Featured Painting by Jonas Lie

Norwegian Village

by Jonas Lie

Jonas Lie was a versatile artist who painted throughout the seasons, under varying conditions of light and air. However, he was especially fond of winter, taking great delight in translating the effects of chilly air and cool sunlight into paint. This aspect of his work was duly noted by contemporary critics, many of whom attributed his penchant for winter themes to his Norwegian background, including a writer for Craftsman who declared “And that the blood of the North is truly in his veins is shown in many of the winter landscapes of Jonas Lie; born and cradled in the land of snow and ice, winter subjects appeal to him more than any others.”

The majority of Lie’s winterscapes were inspired by scenery he encountered in New England and in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York. He also painted images of snow and ice during his eighteen-month stay in Norway during 1909-10. Indeed, after a sojourn in Olso, Lie spent some time in Lillehammer, a small town in eastern Norway, in the county of Oppland, that was renowned for its skiing tradition, its picturesque rural scenery, and the clarity of its light--so different from the pale, silvery luminosity encountered in places such as France. Using the Breiseth Hotel as his base, the artist would set out every day--often on skis--with his folding easel in hand, making studies that served as the basis for large-scale oils painted back in the studio. One such work is Norwegian Village, a townscape that features some buildings bordering a winding river that occupies over half of the canvas. In terms of subject and composition, the painting is related to Lie’s Mill at Lillehammar (location unknown), which depicts an old mill perched on the perimeter of a similar ice-bound waterway, but without the steeped roofed houses included on the right-hand side in the present example.

As well as demonstrating Lie’s penchant for winter subjects, Norwegian Village reveals another aspect of his early work—his growing interest in painting water, a concern that first emerged in works painted back in the United States, such as Flood, Plainfield, New Jersey (ca. 1905; Spanierman Gallery, LLC). In pursuing the theme, Lie was likely influenced by the example of the leading Norwegian Impressionist, Fritz Thaulow, who applied the realism he assimilated during his academic training and the light and coloristic concerns of Impression to his portrayals of snow-bound rivers and streams, which were often exhibited in America. In fact, in a later interview with DeWitt McClellan Lockman, Lie specifically described Lillehammer as the place “where the Norwegian Fritz Thurlow has painted so much,” an indication that he was, indeed, familiar with the artist’s work and reputation.

In Norwegian Village, Lie’s use of a low vantage point, an abruptly cropped foreground, and a high horizon impart a sense of immediacy to the image, giving it a lively snapshot-like effect. By this point in his career, the artist was well aware of the technical strategies of Impressionism, examples of which he had seen in New York and in Paris. Consistent with the modified American version of that aesthetic, Lie describes the scene with fluid brushwork, while maintaining an interest in form, structure, and a well articulated composition. His fluent handling adds energy and animation to the image, particularly in the area of water, where he uses small, carefully placed daubs of pigment to echo the shapes and movement of the myriad ripples, eddies and currents on its surface. During the late 1900s—inspired by the example of Claude Monet—Lie began to incorporate a brighter and more expressive chromaticism into his oeuvre. This is certainly the case in the painting under discussion, in which vibrant oranges and rust tones form a contrast to the dark blues of the frigid water and the whites, grays, and pale blues of the surrounding snow, creating the vigorous patterns of light and shadow that make this such a strikingly beautiful painting.

Notable for its bold, forceful design and its expert portrayal of the lucent atmosphere of the north, Norwegian Village underscores Lie’s penchant for winter subjects, one of his favorite themes. The painting bears personal resonance too, for--in keeping with Lie’s belief that “art is biographical”--it represents the artist’s strong desire to reconnect with his Nordic heritage by exploring the pictorial possibilities of his homeland.

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