Oda konstnär
Oda Krohg was seen as a particularly independent woman in her day. She did not feel bound by norms and rules. She divorced, had children out of wedlock, chose an art education and went to cafés alone. Oda Krohg painted several portraits, among them the outspoken Margrethe Vullum. Aasta Hansteen was another prominent female figure painted by Oda Krohg.
Othilia Pauline Christine Lasson grew up in an intellectual, bourgeois environment in Kristiania, now Oslo, as the third of 10 children.
oda konstnär4
Her father was attorney general Christian Lasson and her mother was Alexandra von Munthe af Morgenstierne. From , the family lived in a villa in Grønnegate in Homansbyen in the capital. All the daughters in the family received training in artistic pursuits such as music, handicrafts and visual arts. Othilia, or Oda as she was called, married Jørgen Engelhart in , just months after her mother had passed away.
The marriage was short-lived; after two children and her husband's bankruptcy, Oda left him. Her new life as a single mother was challenging. Her family could likely have helped her financially, but she was determined to fend for herself.
The Artist Oda Krogh
Oda wanted to study art, but there were few opportunities to pursue an arts education in 19th-century Kristiania. The established artist Christian Krohg ended up as her supervisor. She was his student for about one and a half years. It was her only formal art education, something she would later be criticised for. Oda married Christian Krohg in , by which time they already had a child together, Nana.
Their son Per was born the same year they were married. Both children became artists. Many of Oda Krohg's motifs are related to the family, and she often used her own children and family members as models. The pastel from , Japansk lykt A Japanese Lantern , is a particularly romantic image, symmetrically built around the glow of the paper lantern and the tree outside, in the middle of the bright Nordic summer night.
Oda Krohg - 17 artworks - painting - WikiArt.org
The model for the picture may have been one of Oda Krogh's sisters. In En abonnent på Aftenposten A subscriber to Aftenposten we see how the child plays with the newspaper and a pair of scissors. The motif is seen from above, with a bold cropping. Krohg has framed a close-up of the motif, with none of the conventional division lines in the composition, or distinctions between foreground, middle ground and background.
This was the new art, of which Christian Krohg was an eager proponent. The National Museum's newly purchased painting Christian ved staffeliet Christian at the Easel depicts Christian Krohg as he sits and paints. With his characteristic hat and long beard, he sits on a wooden chair with the brush on the canvas in front of him. We see him partly from the side, partly from behind. The painting is in small format, and as in an impressionist study, the motif is depicted with clear brushstrokes and a lot of light.
Christian Krohg and Hans Jæger were considered leading figures in what was referred to as the Kristiania Bohemians, a movement that questioned social conditions such as contemporary double standards and unjust class systems. Oda Krohg was fearless, and participated in discussions where only men were expected to have opinions.
Oda was a portrait subject and sat as a model for other visual artists. She also appears as a literary character. After the relationship with Heiberg ended, Oda and Christian Krohg got back together, and Christian painted several portraits of his beloved Oda.