DOI issue:
Nr. 342 (November 1925)
DOI article:Price, F. Newlin: Jonas Lie, painter of light
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19986#0102
inCGRHAClonAL
"fishing boats in harbor" by jonas lie
JONAS LIE, "Painter o/TICjHT
A tavism claims us all. An artist whose WO.rk reflects family was broken up by
2<\ In the centre of that the mystery of light in the cIeath and the b°y found
golden circle that sur- northland of his ancestry himself in Paris, living with
rounds our youth the castle / /•/// / his cousin, the great author.
,+, • f r and chad hood „ f * +T • +
and the mansion of a former Here nrst the painter com-
age rise up to lure the young p_ TNfEW'LIlNf ^J? R, I (3 E menced, in 1892, to attend
adventurer. This boy who a small private art school,
grew within the shadow of the mountain tops and studying painting and "the three R's," meeting
played among Norse vikings found magic in the at times the famous artists and authors of his
boats and wonder in the ships that came to the cousin's acquaintance. In 1897 he came to
little Norwegian port. The northern sun of sum- America with two sisters and his mother, to work
mer and the constant night of winter spelled for henceforth alone.
him the hidden miracle of light. Whence comes His first job in America seems to have been
the sun to stay after long days and months of his only one. It is hard to be the head of a family
darkest night against whose blackness dawn at and support one's sisters and mother on twelve
last throws color's glorious spectrum? dollars a week. This he did, finding poverty fine
The human heritage of this artist comes from and inspiring in the glow of youthful power. His
his Norwegian father, a civil engineer whose work, behold!—designing calico shirts—better and
family had been jurists, judges, magistrates; better calico shirts—calico shirts for nine years,
whose sister, Enka Lie Nissen, was a great Yes, from the age of seventeen until he was
pianist; and whose cousin was Jonas Lie, the twenty-six.
Scandinavian writer and favorite of a generation But you must know that he rose early in the
ago. His mother, an American, gave this son a morning and painted sketches all during that
comfortable, delightful home with the background time, fascinated by the sun that rose so regularly
of the three arts, painting, music and poetry. and constantly over Van Cortlandt Park. It was
Then suddenly, when twelve years old, the like early mass to him, his art and religion. The
one hundred two
november 1925
"fishing boats in harbor" by jonas lie
JONAS LIE, "Painter o/TICjHT
A tavism claims us all. An artist whose WO.rk reflects family was broken up by
2<\ In the centre of that the mystery of light in the cIeath and the b°y found
golden circle that sur- northland of his ancestry himself in Paris, living with
rounds our youth the castle / /•/// / his cousin, the great author.
,+, • f r and chad hood „ f * +T • +
and the mansion of a former Here nrst the painter com-
age rise up to lure the young p_ TNfEW'LIlNf ^J? R, I (3 E menced, in 1892, to attend
adventurer. This boy who a small private art school,
grew within the shadow of the mountain tops and studying painting and "the three R's," meeting
played among Norse vikings found magic in the at times the famous artists and authors of his
boats and wonder in the ships that came to the cousin's acquaintance. In 1897 he came to
little Norwegian port. The northern sun of sum- America with two sisters and his mother, to work
mer and the constant night of winter spelled for henceforth alone.
him the hidden miracle of light. Whence comes His first job in America seems to have been
the sun to stay after long days and months of his only one. It is hard to be the head of a family
darkest night against whose blackness dawn at and support one's sisters and mother on twelve
last throws color's glorious spectrum? dollars a week. This he did, finding poverty fine
The human heritage of this artist comes from and inspiring in the glow of youthful power. His
his Norwegian father, a civil engineer whose work, behold!—designing calico shirts—better and
family had been jurists, judges, magistrates; better calico shirts—calico shirts for nine years,
whose sister, Enka Lie Nissen, was a great Yes, from the age of seventeen until he was
pianist; and whose cousin was Jonas Lie, the twenty-six.
Scandinavian writer and favorite of a generation But you must know that he rose early in the
ago. His mother, an American, gave this son a morning and painted sketches all during that
comfortable, delightful home with the background time, fascinated by the sun that rose so regularly
of the three arts, painting, music and poetry. and constantly over Van Cortlandt Park. It was
Then suddenly, when twelve years old, the like early mass to him, his art and religion. The
one hundred two
november 1925