Johs. Rian
01.04.67 – 23.04.67
This retrospective exhibition with Johs. Rian took place in Kunstnernes Hus in 1967. The same exhibition was also set up at Trondhjems Kunstforening the same year. The exhibition's works spanned almost half a century from 1920 to 1967 and were drawn from private and public collections. There were 56 paintings on display, all in oil on canvas.
Johs. Rian (1891-1981) was a Norwegian painter and graphic artist from Nord-Trøndelag. He is known as one of the great colorists of his time, but his originality did not really come to light until his last 20 years as an artist when he switched completely to non-figurative painting. He was educated at the Norwegian Academy of Fine Arts under Axel Revol.
From 1960, Rian se only concentrated on the means of colour, form, surface and line and completely moved away from the figurative.
Rian was appointed as a knight of the 1st class in the Order of St. Olav.
He is represented, among others, at the National Gallery and the Statens Museum for Art in Copenhagen.
Extract from the catalogue
Da direksjonen for Kunstnernes Hus i sin tid spurte Johs. Rian om ikke en nu forlengst passert fødselsdag kunne ha vært et passende påskudd for en retrospektiv utstilling, svarte han nei. Selvfølgelig, vil enhver si som kjenner Rian. Når det gjelder en begivenhet som f. eks. en 75 årsdag, av Rian helst gjort til en alminnelig dag selv om den ville falle på den syttende mai, måtte han sin natur tro frabe seg all offentlig oppstuss. Bare blant venner hvor anledningen ikke kunne hemmeligholdes ville han høyst tillate et ganske svakt støt i trompeten, hvis han selv fikk råde.
Vi takker Johs. Rian fordi han, efter tilstrekkelig nøding, til slutt lot seg overtale. Det blir en utstilling som spenner over et tidsrom av nesten et halvt hundreår fra 1920 til i dag. Den viser en utviklingslinje som ikke følger den vanlige kurve. Her er et maleri skapt av en kunstner hvis sinn blir yngre for hver dag og det er nettopp denne omvendte proposjonalitet som gjør Rians utvikling så spennende.
For at denne retrospektive utstilling i Oslo og Trondheim skulle kunne gjennomføres, måtte man selvsagt ty til både offentlige og private samlinger, og jeg vil derfor på vegne av direksjonen for Kunstnernes Hus og styret for Trondhjems Kunstforening, frembære en takk til alle som har gjort utstillingen mulig. Samtidig skal magister Magne Malmanger ha takk for forordet han har skrevet til katalogen.
About the artist
Johs. Rian (1891-1981) was a Norwegian painter and graphic artist from Nord-Trøndelag. He is known as one of the great colorists of his time, but his originality did not really come to light until his last 20 years as an artist when he switched completely to non-figurative painting. He was educated at the Norwegian Academy of Fine Arts under Axel Revol.
From 1960, Rian se only concentrated on the means of colour, form, surface and line and completely moved away from the figurative.
Rian was appointed as a knight of the 1st class in the Order of St. Olav.
He is represented, among others, at the National Gallery and the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen.
