NICOLAUS WIDERBERG STUDIO

1960 - 63

Born on the 7 October in Oslo to artists Frans Widerberg (1934 – 2017) and Aasa Turid Brække (1940 – 2021). In the same year, his parents marry.

Attends the Rudolf Steinar School where he excels at woodwork and model-making. At Fagerborg Gymnasium he thrives on artistic subjects encouraged by his teacher Ole Sjølie.

1964

His brother Thomas is born.

1968

Appears in the TV programme Will You Join Us, with his father Frans.

1969 

Taught by the Norwegian jazz musician Magni Wentzel to play the guitar.

1970 

Brought up at Ekely, an artist colony centred at Edvard Munch’s former studio near Oslo, where the young Widerberg learns to make prints with his father Frans. Nils Aas, sculptor, family friend and neighbour on seeing the young Widerberg making animals in the snow, is the first to acknowledge his potential to become a sculptor.

1980 

Gives up plans to become a musician. Attends classes at the State College of Handicrafts and Applied Art (the National College of Art & Design), Oslo.

1981

Fails to gain entry to the Academy of Fine Arts but is offered a residency by Professor Boge Berg. At a private meeting, the students object and he is asked to leave. A year later he is formally accepted at the Academy.

1882 - 86

Studies at the National Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo, under Professor Boge Berg. He was also taught by Steinar Christensen and Paul Brande. Participates in a group exhibition with fellow students at the Henie-Onstad Art Centre.

1984

Travels with Ivar Sjaastad to Pietrasanta near Carrara in Italy on a travel scholarship where he works alongside the skilled craftsmen in the stone quarries. Returns several times. Bernhard Rostad interviews Widerberg and Ivar Sjaastad for the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet (19.03.84). Produces a portrait of Dr Søhol, Head of the Medical School, Ullevål Hospital, Oslo. Exhibits a series of small carved plaster and marble heads produced in Pietrasanta at Gallery Albin Upp, Oslo.

1985

Encounters Mimmo Paladin’s work at the artist’s exhibitions at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo in 1985 and 1988. Participates in the Young Norwegian Sculptors’ Festival in Stockholm with a large sculpture of a male torso roughly hewn from wood with a chainsaw and axe.  

1986

‘Atlas’ 1985 – 86, marble/stone, 45 x 23 x 30cm, is purchased by the National Gallery, Oslo, from his joint exhibition at Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, with paintings by his father Frans and electronic music composed by his brother Thomas. ‘Five Figures’ purchased for Aker Brygge, Oslo. Reviews in the Norwegian newspapers by Eric Egeland in Aftenposten (19.03.1986), Paul Grøtvedt in Morgenbladet (25.03.1986), and Harald Flor in Dagbladet (22.03.1986).