Kai Fjell


Kai Breder Fjell was a Norwegian painter, printmaker and scenographer.

Personal life

Fjell was born on a farm in the village Skoger near Drammen. His father was a farmer and a painter, Conrad Bendiks Fjeld. His mother was a sister of Marie Hamsun. Fjell married Ingeborg Helene Holt in 1931. They had two children, Sindre and Håvard Fjell.

Career

Kai Fjell became a pupil of Carl von Hanno in Oslo in 1926. A year later, he enrolled at the State's School of Art and Design of Oslo, where his main teachers were August Eiebakke and from 1929 Olaf Willums.
His debut exhibition in Oslo Art Society in 1932 was largely unsuccessful. Fjell achieved immediate success with his exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus in 1937, where all the exhibited paintings were sold.
Kai Fjell early developed an ornamental expressionism. His pictures are heavily influenced by rural life and traditional Norwegian folk art.
Fjell's early paintings are dominated by dark and earthy hues and often has grotesque motifs. His later works are significantly brighter, more daring in their use of colour, and tranquil in mood. Throughout his long career, the female figure and various fertility-symbols are recurring motifs in Fjell's pictures.
Kai Fjell died in his home at Lysaker. He was active as a painter until the end of his life.

Selected works