ScandinaviAntique

Description

Signed indistinct lower right likely "A. Normann", that may lead to Eilert Adelsteen Normann (1848 – 1918), to the famous Norwegian painter. Waterfalls are one of the most majestic creations created by nature. They fascinate with their energy and stunning beauty. Therefore, it is not surprising that landscape painters cannot resist the desire to convey their delight on canvas, from the contemplation of seething cascades. This painting impresses with its professionalism and workmanship. In the foreground a mountain river with a waterfall and birds, on the very edge of the waterfall there is a small forest hut. Majestic mountains are visible in the distance. Very impressive...
Size app.: 77 x 95 cm (roughly 30 x 37,4 in). Very Good condition, just average to minimal age wear, well conserved. Please study good resolution images for overall cosmetic condition. In person actual painting may appear darker or brighter than in our pictures, strictly depending on sufficient light in your environment. Weight of app. 4 kg is going to measure some 7 kg volume weight packed for shipment.
Normann was born in 1848 in Bodin in Norway. He studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1869 to 1872 and his paintings belong to the Düsseldorf school of painting. He studied with the Estonian painter Eugen Dücker. His paintings were nearly always landscapes and invariably of the fjords of Norway where he would show the water combined with small houses and boats and steep mountainsides. Normann's fjord paintings are credited with making the Norwegian fjords a more popular tourist destination. Beginning in 1883, Normann was based in Berlin. In the early 1890s, Normann was doing good business selling his paintings to hotel owners. After seeing the work of his countryman Edvard Munch work when it was exhibited in Kristiania, Normann wrote to Munch asking if he would exhibit his work in Berlin. Munch was so overcome that he packed up his exhibition on 20 October 1892 and went to Berlin where Normann befriended him. Munch's work was placed in an exhibition that caused such a stir that the painters in Berlin split into two societies. (It was suspected that the underlying reason for Normann's invitation to Munch was to cause this split). Normann exhibited in Oslo, Berlin, London, Vienna, Düsseldorf, Munich and Paris, notably exhibited at the prestigious Salon de Paris from as early as 1882.. Although based in Germany from 1883, he would return to Norway each summer. His paintings earned a 'Mention Honorable' in 1884 and he was awarded a bronze medal in 1889. He died in Kristiania (now: Oslo) on 26 December 1918, during the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic.