Bernt Tunold
Encyclopedia
Selja, Selje
Selja is a small island in the municipality of Selje in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It has been formerly known as Sellø or Selø. The island is located in the Sildagapet bay, just west of Selje harbor....
on the west coast of Norway, his paintings, initially inspired by the style of his countryman Nikolai Astrup
Nikolai Astrup
Nikolai Astrup was a Norwegian painter.-Biography:Astrup was born in Bremanger in Nordfjord, but grew up in Ålhus in Jølster where his father worked as a priest. He was the great-grandson of Nils Astrup, a one-term member of parliament...
, are known for their depictions of the dramatic and contrast-filled nature and landscape of western Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
Early life
Tunold was born on the island of Selja on NorwayNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's west coast. His father, an emigrant from Stryn
Stryn
Stryn is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Stryn which had a population of 2,177 in 2009. The municipality is located along the innermost part of the...
, and his mother, a native of Vanylven
Vanylven
Vanylven is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is Fiskåbygd. Other villages include Syvde, Rovdane, and Myklebost.-General information:...
, had established a farm on the church grounds on the island. Bernt, the youngest of nine siblings, was named after his father and the island priest, Wilhelm Koren. Selja was a poor rural society, but was not separated from the surrounding world. A steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
frequently visited the island, carrying passengers to the mainland or Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, later serving as the first part of a poor peasant's journey to America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The family farm, which Tunold depicted in several of his works, had, according to the census
Census in Norway
The census in Norway began in 1801 as part of a census of the whole of the Kingdom of Denmark.On February 1, 1801, the first nominative lists of the whole population, in principle, counting all men and women, were gathered in the Kingdom of Denmark, including Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and...
of 1875, three cows, one bull, a dozen sheep and a few goats. This could not support a family of eleven, and the father was forced to work as a travelling tailor in the winter.
In the middle ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, one the country's three bishops had his seat on the island for a time, but the bishop's seat was later moved to Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
. During the reign of king Sigurd Jorsalfare, a Benedictine monastery, Selje Abbey
Selje Abbey
Selje Abbey was a Benedictine monastery located on the island of Selja, formerly known as Selø, in the municipality of Selje, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.-History:...
, was built, but it burned to the ground in 1305. It is not clear whether the monastery was rebuilt: according to some sources, a monastery "existed on the island in 1451", while according to other sources, Selja's monastic community was eradicated when the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
arrived in 1349. At the time of Tunold's childhood, only the ruins of the monastery, a tower 14 meters high and low walls, still remained. Tunold often explored the ruin, later writing poems and making drawings of it. The church contained most of the art present on the island: most likely, the first paintings Tunold had a chance to study were the altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
and the portraits of the priests Claus and Peder Frimann.
Bergen
In 1895, Tunold left Selja for BergenBergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, where he was to live for most of his life. In a few decades around the turn of the century, Bergen developed into a large, modern city. The population was doubled, and the city's wooden houses were largely replaced with high, "continental" style brick buildings. A tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
system was opened in 1897, and electric lighting became available in 1900. Tunold was one of the many emigrants in Bergen from Sogn og Fjordane
Sogn og Fjordane
is a county in Norway, bordering Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland. The county administration is in the town of Hermansverk in Leikanger municipality while the largest town is Førde....
; in fact, in 1900, a third of the city's population were immigrants from the surrounding rural districts. The immigrants often felt like foreigners in Bergen, where life was very different from what they were used to. This led to the foundation of several associations where rural culture and language was maintained.
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
s. However, there are many indications that Tunold found it difficult to accept the requirements of discipline at the school, and he was forced to quit after only two years. Following this, he gained contact with Olav Rusti, the leader of a rural society in Bergen and a painter. Tunold was allowed to serve as a model
Model (art)
Art models are models who pose for photographers, painters, sculptors, and other artists as part of their work of art. Art models who pose in the nude for life drawing are usually called life models...
for Rusti's paintings. A few years later, he returned to Selja, painting and drawing the monastery ruins. In the autumn of 1901, he travelled to Bergen again, where he began educating himself as a painter.
The painter Henrik Asor Hansen had established a painting school in Bergen, and Tunold attended this school during the winters of 1901 and 1902, along with most of the local talents, including among others Sophus Madsen and Mons Breidvik. Tunold learned the basic techniques of drawing and painting. Asor Hansen, the teacher, and the leader of the Bergen Art Association from 1905-1910, was quite a controversial figure. He painted in a traditional, naturalistic style, with limited use of colours. Tunold's extensive use of dark colours did not please Asor Hansen, and they developed a strained relationship, leading to Tunold quitting the school in 1903. Tunold later complained that Asor Hansen had ruined his painting style.
While most of his fellow students left Bergen upon finishing the painting school, many travelling to Copenhagen or even Paris, Tunold stayed in Bergen where he became part of the city's rural society. Olav Rusti, one of its leaders, had lived in a German monastery for eleven years, having previousy belonged to the Norwegian artistic community in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. Upon returning to Norway, he committed himself to working for the Norwegian rural culture movement. His home, Urdi, served as the meeting place for like-minded people, including the writer Arne Garborg
Arne Garborg
Arne Garborg, born Aadne Eivindsson Garborg was a Norwegian writer.Garborg championed the use of Landsmål , as a literary language; he translated the Odyssey into it...
. The movement was conservative and idealistic: it aimed to preserve the rural culture which was about to lose the battle against modernisation. During the first few years of the 20th century, Tunold became an almost fanatical champion for the cause.
Later life
Tunold bought an old smoke cottage in 1916 in GloppenGloppen
Gloppen is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. Gloppen is generally subdivided into three areas: Hyen in the west, Gloppen in the center, and Breim in the east. Each of the areas have their own main service centres. ...
, in Sogn og Fjordane. The cottage, where he lived for almost four years, as well as its surroundings, was the subject of many of his paintings from this period. He married Edel Prøitz in 1920, and they had one child. Unable to purchase the land lot where the smoke cottage was located, Tunold moved the cottage to Selje. For economic reasons, the family was forced to sell the cottage and move to Bergen. Tunold made several journeys in western Norway in the last 25 years of his life, leaving his family in order to paint landscapes, portraits, still lives and interiors. Bernt Tunold died in Bergen on January 23, 1946.