Dulwich Picture Gallery has developed a reputation for its beautiful, scholarly catalogues, and Painting Norway: Nikolai Astrup is no exception.
Nikolai Astrup is relatively unknown outside his native country, but in Norway is held in high regard, second only to Edvard Munch. The challenge for Painting Norway’s curatorial team – Ian Dejardin, MaryAnne Stevens and Frances Carey – was to ensure that a relatively unknown artist was represented in the highest quality, as well as maintain the scholarship that the gallery is so respected for.
With more than 100 artworks in the tour of the exhibition, which travels to Emden and Oslo after London, and almost half coming from private collections in Norway, it was an ambitious project for a British gallery. The private collections involved had new photography taken, coordinated from Dulwich Picture Gallery, ensuring that the photographic reproductions in the book were of excellent quality.
Scala Arts and Heritage Publishers and Old Chapel Graphic Design beautifully typeset the catalogue entries among almost 100 comparative illustrations. Dejardin and Stevens travelled to Bergen with the first colour proofs to check the reproductions against the original paintings and see how best to reproduce Astrup’s vivid palette and unique use of colour. A large portion of the artworks can be seen at the KODE Art Museums of Bergen, where the Norwegian charitable foundation Sparebankstiftelsen DNB has its comprehensive collection of Astrups on permanent display. This Bergen visit ensured that the catalogue’s use of colour was incredibly accurate. And because there are no works by Astrup in the UK, this catalogue will be the definitive introduction of Astrup’s work to a British audience.
It has been more than 20 years since comprehensive new scholarship on Astrup’s oeuvre has been produced. The curators have worked tirelessly to ensure this publication is the seminal English work on Astrup, as it is the first English writing on the subject. This included using the expertise of leading Norwegian Astrup scholars Tove Kårstad Haugsbø and Kari Greve. They were able to ensure that the content was true to previous scholarship, as well as encouraging a new, British perspective on one of their national heroes.
The catalogue provides both an introduction to the artist to a fresh audience, and impressive documentation of the exhibition. The pages are sumptuous, with Astrup’s artwork singing with the colour he always intended.
Rebecca England is the exhibitions and displays coordinator at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. Nikolai Astrup: Painting Norway (1880- 1928) runs until 15 May
Nikolai Astrup is relatively unknown outside his native country, but in Norway is held in high regard, second only to Edvard Munch. The challenge for Painting Norway’s curatorial team – Ian Dejardin, MaryAnne Stevens and Frances Carey – was to ensure that a relatively unknown artist was represented in the highest quality, as well as maintain the scholarship that the gallery is so respected for.
With more than 100 artworks in the tour of the exhibition, which travels to Emden and Oslo after London, and almost half coming from private collections in Norway, it was an ambitious project for a British gallery. The private collections involved had new photography taken, coordinated from Dulwich Picture Gallery, ensuring that the photographic reproductions in the book were of excellent quality.
Scala Arts and Heritage Publishers and Old Chapel Graphic Design beautifully typeset the catalogue entries among almost 100 comparative illustrations. Dejardin and Stevens travelled to Bergen with the first colour proofs to check the reproductions against the original paintings and see how best to reproduce Astrup’s vivid palette and unique use of colour. A large portion of the artworks can be seen at the KODE Art Museums of Bergen, where the Norwegian charitable foundation Sparebankstiftelsen DNB has its comprehensive collection of Astrups on permanent display. This Bergen visit ensured that the catalogue’s use of colour was incredibly accurate. And because there are no works by Astrup in the UK, this catalogue will be the definitive introduction of Astrup’s work to a British audience.
It has been more than 20 years since comprehensive new scholarship on Astrup’s oeuvre has been produced. The curators have worked tirelessly to ensure this publication is the seminal English work on Astrup, as it is the first English writing on the subject. This included using the expertise of leading Norwegian Astrup scholars Tove Kårstad Haugsbø and Kari Greve. They were able to ensure that the content was true to previous scholarship, as well as encouraging a new, British perspective on one of their national heroes.
The catalogue provides both an introduction to the artist to a fresh audience, and impressive documentation of the exhibition. The pages are sumptuous, with Astrup’s artwork singing with the colour he always intended.
Rebecca England is the exhibitions and displays coordinator at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. Nikolai Astrup: Painting Norway (1880- 1928) runs until 15 May
