Recently I am doing research on Jonas Lie, the Norwegian-born American artist in the first half of 20th century. Though I know clearly that among the category of “artist” there are numerous kinds of artists just as there are numerous kinds of people in the world, I still hold the belief that artists are nerds who only think about art and who pay no attention to “worldly” stuff. That impression comes from my former research on artists in Chinese conquest dynasties.
When I came across Jonas Lie, I was so shocked—an artist shouldn’t win so many prizes since he/she would never attend such “mundane” competition; an artist shouldn’t be a friend of a government official (a U.S.
But looking at his art, I admit his painting skills were extraordinary which also reflects his acute senses of light. His work Birches in the Snow, one of my favorites, reveals Lie’s extraordinary relaxing painting skills. I especially like the shades that the birches cast on the snow ground, so flexible. The light grey blue color of the shades, floating on the slightly bluish white snow, has an enormous space within it, seemingly has its own soul.
