Lars Osa was a Norwegian artist. He also worked with church decoration and restoration and was a noted fiddle player.

Biography

Lars Andersen was born in Ulvik

Ulvik

Ulvik is a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality stretches from the Hardangerfjord to 1,800 metres above sea level, and borders the municipalities of Granvin, Eidfjord, Ullensvang, Voss, Aurland, and Hol. It takes around two hours to drive from Bergen to Ulvik. The nearest...

, Hordaland

Hordaland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...

 county, Norway. When Lars Osa was five years old, the family moved from Ulvik into the small village of Osa

Osa

Osa may refer to:*Osa peninsula, a peninsula in Costa Rica*Osa, Allahabad, a village in Allahabad, India*Osa, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship *Osa, Russia, name of several inhabited localities in Russia*Osa class missile boat...

, near Osafjorden, an arm of the Hardangerfjord

Hardangerfjord

With a length of , the Hardangerfjord in the county of Hordaland in Norway is the third largest fjord in the world and the second largest in Norway. The surrounding district is called Hardanger....

 . He grew up in an environment characterized by a living folk tradition. He visited Knud Bergslien

Knud Bergslien

Knud Larsen Bergslien was a Norwegian painter, art teacher and master artist. In his art, he frequently portrayed the lives of the Norwegian people, their history and heroes of the past...

 in Eidfjord

Eidfjord

Eidfjord is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Eidfjord was separated from Ulvik May 1, 1891....

 and received his first art lessons from him. That same year he went to Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 and was a pupil at Tegneskolen. In 1882 he was admitted as a student at the Art Academy in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

. He studied there until 1885, and continued as a student under Danish painters, Laurits Tuxen, (1853-1927) and Peder Severin Krøyer

Peder Severin Krøyer

Peder Severin Krøyer , known as P.S. Krøyer, was a Norwegian-Danish painter. He is one of the best known and beloved, and undeniably the most colorful of the Skagen Painters, a community of Danish and Nordic artists who lived, gathered or worked in Skagen, Denmark, especially during the final...

  until 1886. He used travel scholarship for trips to Paris, during the autumn and winter of 1897 and 1898.

Since so much of what Osa had studied underlined the continuity between medieval and folk art decorations, it was natural for him to examine Norwegian frescoes. He did research in several Norwegian medieval churches in Kinsarvik

Kinsarvik

Kinsarvik is a village, and former municipality, in the county of Hordaland, Norway.Kinsarvik was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 . Ullensvang used to be an annex to Kinsarvik - but in 1869 Ullensvang became the main parish, and Kinsarvik became an annex to Ullensvang...

 Tingelstad

Tingelstad old church

Tingelstad Old Church , is a Romanesque stone church in Gran, Norway. Dendrochronological dating shows that parts of the timber within the church was felled between 1219-1220.The original name for this church was "St...

, Tingvoll

Tingvoll

Tingvoll is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Tingvoll. Other villages include Meisingset, Kvisvik, and Torjulvågen.-General information:...

 and Vestre Slidre

Vestre Slidre

Vestre Slidre is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Slidre...

. Among his notable church decorations are Ulvik Church

Ulvik Church

Ulvik Church is a cruciform church from 1859 in Ulvik municipality, Hordaland county, Norway.-Description:The current church is the third church to stand at this site. The first church was a stave church which was probably the Byg in the first half of the 13th century...

, which he decorated with rose painting in 1923 and Heddal stave church

Heddal stave church

Heddal stave church is a stave church located at Heddal in Notodden municipality, Norway.The church is a triple nave stave church and is Norway's largest stave church. It was constructed at the beginning of the 13th century. After the reformation the church was in a very poor condition, and a...

, where in 1908, Lars Osa painted The Resurrection. Additional work of note would include the churches in Haram

Haram, Norway

Haram is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative center is Brattvåg, the industrial center of Sunnmøre. Other important villages in the municipality include Austnes, Eidsvik, Helle, Longva, Søvik, Tennfjord, and Vatne.Brattvåg IL is...

 and Granvin

Granvin

Granvin is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The population is 964. About half of these, 444 people, live in the village of Granvin, situated at the end of a side arm of the Hardangerfjord.-Name:...

.

He painted several pictures with clear social trend. His work is characterized by a strong commitment to the national in different cultural expressions. The most notable of these was Faderen, which was shown during 1889 at the World Exhibition in Paris

Exposition Universelle (1889)

The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from 6 May to 31 October 1889.It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution...

 (Exposition Universelle). During the summer 1894, he traveled to Setesdal

Setesdal

Setesdal is a valley and a traditional district in Aust-Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes....

, where there were many of the old traditions still maintained in a fairly authentic setting. The next year he returned to Setesdal, and 1896 he moved to Kristiansand

Kristiansand

-History:As indicated by archeological findings in the city, the Kristiansand area has been settled at least since 400 AD. A royal farm is known to have been situated on Oddernes as early as 800, and the first church was built around 1040...

. From there it was not far to Valle  in Aust-Agder

Aust-Agder

is a county in Norway, bordering Telemark, Rogaland, and Vest-Agder. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which is 2.2% of the total population in Norway. Its area is . The administrative center of the county is in Arendal....

 county, where he spent the summers.

He is represented in the National Gallery of Norway

National Gallery of Norway

The National Gallery of Norway is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.-History:...

 with the painting Tjenestepiken (1889). A memorial of him by Norwegian-American sculptor, Lars Fletre

Lars Fletre

Lars Fletre was a prominent Norwegian-American sculptor.-Biography:Lars Olavson Fletre was born in Vossestrand, Voss, Hordaland, Norway. He was the son of Ola Oddson Fletre and Kristine Olsdatter ytre Kvårmo....

 was unveiled in 1967 at the Ulvik National Museum. He wrote the memoir book Med pensel og feleboge in 1954, when he was 94 years old.

Personal life

Lars Osa was married twice. In 1891 he married Hermine Bernhoft (1865-1929), an author of children's books. In 1944 he married Bertha Sivertsen (1883-1968). He was the father of folk musician Sigbjørn Bernhoft Osa

Sigbjørn Bernhoft Osa

Sigbjørn Bernhoft Osa was a Norwegian fiddler and folk musician. He was one of the best known Norwegian performers of folk music in the 1900s.-Personal life:...

.

Select Works

• Tjenestepiken (1889)
• Ola Mosafinn (1887)
• Faderen (1889)
• Ivar Aasen (1895)
• Barnebegravelse i Valle (1895)
• Et menneske (1897)
• Et bryllup i Setesdal (1903)
• Oppbyggelse i Valle (1904)
• Ein trøyt spelemann (1912)
• Barnedåp i Valle (1916)

Other sources

• Mohn, A. Ein kyrkjekunst, bygd på gamal god grunn”. En analyse av Lars Osas dekorasjoner i Ulvik kirke (University of Bergen, 2000)