Geometric designs have a long tradition in Norwegian art, as seen in this ale bowl that predates the emergence of rosemaling.
Bowl, painter unknown, Nordfjord, Norway, dated 1751. 2001.45.1—Gift of Marguerite Evenrud Drake.
Spouted tankard, painted by Herbrand Sata, Hallingdal, Norway, dated 1804. LC 807, Luther College Collection.
contributions to Norwegian folk art through its classes, competitions, and exhibitions. Now with the symposium The Art of Rosemaling: Tradition Meets the Creative Mind, it is about to do so again. About the Author Nils Ellingsgard was born in 1928, in Hallingdal, Norway. He has become one of Norway’s foremost decorative painters and one of the best-known historians of Norwegian rosemaling. Today he works full-time as an artist and an illustrator. He is best known for rosemaling in the Hallingdal style and was one of the first Norwegian painters to come to America to teach American painters at Vesterheim, first teaching in 1969. He has helped a number of his students, both in Norway and America, become masters of the style.
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Ellingsgard and his talents have had a substantial impact on other rosemaling styles, too — most notably the Aadnes style. In recent years, he has introduced and established this as a standard style in rosemaling. He has spent many years researching the Norwegian rosemaling brought to America by immigrants. His research into the early development of rosemaling in Norway has generated many of the most important published references on the subject. Ellingsgard’s publications include: Norske Rosemaling: Dekorativ maling i folkekunsten (Norwegian Rosemaling: Decorative Painting in Folk Art), Norwegian Rose Painting in America: What the Immigrants Brought, Rosemaling i Valdres (Rosemaling in Valdres), Rosemaling i Vest-Agder (Rosemaling in VestAdger), Norsk Rosemaling (Norwegian Rosemaling), Hallingdal i Biletkunsten, and Rosemaling i Hallingdal (Rosemaling in Hallgindal). Vesterheim