Victor Sparre

Tree of Life : Victor Sparre's glass work in Jeløy Church

The return of Jesus : East wall of the Arctic Cathedral in Tromsø

Victor Sparre , until 1971 Victor Smith (born November 4, 1919 in Bærum , † March 16, 2008 in Asker ) was a Norwegian painter .

life and work

Sparre was born near Oslo , but grew up in the western Norwegian city of Bergen . For his training he returned to the capital, where he studied at the State Crafts and Art Industry School (1936–1937) and at the Art Academy (1938–1941). One of his teachers was the well-known Norwegian artist Per Krohg . His first two exhibitions, for each of which he received excellent reviews, took place in the autumn of 1945 at the art associations in Bergen and Oslo. His work abroad was shown for the first time in 1966 in the Alwin Gallery in London . This was followed by exhibitions in Iceland, France, Israel, Russia, Hungary and Germany, including in 1985 in the Folkwang Museum in Essen .

His figurative, colorful paintings are characterized by a poetic, fabulous, naivist style and use recurring motifs that are quickly associated with his name, for example clown figures, actors, lonely musicians and generally suffering people. They often contain symbolic or religious undertones. Some of his works are consciously based on the clear structure of Byzantine icons .

Sparre became known primarily as a designer of church interiors. In 1955 he was commissioned to decorate Stavanger Cathedral with stained glass . Shortly after, he started one of the first Norwegian artists, with no clear transparent cast glass, the so-called Dallglas to work. In 1972 he designed the east wall of the Arctic Cathedral in Tromsø with a 23 meter high and 140 square meter glass work called The Return of Jesus . One of his main works is the monumental decoration of Jeløy Church outside Moss . The south window consists of a mosaic composed of 1500 pieces of glass and is entitled Tree of Life . He was also involved in furnishing the Immanuel Church in Tel Aviv .

Victor Sparre had been a member of the revival movement of the so-called Oxford Group since 1936 . On a Christian-humanitarian basis, he was committed to human rights in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe throughout his life . He supported the dissidents Andrei Sakharov and Václav Havel , among others .

In 2003 Victor Sparre was awarded the Knight's Cross First Class of the Order of Saint Olav .

literature

Primary literature

• Victor Sparre: Stenene Skal rope. Om art and early morning . Tiden Norsk Forlag, Oslo 1974, ISBN 82-10-01006-9
• Victor Sparre: The Flame in the Darkness. The Russian Human Rights Struggle, as I have seen it . Translated from the Norwegian by Alwyn and Dermot McKay. With a foreword by Vladimir Maximov. Grosvenor Books, London 1979, ISBN 0-901269-35-2

Secondary literature

• Tore Stubberud: Victor Sparre . Aventura, Oslo 1984, ISBN 82-588-0272-0 , (Norwegian; Summary in English)
• Victor Sparre, painting 1945-1985 , published by Museum Folkwang, Essen 1985.

Web links

• Victor Sparre at artnet.de
• Obituary in the Oslo daily newspaper Dagsavisa (Norwegian)