Sigmund Aarseth

Sigmund was born in 1936 in Hjörundfjord on the Northwest coast of Norway. From an early age he was known to be an artist and his interest was always in painting. He is the middle child of three brothers. The youngest brother is also an artist. His father, Torstein, was a fisherman, fishing the Atlantic Ocean from the coast of Norway to Greenland. The farm work on their little piece of land was left to his mother, Hjördis, and the children. Sigmund was raised in a rural farming community where everyone worked very hard to make a living. The Second World War increased the difficulties of almost all of the families in Norway. The war created deprivations all over Norway which were a little easier in the farm communities where Sigmund lived but were very difficult in the cities. Since Sigmund’s father was gone most of the time, much of the heavy work fell on his mother and the young boys. Sigmund, however credits this early hard work with the creation of his work ethic and the development of the stamina needed to become and artist and to make a living as one. He feels that this has made a difference in his career. However, life in the village was not only hard work; on weekends, holidays and other times, the village was filled with joy and laughter. This was a very harmonic upbringing for which he has always been grateful.

Sigmund left home as a young man and studied in Oslo for five years as an apprentice to get the education and papers to become a Master Painter. It was again a period of hard work, earning a living and paying for his education at the same time. But with the spirit of youth there was time to socialize with other young people from different areas of Norway. He participated a great deal of folk dancing and it was at one of these dances he met Ingebjørg. They decided to leave the city to marry and move to her home valley of Valdres for a year or so. They have been there ever since. They have three children, all of whom are involved in the arts in some form, and two grandchildren. 

Over the years, Sigmund has become well known as a fine artist as well as a rosemaler. His landscape paintings have, in recent years, eclipsed his rosemaling. He has had major exhibits all over the world. He has also painted interiors – in Norway, Europe and America. With his landscape painting, he paints the areas around his home and travels worldwide. Why he now prefers to do most of his rosemaling abroad and do mostly “fine art” in his own country need, perhaps, some explanation. 

The lack of status ad support of rosemaling in Norway today has many reasons, one of which is historic. In Norway, there is a history of 400 years of Danish rule when Danish language and culture were dominant. In all occupied countries, even today, they try to subdue the national identity and culture. This left a void in Norwegian culture for those aspiring to professional status as rosemalers. Other native art forms have been able, at least partly, to overcome this problem – like folk music that has its own successful academy in Voss. 

Although Sigmund has drawing and draftsman’s skills, he prefers the medium of painting in its intrinsic beauty. An intuitive and skillful colorist, his work is exciting and his designs innovative and unusual.

When Sigmund began to develop his interest in Rosemaling he sought out one of the most proficient Telemark rosemalers in Norway, Gunner Nordbö. After watching him paint and discussing color and brushes with him, Sigmund went off on his own to create a beautiful and almost modern version of the Telemark style. By studying the Old Masters, particularly one of his favorites, Thomas Lurås, he began to create a large body of work. Utilizing the old ways of designing furniture, and building on the strong design customs of the Norwegian woodworker he developed a fresh, clean, style of rosemaling art. He worked closely with local carpenters who endeavored to keep the wooden traditions alive. At the time, one simple modern design form was taking over known as the “Scandinavian Style”. This style was extremely plain and functional. 

After many years of painting custom Rosemaling and designing hundreds of pieces, in 1965 Sigmund was asked to demonstrate Rosemaling in Chicago. The following year he went to St. Louis. With almost no English, totally alone and unsupervised, he wondered what he had gotten into! But, like a true pioneer, he persevered with his schedule. At that time, most Americans had no idea what Rosemaling was. At the demonstration in St. Louis, he happened to meet Dr. Marian Nelson, the director of Vesterheim, and he was asked to teach a class in Decorah, Iowa at the Norwegian-American Museum in 1968. 

This class was so popular that Sigmund has been asked to teach at Vesterheim many times. His personality and humor made his classes enjoyable. The beauty of his painting and his seeming ease in accomplishing what Americans immediately found was quite daunting kept his students working hard. He also introduced the Vesterheim to several other Norwegian Rosemalers who were still painting in Norway. One of these was the scholar and Rosemaling, Nils Ellingsgaard, whose subsequent books on Norwegian Rosemaling have become important documents for all rosemalers studying the original form. 

In 1973, Sigmund co-authored a book, Norwegian Rosemaling, Decorative Painting on Wood, with Margaret Miller. By the late 1970’s Rosemaling had become reinvigorated in Norway and had become more recognized in America as well as throughout the world. The alliance between Vesterheim in America and Norwegian rosemalers has been the single-most important event affecting Rosemaling in the 20th century. It has led to a strong development of Rosemaling worldwide.