Preus Museum, the Norwegian National Museum of Photography, located in Horten, near Oslo, is pleased to present simultaneously three new exhibitions of landscape photographs, spanning from early 19th Century to the present day.
The first of the three exhibitions features the photographs of Norwegian landscape from the 1800’s. The Preus Museum permanent collection contains over 300 works by the two pioneers of Norwegian landscape photography: Knud Knudsen and Axel Lindahl. These were photographs that were manufactured for the flourishing interest in the Norwegian countryside at this time and the growing number of tourists who visited Norway. These photographs were purchased as souvenirs by tourists and Norwegians, and usually ended up framed or were kept in albums. Knud Knudsen (1832-1915) came from Odda. He was probably initiated by Marcus Selmer in Bergen in the 1850s and in Germany while studying fruit growing, he perfected his technique. In 1864 he opened his studio in Bergen. Pretty soon, he focused on Norwegian landscapes and traveled all around Norway to get the best views . In cooperation with hotels and travel agencies he sold his photographs to travelers across the country. Knudsen’s photographs seem to have had two directions: on the one hand, we see that he is influenced by Romantic paintings, primarily composition, as pictures of waterfalls and mountains reflected in the calm fjords shows. But he was also keen to show modern Norway: the tunnels and road construction and major tourist hotels. Axel Lindahl (1841-1906) was a Swedish photographer. Between 1870 and 1890 he traveled around Norway. He cooperated with several stationery publishers. Several of his pictures appear to have been photographed from the same standpoint as Knudsen, but he had a different perspective and a fascination with glaciers, often placing people by glaciers and waterfalls to give us the proportions: the little man against the great outdoors.
The second show features the Norwegian group of artist creating under the influence of New Topographics movement. This year is the 25th anniversary of the time when the photographers Per Berntsen, Jens Hauge, Johan Sandborg and Siggen Stinessen went on an eighteen-day trip in Norway with a 8×10” camera that they operated together. During the trip they took 134 pictures. The background of the project was a joint critical attitude to the dominant view of how the Norwegian landscape was depicted, and a desire to create an exhibition together. Forty Four photographs were exhibited in the autumn of that year. The photographs were totally different from the then prevailing landscape photography that had had its origins in Romantism and looked like for postcards and calendars. The reception was mixed. The audience was confused because all the pictures were taken collectively and viewers were disspointed with the unattractive subjects. Now this project is considered to be one of the most important landscape projects in Norwegian art.
The third exhibition, titled “Weather Report” is a contemporary one, and exceptionally this one shows not the landscape of Norway but that of a very distant, however also Northern, country. It is series of 36 circular color images of the same landscape taken over the period of one year in different times of day and different weather conditions. This series was created by renowned Polish/Canadian artist Andrzej Maciejewski (born 1959). In order to be able to photograph in all possible weather conditions, he built himself a walk-in Camera Obscura, which he used in this project. Using 4×5 lens and 8×10 color transparencies he achieved a great precision of detail, which allows viewers to follow the spectacular changes of colors of the skies and earth together with all the subtle smaller changes like growth and fading of the grass and the flowers.
Landscape – Three new exhibitions
From September 23rd 2012 to January 6th 2013
Preus Museum
3183 Horten
Horten
Norway
