Finds from Norway

Konrad Mägi stayed in Norway from 1908 to 1910. It is precisely in Norway that he started painting intensely and also participated in his first exhibition. By now, several finds connected with Konrad Mägi’s stay in Norway have been discovered in Norwegian archives.

Translation of this article:

ÅSNES: Knut Larsson of the Åsnes Art Society asks the readers of Glåmdalen for help. An exhibition of works by 16 Estonian artists is being held at the Fjøset Gallery in Sønsterud on 9–23 November 1997. Fifteen of them are young artists who call themselves ‘Group Tartu’ and they have all studied at Konrad Mägi’s Studio in Tartu.

He lived in Eidskog. Konrad Mägi (1878-1925) is considered the most important Estonian painter. He was a teacher as well as the director of the art school that was established in Tartu in 1919. Prior to that, he had been on a study trip in Norway from August of 1908 to December of 1910, after which he proceeded to Paris. During his Norwegian period, he painted probably more than 110 oil paintings, most of them landscape views. Some of these landscapes were likely painted in our area in Eidskog, where Mägi spent one summer. He had an exhibition at the Blomqvist Gallery in Oslo in 1910 together with Christian Krohg and Leon Aurdal. There should be a total of around 20 paintings by Konrad Mägi in our area. Larsson hopes that the readers of Glåmdalen know some of them, and that it will prove to be possible to lend some of them for the exhibition in Sønsterud. These paintings are needed in a hurry because the Estonian exhibition will already be opened on Sunday, 9 November.

This announcement advertises Konrad Mägi’s exhibition in Oslo together with Christian Krohg and Leon Aurdal. Both were recognised Norwegian artists. Krohg was one of Norway’s best-known artists. He was the first professor at the Norwegian Academy of Art and a supporter of Edvard Munch. A monument has been erected to Krohg in Oslo’s city centre. Krohg had briefly come into contact with Konrad Mägi in Paris, where he had taught Mägi. That is evidently what led him to invite Mägi to participate in the exhibition. It is known that Mägi displayed 22 paintings at that exhibition, and that remained the largest exposition of his works outside of Estonia until 2017, when an exhibition of Mägi’s works was held in Rome.

Konrad Mägi’s addresses from the time when he lived in Oslo are listed in these Oslo address books.