Painting Norway

• Beautiful illustrations displayed without the distraction of scholarly comment
• Astrup is a well-loved Norwegian painter, uniquely able to capture the spirit of his home

A profoundly sensitive painter and innovative printmaker, Nikolai Astrup became one of Norway’s most renowned twentieth-century artists. Together with Edvard Munch, he expanded the artistic possibilities of the woodcut, consciously blurring the boundaries between prints and paintings. Best known for his luminous paintings of midsummer nights, Astrup evoked in his landscapes the atmosphere and mood characteristic of the changing seasons in his home region of Jølster. It was there that he spent almost his entire life, first in his father’s parsonage, then at the farmstead he built on the opposite side of the lake, now known as ‘Astruptunet’. Featuring over a hundred oil paintings and prints, including works from private collections never exhibited before, this book accompanies the first UK exhibition of Astrup’s unique and extraordinary work.

Frances Carey is an independent curator and consultant who was formerly Deputy Keeper of Prints and Drawings and Head of National Programmes at the British Museum. She has published on the history of art and culture from the eighteenth century to the present day.

Ian A. C. Dejardin is the Sackler Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. He graduated with a Master (Hons) in History of Art from Edinburgh University; appointed Curator at Dulwich in 1997, he became the gallery’s Director in 2005 and since then has presided over a varied and international exhibition programme.

MaryAnne Stevens is an independent art historian and curator who has previously worked at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, as Director of Academic Affairs, before serving as Acting Secretary for three years. She has been published extensively, and curated or co-curated many major international exhibitions, including Manet: Portraying Life and Jean-Etienne Liotard.