Kaare Espolin Johnson

Espolin Johnson was born at the Vasseng farm in Surnadal.[1] In 1909, when he was two years old, his family moved to Vadsø, and then moved again to Bodø in 1919. In 1927, after spending some time in Horten, Espolin Johnson relocated to Oslo, where he studied at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry and Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts under Axel Revold and Halfdan Strøm. There he developed a special layering and scraping technique using soot early on in almost exclusively black and white.[2] He had poor eyesight, and this technique was very well suited for his limited vision.[3]

He debuted at the Autumn Exhibition in 1932[1] and soon started contributing illustrations to the magazine Arbeidermagasinet.[1][3] Espolin Johnson also illustrated many books, among which the first was Vett og uvett. Stubber fra Troms og Nordland (Sense and Nonsense: Short Stories from Troms and Nordland, 1942) by Einar Kristoffer Aas and Peter Wessel Zapffe.[1][3] His motifs were based on northern Norwegian fishing life, and continued with motives from rural life to the south. Examples of this include his illustrations for Sigbjørn Hølmebakk's Fimbulvinter (The Great Winter, 1964), Regine Normann's Ringelihorn og andre eventyr (Ringelihorn and Other Tales, 1967), and Johan Bojer's Den siste viking (The Last Viking, 1972).[1][3]

Espolin Johnson also decorated the Coastal Express vessel MS Harald Jarl (1960) with several motifs from Petter Dass's Nordlands Trompet. These paintings were transferred to the new Coastal Express vessel MS Trollfjord when MS Harald Jarl was sold.[4] In addition, he decorated the Kirkenes police station (in 1964), the county hospital in Ålesund (in 1973), and the telegraph station in Sandnessjøen (in 1975).

In an interview with NRK TV in connection with the opening of the Espolin Gallery in 1992, Espolin Johnson stated that, when he looked back at his artistic work, it was the illustrations for Vett og Uvett and Bojer's Den siste viking that gave him the most pleasure. He highlighted the Baroque humor in Vett og Uvett as one of the reasons why he had enjoyed that task in particular.[5]

Espolin Johnson received the Nordland County Culture Prize in 1990.[6] He is represented in Norway's National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design by 39 of his artworks.

A biography of Espolin Johnson was written by Arne Durban in 1979. In 1994, together with Arthur Arntzen, Espolin Johnson coauthored the book Og langsomt kom lyset (And Slowly Came the Light), which discusses Northern Norway and its art, with 22 of his own works in focus.

To mark the centenary of the birth of Espolin Johnson, in 2007 Pax Forlag issued a new and expanded edition of Bjørn Tore Pedersen's volume Kaare Espolin Johnson – Lengselens billeddikter (Kaare Espolin Johnson: The Visual Poet of Longing).[7]

The Espolin Gallery (Norwegian: Galleri Espolin) was established in 1992 in Kabelvåg in the municipality of Vågan, which received 40 to 50 of Espolin Johnson's works in 1983. The collection contains nearly 170 works.[8][9]