Storm blows around art banished to the new National Museum’s cellar
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- 11 Apr 2023
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Newspaper Klassekampen has published a series of essays in recent weeks by art historian Steinar Gjessing, who has advised art collectors for years and formerly worked for Norway’s contemporary art museum. It was among the Norwegian museums, including the National Gallery, that were merged to form the new National Museum that finally opened last year.
Gjessing has complained over how many prominent Norwegian artists from the 1900s such as Kai Fjell and Ludvig Karsten are no longer represented at the National Museum. Krohg, one of Norway’s most esteemed artists and known for making social statements in his time, still is, but his iconic painting Leiv Eiriksson oppdager Amerika (Leif Erikson discovering America) hasn’t been shown since the National Gallery closed four years ago. It had debuted at Norway’s exhibit at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, and was given to the National Gallery in Oslo in 1900.
Complaints over the absence of one of Krohg’s major works turned into outrage during the weekend, when the National Museum’s director of collections explained why it had been removed from view. The painting “romanticized Norwegians who went to America,” Stina Högkvist, who is Swedish, told newspaper Aftenposten while being interviewed for a story on the debate over Norwegian art no longer on display at the National Museum. “It is a colonialistic picture.”
Response was swift and furious. Other art historians equated Högkvist’s explanation to censorship, while art critics claimed Högkvist had “cancelled” Krohg and placed him in the proverbial corner of shame. “I think this is an unwise way of managing the National Museum’s collection,” said Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK)’s long-time culture commentator Agnes Moxnes. “We’re talking about a national museum with all that includes. It’s where you lift up and show off our national icons. We can gladly argue about them, but to hop right to the conclusion that it’s ‘colonialistic’ and use that as an argument to take it down from the walls is not wise.” Read More…
