Ørnulf Bast

Bast became one of the most productive monumental sculptors in twentieth-century Norway. His public commissions span decades and geography: the Borregaard monument in Sarpsborg (1937), the elaborate St. Hallvards brønn fountain in Bragernes square in Drammen (1940-1952) - a polygonal basin ring set with twelve reliefs depicting city life, with a central group of St. Hallvard and a woman in a boat - and Ung kvinne at St. Hanshaugen Park in Oslo (1946-47). The memorial Kongens Nei in Elverum (1949-50), an obelisk-like stone with braided relief symbolising wartime solidarity, reflects the gravity of the Occupation years, during which Bast and his wife Lajla (married 1940) sheltered the sabotage squad Aks 13000 in their apartment.

His single most internationally visible work is the pair of identical nine-foot bronze statues titled The Norwegian Lady, unveiled on 22 September 1962 and placed simultaneously in Moss, Norway and at the Virginia Beach oceanfront in the United States. The figures were modelled after the original figurehead of the Norwegian bark Dictator, which foundered off Virginia Beach in March 1891 with the loss of many lives. The two statues face each other across the Atlantic, and the commission brought Bast international attention at a time when such transatlantic cultural gestures were uncommon.

Beyond monumental bronze, Bast worked across a wide range of disciplines. He produced paintings, graphic prints, drawings, book art, photographs, and abstract works in enamel on copper held in the Nasjonalmuseet collection in Oslo. His artistic language absorbed expressionism, surrealism, and constructivist thinking, and in the 1940s surrealist imagery entered his book publications and pastel paintings in particular. In his final years he experimented with dismantling his own sculptures and reassembling them with flowers and found objects into installation-like works - an experimental turn that reflected his continued curiosity rather than any settled late style. He was awarded the King's Medal of Merit (Kongens fortjenstmedalje) in gold.

At auction, Bast's work appears primarily through Grev Wedels Plass Auksjoner in Oslo, where all 14 items currently recorded in the Auctionist database have been offered. His highest prices have been achieved by animal subjects: a bronze titled Bamse sold for 30,000 NOK and Fole reached 27,000 NOK. Female figures, birds, and smaller reliefs fill out the market profile. His auction presence is modest relative to his historical significance, which makes documented sales a useful baseline for collectors tracking Norwegian mid-century sculpture.