“Kaare Espolin Johnson – Images of Northern Norway”
In September, we open a new exhibition at the Espolin Gallery about Espolin Johnson’s work with book illustrations.
A central part of Kaare Espolin Johnson’s oeuvre was book illustrations, where literary stories were translated into a distinctive visual world. Most often they were fiction books with stories related to Northern Norway.
His breakthrough came in 1942 with Vett og uvett (“Sense and Folly”) by Einar K. Aas and Peter Wessel Zapffe. In the following decades, he illustrated a number of books. He designed book covers and contributed illustrations to reading books and anthologies. Among his early major commissions were Regine Normann’s fairy tale collection Ringelihorn og andre eventyr (Ringelihorn and other fairytales) in 1967. Later, Sigbjørn Hølmebakk’s novel Fimbulvinter (Fimbulwinter) in1969. But the central work in his production is the illustrations for Johan Bojer’s Den siste viking (The Last Viking). Made for a jubilee edition in 1972. Espolin Johnson’s drawings was known to a large audience all over Norway.
The Espolin Johnson collection includes both the books he illustrated and several of his drawings for books.
The exhibition “Kaare Espolin Johnson–Pictures of Northern Norway” presents original drawings and printed material from several books that he has thoroughly illustrated.