks and C.W. Barth, watercolours by Anton Berg and portrait busts by Herman W. Bissen, Stephan Sinding and Mathias Skeibrok.
The most central work among them was En formaning (Warning) by Christian Krohg. This painting was a part of a series of works related to his novel Albertine, which was about a young seamstress who was raped by a police officer and ended up becoming a prostitute.
The book was published in 1886 and it made a sharp statement against public, police-controlled prostitution. The day after it was published the novel was confiscated by the police in accordance with an order by the Minister of Justice.
“Krohg painted a series of paintings for this project and at the time they were considered to be quite scandalous,” says Mortensen.
En formaning av Christian Krohg
En formaning av Christian Krohg
When the Gundersens bequeathed their collection to the Art Association it was under the condition that a separate gallery would be established to house the paintings.
Subsequently, the Association followed these instructions and, thus, Det Faste Galleriet (“The Permanent Gallery”) was founded in 1902.
“Ten percent of the membership fee was set aside to purchase works of art. However, during the first few years of its existence the Christianssands Art Association’s membership numbers were poor. They had insufficient funds to make acquisitions and were dependent upon donations or gifts that were given to them through wills or inheritances,” says Mortensen.
However, when the Art Association celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1906, they could raise their glasses extra high and make a toast to the fact that they had bought their first work with their own funds.
The selected painting was Olaf Isaachsen’s Brandruiner (Fire Ruins), which depicts Kristiansand after the city fire in 1892.
The price of Isaachen’s painting was a staggering NOK 200. This sum equalled as much as the entire purchasing budget of the Art Association.
“Olaf Isaachsen was one of the first artists in the region to receive a formal education in art, and as an artist he occupies a central place in the older part of the collection,” says Else-Brit Kroneberg, curator at Kunstsilo. She has researched the building of the collection in the period leading up to 1950.
“Isaachsen had studied under, among others, the French painters Thomas Couture and Gustave Courbet. In his painting Brandruiner, the inspiration he drew from French painting was apparent in his reproduction of air, light, and atmospheric conditions. The work is painted in vibrant colours even though its subject is a sombre one. A few people stand or sit along the streets, and they form a stark contrast to the ruins of the city’s burnt buildings. The picture depicts an important part of Kristiansand’s history and the Art Association probably wanted to have the painting included in the collection because the consequences of the fire to the city were so great, not only for the city and its inhabitants but also for the Association,” says Kroneberg.
One of the 350 buildings lost in the fire was in fact the Retsværelset (courthouse) in Retranchementet, a military area located behind the fortress in Kristiansand. The Art Association had it at its disposal since its inception.
“In a way, the fire became a part of its own institutional history. After the fire, the Art Association moved into a new location at Christianssands Sparebank, which was a newly constructed brick building in the city. This was before they found a space in the old library on the square in 1915. Then Det Faste Galleri, which at the time housed 62 works of art, exhibited its collection in its entirety for the first time,” says Kroneberg.
Olaf Isaachsen, painted by Alfred Emil Andersen.
Olaf Isaachsen, painted by Alfred Emil Andersen.
At that point in time, the Art Association brought in a new chairman named Johs. Norem. He was a lawyer and a magistrate, and he remained in this position through two world wars and up until 1955.
Under his leadership, the Art Association’s activities increased considerably. The number of exhibitions grew, and during the war years even the number of members increased.
“Norem also reorganized the Association’s acquisition profile. He emphasised purchasing works from regional artists, artists who produced works with motifs from the region and essential national figures. During his time there, works by I.C. Dahl, Adolph Tidemand and Edvard Munch, among others, were purchased for the collection,” says Kroneberg.
Lotteries were another way that brought new works of art into the collection.
“Works were raffled off to members, and to royalty,” says author and cultural journalist Gunvald Opstad. He was on the board of the Art Association for several years and he wrote the book Til Pryd og Forøket Hygge (‘For Decoration and Increased Pleasure’) about the Association’s history.
“Our Swedish king, King Oscar II, bought a raffle ticket in the Association’s lottery in 1889 and the Association continued to send tickets to our Norwegian King, King Olav, with a careful reminder: “The membership fee of kr. 100 is anticipated.” And King Olav won a bronze sparrow by Ingemund Berulvson, the woodcut Insekter (Insects) by Olaf Hasaas and Viggo Aadnevik’s drawing Studie av en einerbusk (Studying a Juniper),” says Opstad.
Art associations in Norway and Sweden bought raffle tickets from each other, and the winners were able to choose from available works. Occasionally, a decision was also made to include some of these works in the collections.
Author and cultural journalist Gunvald Opstad.
Author and cultural journalist Gunvald Opstad.
A large monetary gift bequeathed by businessman Julius O. Gundersen played an important part that allowed the Art Association to make more acquisitions of nationally established artists throughout the 1920s. Julius’ brother was Sigvard Gundersen, who had already played a crucial role in the establishment of Christianssands billedgalleri.
“Donations enabled the Association to make acquisitions on a completely different scale than before. Several important works then became a part of the collection, among them were the gallery’s two only paintings by landscape painter I.C. Dahl,” says Kroneberg.
A lot happened in the years that followed. Here are some events during five key years in the Association’s development:
1926: Local writer Vilhelm Krag bestowed a major gift to the gallery consisting of 21 lithographs, colour woodcuts and etchings.
1928: Edvard Munch’s portrait Klemens Stang (1885−86) was purchased, and it is Munch’s sole painting in the gallery.
1934: The Norwegian engineer Henrik von Zernikow-Loss established an endowment that played a crucial role in the collection’s growth through its regularly awarded grants.
1936: The Association moved again, this time to Christianssands Sparebank’s new building on the city square. There they had more floor space, which also fit the Association’s needs.
1940: The Association acquired Adolph Tidemand’s Nød (Need) from Hans Aall, who was museum director at the Norwegian Folk Museum. The price of the painting was NOK 5000, and it was paid off over the course of three years.
From 1936 to 1950, graphic works made up a large part of the increase to the Association’s collection. Among other things, Norem bought 22 of these, 16 lithographs and two woodcuts as well as four etchings by Edvard Munch in 1938.
Munch himself selected the chosen works according to an agreement with Norem.
(Image: Exhibition by Det Faste Galleri in the 1930s. From the premises in the Kristiansand Gamle Bibliotek (‘Kristiansand Public Library’ ). Photo: Private. National Archives in Kristiansand, D/0566, photo album III. Photographer: Unknown.)
And then, World War II broke out.
Gunvald Opstad says that even though the Norwegian resistance movement urged the country’s art associations to cease their operations, the Association in Kristiansand did the opposite.
“There is no reason to believe that doing this was due to them being pro-German. Two of the board’s members were arrested by the Germans and the Association’ chairman, Johs. Norem, was a judge in the legal purge in Norway after the war,” says Opstad.
“After the war, the Association continued its operations with a long series of exhibitions and acquisitions of pictures for its permanent gallery. At this time sculptor Ingemund Berulvson and painter Olaf Hasaas were artistic supporting members on the board,” he says.
In 1950, the Christianssands Billedgalleri had expanded to 303 works. At that point in time, Erik Werenskiold was represented the most with 52 works. Olaf Isaachsen followed closely behind.
Only four women had works in the collection: Oda Krohg, Clemence Lederer, Astrid Welhaven Heiberg and Elsa Lystad. Each of them had one work of art in it.
“All museums struggle with having an overrepresentation of male artists, which is connected to several various societal factors. For the most part, men were the ones who were allowed to receive an education as an artist and women didn’t have the same opportunities to do so. The works in the Billedgalleri make up the oldest part of our collection, so the skewed gender balance is particularly apparent there,” says Mortensen.
One female artist who gradually became prominent in the collection, as well as for Kunstsilo, was Else Marie Jakobsen.
“She played a vital role in the development of textiles as an art form. She experimented with new materials and often her works contained a clear message in them. Among other things, she was interested in urban development and the preservation of older buildings in Kristiansand. She is an artist that we value highly at the museum,” he says.
In 1953, several important works by Amaldus Nielsen were purchased by the gallery, among them Morning in Ny-Hellesund (1881).
In 1979, the Art Association moved into the city’s new library on the city square.
At that time, Per Halseide was a key figure at the Association. Or as Gunvald Opstad calls him, “the well-intentioned windbag.”
Amaldus Nielsen’s Morning in Ny-Hellesund.
Amaldus Nielsen’s Morning in Ny-Hellesund.
Halseide was hired as part-time secretary at the Association in 1969 and later he became the manager of it.
“Thankfully, he had the courtesy to be not so ‘southern’ in his behaviour. He could scare the life out of the delicate artistic souls with his outspoken statements about life and art, particularly in regard to their own. It took some time before they understood that underneath that exterior was a good, solid person. What Halseide liked least of all were vain and pretentious art historians who tried to lecture him. He had an unusually well-attuned sense for what was good art and an even greater ability to present it. You wouldn’t accuse of him being a skilled diplomat, but he was an honest, regular guy,” says Opstad.
A work from Leonard Rickhard’s series Tired Model Plane Builder.
A work from Leonard Rickhard’s series Tired Model Plane Builder.
During this period, more emphasis was firmly put on acquiring works from artists with regional roots. The Billedgalleri purchased early, important works by Kjell Nupen and Leonard Rickhard, in addition to Dagfin Kjølsrud and Karsten Jakobsen.
In particular, Nupen is an important artist at the Billedgalleri, and Karl Olav Mortensen singles out Stille betraktning (“Quiet Reflection”) as one of his favourites in the collection.
“Nupen went from being a young radical to becoming a kind of local hero. One of the most interesting things about the gallery was that it began to collect his art at such an early stage. He studied in, among other places, Düsseldorf under the renowned German painter Gerhard Richter, and was in large part touched by the political turmoil in Germany at the time. Nupen brought this into his early works quite well, particularly in Stille betraktning. Instead of making any claims or raising political arguments, the work rather encourage the viewer to raise questions, says Mortensen.
Per Halseide retired in 1993. Two years later Sørlandets Kunstmuseum was established. At that time, it was of critical importance that an art collection in Kristiansand was already in existence.
It was decided then that the Christianssands Billedgalleri should form a part of the new museum’s core collection.
The Billedgalleri consisted of 883 works at that time.
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