Erik Werenskiold
Erik Theodor Werenskiold (1855 to 1938) was a Norwegian painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He grew up near Kongsvinger and became a central figure in the naturalism of the 1880s. His fairy-tale illustrations also left a lasting mark on Norwegian visual culture. His long career encompassed portraits, book art and, in later years, painting with stronger colours and simpler forms.
Nature studies, people and a changing art
After drawing lessons in Christiania, Werenskiold studied in Munich. French plein-air painting helped him develop lighter, more direct depictions of nature. Summers in Telemark provided settings and models for paintings in which rural life and landscape are closely connected.
En bondebegravelse of 1883 to 1885 is oil on canvas, 102.5 × 150.5 cm. The idea originated in Gudbrandsdalen, but the painting developed over three summers at Gvarv. The National Museum describes fine handling and broad strokes within a light landscape. The carefully composed scene unites studies of people and nature.
Portraits were another important part of his work. Malerinnen Kitty L. Kielland of 1891, oil on canvas, 100 × 67.5 cm, depicts a fellow artist. Kielland gave the painting to the National Museum in 1912. That documented history belongs to this painting and cannot be transferred to other portraits or reproductions of the subject.
After the turn of the century, simplified form and independent colour became increasingly important, influenced by Cézanne and van Gogh. Lomen kirkegård of 1908 and Bjørn Bjørnson instruerer of 1910 show colour constructing form and volume as well as describing local light.
Fairy tales, sagas and original drawings
His illustrations for Asbjørnsen's fairy-tale edition of 1879 developed partly through studies in Gudbrandsdalen and exchanges with the writer. He later continued the fairy-tale work with Theodor Kittelsen. Werenskiold also illustrated the 1899 Snorre edition, alongside artists including Halfdan Egedius and Gerhard Munthe.
A specific example of his book work is Barna ved ovnen of 1903, a pen drawing on paper for Jonas Lie's Familien på Gilje. The National Museum's sheet measures 172 × 140 mm. The original drawing is a different object from the printed illustration in a book. Publication date, drawing date and the date of a later reprint may therefore differ.
Werenskiold began etching in 1908 and later also worked in lithography. Norsk kunstnerleksikon lists the etching Lysakerbroen of 1909 and the lithograph Henrik Wergeland på Veslebrunen of 1918. An original print and a reproduction of a painting are different types of work, even though both are printed on paper.
Documenting a particular work
Record technique, support, dimensions, signatures and any information about publisher, printer and edition. A printed signature in a book illustration is not a handwritten signature on that particular sheet. Sketches, finished drawings, prints and painted repetitions require separate identification. The artist must also be distinguished from his son Dagfin Werenskiold.
For paintings and works on paper, earlier ownership records, labels, receipts and exhibition histories provide useful evidence. Examine overpainting, retouching, water damage and trimming. A familiar subject or a similar signature alone does not establish that Werenskiold made the object concerned.
Read more about lithography, artist signatures, provenance and ownership history, Theodor Kittelsen.
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Sources and further reading
Nasjonalmuseet: Erik Werenskiold, Store norske leksikon, Norsk kunstnerleksikon, Norsk biografisk leksikon, En bondebegravelse, Malerinnen Kitty L. Kielland, Barna ved ovnen and Nasjonalmuseet: Snorre-illustratørene.
