Victor Sparre

Victor Sparre, to 1971 Victor Smith ( * November 4, 1919 in Bærum, † March 16, 2008 in Asker ) was a Norwegian painter.

Life and work

Sparre was born near Oslo, but grew up in the western Norwegian town of Bergen. For his training, he returned to the capital, where he studied at the National Craft and Art Industry School (1936-1937) and at the Art Academy ( 1938-1941 ). One of his teachers was the famous Norwegian artist Per Krohg. His first two exhibitions, for which he received outstanding reviews each, took place in the art societies of Bergen and Oslo in the autumn of 1945. Abroad, his works were first seen in 1966 in the Alwin Gallery in London. This was followed by retrospectives in Iceland, France, Israel, Russia, Hungary and Germany, among others, in 1985 at the Museum Folkwang in Essen.

His figurative, new colorful paintings are characterized by a poetic myth-making, naivistischen style and use of recurring motifs that were joined quickly with its name, such as clowns, actors, musicians and generally solitary suffering people. They often contain symbolic or religious undertones. Some of his works are based aware of the clear structure of Byzantine icons.

Gained fame Sparre especially as Ausgestalter of church interiors. In 1955 he was commissioned to equip the Stavanger Cathedral with stained glass. Shortly thereafter, he began one of the first Norwegian artists, with no clear transparent cast glass, the so-called Dallglas to work. In 1972 he designed the east wall of the Arctic Cathedral in Tromso with a 23 -meter-high and 140 -square-foot glass work, the return of Jesus. Among his major works, the monumental decoration of the church of Jeløy outside Moss is counted. The south window is made of a composite of 1500 pieces of glass mosaic and is titled Tree of Life. Also at the facilities of Immamuel Church in Tel Aviv he was involved.

Victor Sparre belonged to since 1936 Revivalist of the so-called Oxford Group. On Christian humanitarian basis, he engaged his life to human rights in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He supported, among others, the dissidents Andrei Sakharov and Václav Havel.

In 2003, Victor Sparre was awarded the Knight's Cross of the First Class of the Order of St. Olav.

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