Rolf Groven

Last updated

Rolf Dagfinn Groven (born March 11, 1943) is a Norwegian painter, known for his satirical art painted in figurative style. Groven's paintings are frequently printed works of art in textbooks used in Norwegian schools, as well as history books.

Contents

Biography

Groven was born in Romsdal near Molde during the Second World War, and trained as an architect at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH, now a part of NTNU) 196672. His participation in the radical Anti-Vietnam War movement convinced him that he should choose an artistic career. He currently lives in Oslo.

Common themes

There have been several common themes in his art, ranging from environmentalism, to the European Union, as well as the peace movement and politics. Frequent motifs are religion and scenes from the Romsdal and Lofoten areas of Norway.[ citation needed ]

Among his environmentally themed works, Groven created several works in the 1970s that propagated the nature conservation. Much of his artwork commented on the fear that the Norway's newly-won status as a petroleum-producing country would lead to excessive pollution. [1] He also commented on the dangers of nuclear power [2] and he agitated for the preservation of waterfalls. [3] [4]

His politically charged works include European Union, for which Norway has held two referendums about joining. The paintings Norwegian Neo Romanticism from 1972 and Free Flow from 1992 were among the best-known symbols of the popular anti EU-accession movement before these referendums. Groven has also commented on American President Donald Trump's 2016 victory. [5]

Groven's art is influenced by painters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Käthe Kollwitz, as well as Norwegian artists such as Adolph Tidemand, Hans Gude, J.C. Dahl, Christian Krohg and the contemporary caricaturist Finn Graff.

Selected works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanticism</span> Artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement

Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century; in most areas it was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism, clandestine literature, paganism, idealization of nature, suspicion of science and industrialization, as well as glorification of the past with a strong preference for the medieval rather than the classical. It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, but also the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music and literature; it had a major impact on historiography, education, chess, social sciences and the natural sciences. It had a significant and complex effect on politics, with romantic thinkers influencing conservatism, liberalism, radicalism and nationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molde</span> Municipality in Møre og Romsdal, Norway

Molde is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neo-romanticism</span> Movements from the era of Romanticism

The term neo-romanticism is used to cover a variety of movements in philosophy, literature, music, painting, and architecture, as well as social movements, that exist after and incorporate elements from the era of Romanticism.

An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined within a number of years. Art movements were especially important in modern art, when each consecutive movement was considered as a new avant-garde movement. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new style which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Sebastian Welhaven</span> Norwegian writer

Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven was a Norwegian author, poet, critic, and art theorist. He has been considered "one of the greatest figures in Norwegian literature."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwegian romantic nationalism</span> Movement in Norway between 1840 and 1867

Norwegian romantic nationalism was a movement in Norway between 1840 and 1867 in art, literature, and popular culture that emphasized the aesthetics of Norwegian nature and the uniqueness of the Norwegian national identity. A subject of much study and debate in Norway, it was characterized by nostalgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neo-Impressionism</span> Art movement

Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, marked the beginning of this movement when it first made its appearance at an exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris. Around this time, the peak of France's modern era emerged and many painters were in search of new methods. Followers of Neo-Impressionism, in particular, were drawn to modern urban scenes as well as landscapes and seashores. Science-based interpretation of lines and colors influenced Neo-Impressionists' characterization of their own contemporary art. The Pointillist and Divisionist techniques are often mentioned in this context, because they were the dominant techniques in the beginning of the Neo-impressionist movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Nicolai Arbo</span> Norwegian painter

Peter Nicolai Arbo was a Norwegian historical painter, who specialized in portraits and allegorical scenes from Norwegian history and the Norse mythology. He is most noted for The Wild Hunt of Odin, a dramatic motif based on the Wild Hunt legend and Valkyrie, which depicts a female figure from Norse mythology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolph Tidemand</span> Norwegian painter

Adolph Tidemand was a noted Norwegian romantic nationalism painter. Among his best known paintings are Haugianerne and Brudeferd i Hardanger, painted in collaboration with Hans Gude.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Gude</span> Norwegian painter (1825–1903)

Hans Fredrik Gude was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters. He has been called a mainstay of Norwegian National Romanticism. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto Sinding</span> Norwegian painter and poet (1842–1909)

Otto Ludvig Sinding was a Norwegian painter, illustrator, poet and dramatist. Sinding drew on motives from Norwegian nature, folk life and history.

<i>Nødhavn Ved Norskekysten</i> Painting by Hans Gude

Nødhavn Ved Norskekysten is a painting by Norwegian romanticist painter Hans Gude completed in 1873.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kitty Lange Kielland</span> Norwegian artist (1843–1914)

Kitty Lange Kielland was a Norwegian landscape painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederik Collett</span> Norwegian painter (1839–1914)

Frederik Jonas Lucian Bothfield Collett was a Norwegian painter, perhaps most associated with his winter pictures from the region around Lillehammer, Norway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwegian art</span> Norwegian Art

For much of its history Norwegian art is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia. It has, especially since about 1100 AD, been strongly influenced by wider trends in European art. After World War II, the influence of the United States strengthened substantially. Due to generous art subsidies, contemporary Norwegian art has a high production per capita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knud Bergslien</span>

Knud Larsen Bergslien was a Norwegian painter, art teacher and master artist. In his art, he frequently portrayed the lives of the Norwegian people, their history and heroes of the past. Bergslien is most associated with his historical paintings, especially Skiing Birchlegs Crossing the Mountain with the Royal Child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Gallery (Norway)</span> Art gallery in Oslo, Norway

The National Gallery is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.

<i>Bridal Procession on the Hardangerfjord</i> Norwegian painting by Hans Gude and Adolph Tidemand

Bridal Procession on the Hardanger is an 1848 oil painting by Hans Gude and Adolph Tidemand. Gude, aged just 23, painted the landscapes and Tidemand, a decade his senior, the bridal party. Each of the Norwegian artists had studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf before they first met in Hardanger in 1843, and the painting was made in the winter of 1847–1848 in Düsseldorf. It measures 93 cm × 130 cm and has been held by the National Gallery in Oslo since 1895. It is one of the best known Norwegian paintings, and is considered to be an excellent example of romantic nationalism in Norway, combining a romanticised landscape with traditions of Norwegian life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanticism in France</span>

Romanticism was a literary and artistic movement that appeared in France in the late 18th century, largely in reaction against the formality and strict rules of the official style of neo-classicism. It reached its peak in the first part of the 19th century, in the writing of François-René de Chateaubriand and Victor Hugo, the poetry of Alfred de Vigny; the painting of Eugène Delacroix; the music of Hector Berlioz; and later in the architecture of Charles Garnier. It was gradually replaced beginning in the late 19th century by the movements of Art Nouveau, realism and modernism.

References

  1. Oil Painting Archived 2005-12-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. The nuclear power kid
  3. Vandalism
  4. Site Inspection
  5. "Rolf Groven, "Trump Painting"". trumpprotestart.org. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.