Feb. 28 - May 16, 2007
Preus Library

Installation View

Ja, Vi Elsker Dette Landet
Ja, vi elsker dette landet
som det stiger frem,
furet, værbitt, over vannet,
med du tusen hjem.
Elsker, elsker det og tenker
på vå far og mor
og den saganatt som senker
drømme på vår jord.
og den saganatt som senker
drømme på vår jord.

Yes, We Love This Land
Yes, we love with fond devotion
This our land that looms
Rugged, storm-scarred o'er the ocean
With her thousand homes.
Love her, in our love recalling
Those who gave us birth.
And old tales which night, in falling,
Brings as dreams to earth.
And old tales which night, in falling,
Brings as dreams to earth.

-National Anthem of Norway

Installation View

Within the fine arts land and landscapes have become visual identifiers for people centuries ago. However, there may be no other country whose national identity is visually and culturally so deeply rooted in the land and its appearance as in Norway. Sculpted by glaciers, the Norwegian landscape is dramatically interrupted by soaring mountains and fjords, yet returned to serenity by flat, reflective mirrors of lakes and streams. The romantic and lyric perception of this “rugged, storm-scarred” horizon is Norway’s unique heritage, the pride of her people. Unfortunately, this land is beginning to show the (negative) effects of its inhabitance – striking changes in formerly pristine scenery exacted by the toll of industrial agriculture and its advanced farming technologies. From 1880 to the present time, hand tools have gradually succumbed to modern machinery and self-subsistence farming has been abandoned in favor of production of a marketable surplus. Formerly open fields of crops have been urbanized, and shore horizons once dotted by fishing boats have become empty skylines. This photography exhibit, featuring recent work by Oskar Puschmann coupled with photographs spanning the previous 125 years, aims to make visible these distinct changes in Norwegian landscape, increasing society’s awareness of the role industrial agriculture assumes in altering the natural environment.

Luther College is particularly proud to host this unique exhibit while visitors have a chance to experience first hand how painters have rendered their views of Norwegian landscape(s) in a special exhibition Space, Place, & Memory: Landscapes from the Vesterheim Collection in Decorah’s Norwegian- American Museum.

-Traveling Exhibit supported by the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, the Norwegian Embassy and partners

Installation View

Updated 11/08/06

"Flashback: Norwegian Landscapes in Retrospect "