One of Norway’s greatest artists passed away on Monday after a long illness.
DEATH: Tone Vigeland photographed in Oslo in 2018. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB
Tuesday 19 March at 20:25
Tone Vigeland was a jewelery artist, goldsmith and sculptor. She achieved a great reputation internationally and is represented in collections worldwide.
– It is with great sadness that we announce that the artist Tone Vigeland has passed away, writes Galleri Riis in Oslo on Facebook.
The gallery calls Vigeland one of Scandinavia’s leading artists of his generation.
– With her distinct artistry and great personality, she has left a deep mark on Norwegian and international art life. She will be deeply missed by many. writes Riis.
Tone Vigeland was the daughter of the painter Per Vigeland, granddaughter of the visual artist Emanuel Vigeland and great-niece of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland.
She had her breakthrough in 1958 with the earring Slynge. The following summer, demand was so great that the silver shop in Fredrikstad worked from morning to night to produce enough Slynge.
HONORED: Queen Sonja and Tone Vigeland at the opening of her retrospective exhibition in Oslo in 2018. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB
Vigeland took his apprenticeship as a goldsmith in 1961 and established his own workshop in the Old Town in Fredrikstad. She designed jewelery for Norway Silver Designs until 1978.
In the 1980s, Vigeland began experimenting with non-traditional materials. Jewelry made from hand-forged nails attracted a lot of attention.
In the mid-nineties, she stopped making silver jewelery and switched to sculptures and reliefs. In the 2000s, she made room installations where steel rods and piano strings were part of the working material.
Galleri Riis calls the sculptures and installations “elegant and powerful”. The works were often monumental.
Vigeland was honored with a retrospective exhibition at Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, which was later shown in Oslo and Trondheim.
She completed a large outdoor sculpture for the Kistefos Museum in Jevnaker in 2022.