Haugesund Internasjonale Tresnitt (Haugesund International Woodcut) is an international group exhibition featuring artists from all corners of the world. The exhibition will be held at Haugesund Billedgalleri, Norway, May 10 – August 4, 2019. The exhibition was curated by Grethe Lunde Øvrebø and is sponsored by the Mayor of Haugesund and the Arts Council of Norway.
Haugesund Billedgalleri has focused on relief printing since 1915, when the Haugesund Kunstforening Art Society first purchased Vampire, a color woodcut by Edvard Munch. One of Norway’s greatest linocut artists Trygve Goa (1925–2013), lived and worked in Haugesund. He was for many years the leader of Haugesund Kunstforening, then became the director of Haugesund Billedgalleri (1973–92). Through his insight and wide network, the museum was able to develop a significant collection of Norwegian printed art.
From 2008 and onward the collecting strategy came to focus more specifically on relief-printed art. In addition to works by Norwegian artists, one finds works by well-recognized international print artists such as Käthe Kollwitz, Max Beckmann, Conrad Felixmüller, Otto Pankok, HAP Grieshaber, Peter Brandes and Thomas Kilpper. The collection contains art from all corners of the world, thus putting the works by Norwegian artists in a broader context.
Relief printing is the world’s oldest printing technique. Interest in relief printing as an art form has gone in waves since the time of Edvard Munch and Expressionism, but it has never completely disappeared. Today’s artists renew the interest through using alternative approaches, experimentation, and mixed-genre methods.
The AVTRYKK Festival is Haugesund Kunstforening (art society) and Norske Kunstforeninger’s (all of Norway’s art societies) national art festival, organized in connection with the annual meeting for the societies, in 2019 in Haugesund. With the themes of printed art and ‘the art of making art accessible’, AVTRYKK focuses on how it is possible to facilitate the wider public’s engagement with contemporary art. AVTRYKK Festival will take place in Haugesund from May 9th until May 12th.
The HIT Festival (Haugesund Internasjonale Tresnittfestival) is Norway’s first international festival of relief printing. It aims at celebrating tradition and innovation within relief print, woodcut and linocut. The HIT festival is a joint event between Haugalandmuseet dep. Haugesund Billedgalleri and Haugesund Municipality, and takes place in Haugesund Billedgalleri from May 10th to August 4th.
Please see the artist line up below…
