Per Kleiva
Per Kleiva (1933 to 2017) was a Norwegian painter and printmaker who also worked with objects and installations. He was born in Torsken.
From training and workshop practice to material experiments
Kleiva studied at Statens Kunstakademi from 1955 to 1957 and later in Copenhagen, among other places. Work with Sven Skaar Olsen informed his use of screenprinting, including encounters with the printing of Gunnar S. Gundersen's works. Kleiva himself was a professor at Statens Kunstakademi from 1987 to 1993.
As Sigurd Winge's assistant from 1962 to 1965 he encountered experimental material practices. His 1964 solo exhibition at Galleri 27 included prints made from plywood, cardboard, chipboard and string. His output therefore cannot be reduced to one printing process or an unchanging visual language.
Jazz and American pop art were important influences. In material pictures and objects he combined discarded industrial products, wood and acrylic glass. Contrasts between familiar things and unexpected combinations could give his subjects both immediate impact and complex meaning.
Screenprinting and protest against the Vietnam War
Within GRAS, screenprinting combined photographs and colour planes. Tre blad frå imperialismens dagbok (1971) confronts one flower-filled landscape with boots, helicopters and a bomb cloud. Contrasting beauty and destruction expresses protest against the Vietnam War.
The National Museum's MS-01859-1988 impression of Blad frå Imperialismens dagbok II is colour screenprint on paper, catalogued as 59.6 × 59.6 cm and numbered 14/40. Another impression, NG.K&H.1979.0092, is recorded as 59.7 × 59.7 cm and 1/40. These details describe particular impressions, not all Kleiva prints.
Objects and later, more personal subjects
The National Museum records Indiansk farkost as a 1983 installation in birch, barbed wire and acrylic plastic, 73 cm high, 305.2 cm long and 120 cm wide. The materials demonstrate the reach of his practice beyond framed pictures.
The University of Bergen documents the screenprints Mellom djevelen og det djupe svarte and Skulle gjerne vite kva dei tenkjer og trur, both dated 1986. Its presentation describes a move towards more personal relationships. The figures and repeated heads raise questions about contact and failures of communication.
Editions require work-specific documentation
Eit skillingstrykk om havet, døden og kjærleiken offers a useful example. Museum impression NMK.2018.0046 is colour screenprint on paper, 49.9 × 40 cm, printed in 1981. The edition field states “Eget trykk, særtrykk”, without a numerical total. The plate is dated “(1981)” in the catalogue. Such wording must be retained without inventing an edition size.
For an individual print, examine the whole sheet for numbering, signature, title and any workshop information. Distinguish catalogue measurements, image dimensions and sheet dimensions. A trimmed margin may remove information important to identification, while adhesion and moisture may affect condition. Documented ownership and earlier exhibition records may help, but neither a familiar political subject nor a similar signature alone establishes authenticity.
Read more about artist signatures, provenance and ownership history.
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Sources and further reading
- National Museum: Per Kleiva, practice and artist record
- Store norske leksikon: Per Kleiva
- Norsk biografisk leksikon: Per Kleiva
- National Museum resource bank: Tre blad fra imperialismens dagbok
- National Museum: Blad frå Imperialismens dagbok II, 14/40
- National Museum: Blad frå Imperialismens dagbok II, 1/40
- National Museum: Indiansk farkost
- University of Bergen: Two screenprints of 1986
- National Museum: Eit skillingstrykk om havet, døden og kjærleiken
