Died 8 July 1940, Son, Norway | ||
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Carl Johannes Andreas Adam Dørnberger (born 23 September 1864 in Nøtterøy, Norway, died on 8 July 1940) was a Norwegian artist of German ancestry.
Life and career
He was born to German parents – his father worked as master brewer in Tønsberg. When he was eight years old the family traveled back to Germany, where he lived until became a student of David Arnesen (1818-1895) in Christiania at the age of seventeen. Later he studied under several artists in Paris.
He debuted at the Høstutstillingen in 1887, and had his first solo exhibition in 1900. That same year he married Line Gurine, and they had a daughter, Gro, in 1904. Dørnberger had many famous artists in his circle, including Edvard Munch and Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who both painted portraits of him.
Around 1896 he moved to Son, Norway, where he lived for the remainder of his life. His home there, known as "Dørnbergerhuset", is owned by his family, but has for years been at the disposal of the painter Arne Samuelsen (born 1950). Many of Dørnberger's works are motifs from Son, including the historic buildings in the town center and the steamer jetty lying below his house.
He was, for many, at least as well known for his eccentric lifestyle as for his art. He wore a distinctive homburg hat and carried two pistols which he called "Kitty" and "Kitty's brother", because he was fond of shooting the tails off cats. He also had a wooden leg and would sometimes stick knives into it, through his trousers, to shock people nearby.