A Pioneer Artist and His Masterpiece

Abstract

by MARION JOHN NELSON i A Pioneer Artist and His Masterpiece When to America the great got under wave of way emigration in the second from quarter Norway of to America got under way in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, folk art in the home country was at a high level. One might, therefore, expect to find a folk art of distinction in the Norwegian-American settlements. Scattered Norwegian folk artists in the Middle West did produce works of exceptional quality, but a tradition never evolved. The reason was, apparently, that the geographic and socio-economic circumstances which had given rise to and perpetuated the tradition in Norway were not found on the American prairie. What were some of the conditions which accounted for the highly developed and long-lived practice of the folk arts in Norway? Most important was the mountainous terrain, which made transportation difficult and kept many communities almost totally dependent on locally produced goods until around 1900. Norway, far from the centers of modern development in Europe and without political freedom until 1905, was also late in industrializing. This meant that even in many districts where transportation was not a serious problem , local arts and crafts remained alive through much of the nineteenth century. For the development of purely decorative arts, the economic situation resulting from overpopulation seems also to have played a part. Most of the "rose 3 Marion John Nelson painters"- Norwegian decorative folk artists - discussed by 0ystein Vesaas in his Rosemaaling i Telemark came from cotter or small-farm families which could not depend totally on the land for a living. Rose painters, incidentally, were therefore well represented among the emigrants to America.1 Conditions in nineteenth-century America had little in common with those in Norway. Few immigrant homes or settlements in the Middle West remained self-reliant units for more than a decade. The railroad followed close upon the covered wagon, bringing factory goods and bourgeois tastes from the industrialized East into the remotest settlements. And on the prairies there was ample space for expansion. The enclosed and overpopulated community, which had to develop inwardly, did not exist. Most of the Norwegian pioneers who were active in the arts fell into one of two categories: those for whom creative activity was a hobby, carried on in spare time or in old age; and those for whom work in the arts was psychologically so important that it was given a substantial place in their lives, even if it served no obvious social or economic need and was looked on by the average immigrant as an almost indecent luxury. It was in the latter category that Lars Christenson (1839-1910) of Benson, Minnesota, belonged. His major work is the carved wooden altarpiece in the NorwegianAmerican Historical Museum at Decorah, Iowa (Figure l).2 Except for his artistic activities, Christenson was a typical pioneer. Coming originally from Stedje Parish in Sogndal, Norway, he arrived in the Benson area in 1866, and, as one of the first settlers in Swift County, had to clear and break 1 Vesaas mentions about twenty folk painters from Telemark alone who emigrated to this country in the mid-nineteenth century. Since very little significant rose painting from this period has come to light in America, it would appear that the painters felt no great urge to continue their art after they found more lucrative occupations here. Vesaas' book was published in Oslo in 1954. 2 Christenson sometimes added his family farm name, Kj0rnes, to his Christian and surname. The latter was originally spelled "Christensen," but became "Christenson" in America. 4 A PIONEER ARTIST his land, construct his buildings, and help found a community . He served as unofficial postman in the area, bringing in mail from great distances, and as government assessor for a district that covered several counties. He was the first chairman of the township; and he helped organize a Lutheran congregation, which often met in his house during the ten years before there was a church. He followed the typical pattern of material advancement, first digging a dugout, then building and gradually expanding a log cabin, and finally, in 1907, buying a frame house in...