ArtistNorwegian
Even Ulving
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Born on 15 August 1863 in Vega Municipality in Nordland, Even Ulving, born Kristoffersen, a name he changed to reflect his home region around 1884, came of age at a moment when Norwegian painters were beginning to look seriously at their own northern landscape as a subject worthy of sustained attention. His training was rigorous and international: studies under Knud Bergslien in Kristiania from 1883 to 1884, followed by the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Heinz Heim and Karl Fr. Smith, and then the Academie Julian in Paris under William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1887. This European foundation gave him technical discipline, but it was the raw coastal terrain of northern Norway that became his true subject.
In 1893 Ulving settled on the island of Somnes in Helgeland, beginning a twenty-year period that would define his reputation. He painted motifs from across Nordland, including the Lofoten archipelago with its dramatic mountains falling into cold water and the wooden rorbu huts of the seasonal fishery. These years also produced seven altarpieces for churches in the region, a commission that speaks to how embedded he became in local life. The palette he developed was characteristically cool, built from grays and greens, tonalities that suit the diffuse northern light without sentimentalizing it.
In 1914 Ulving relocated south to Asgardstrand in Vestfold, a small coastal town on the Oslo Fjord that had also attracted Edvard Munch. The move shifted his repertoire considerably. His later decades produced pictures from the fjord, from Vestfold, Telemark, Sorlandet, and the islands of Hvaler, as well as a series of Italian motifs from tours in the 1920s. Among the more unusual subjects from his Kristiania period is a 1909 interior portrait of Victoria, daughter of novelist Knut Hamsun, which the Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design acquired. He died on 3 August 1952, having worked as a painter for nearly seven decades.
Ulving's auction market is concentrated almost entirely at Grev Wedels Plass Auksjoner in Oslo, where all 75 recorded lots have appeared. The Lofoten paintings consistently attract the strongest prices: "Fiskevær i Lofoten" reached 135,000 NOK, establishing a clear ceiling, while "Fra Ula med Svenner fyr, morgenstemning" achieved 77,000 NOK and "Fra Lofoten" sold for 74,000 NOK. Works catalogued under the broader Art category account for the majority of offerings, with a smaller tranche listed specifically as Paintings. The Lofoten subjects, particularly those showing fishing settlements in atmospheric morning or evening light, represent the most consistently desirable corner of his output.