KRM

For the First Time: PhD on Kitty Kielland

The museum's curator, Inger M. L. Gudmundson, has finished her research on Kitty Kielland.

On Friday, 7 February 2025, Gudmundson will defend her doctoral thesis, Towards the Horizontal: Landscape Transformations, Freedom, and Liberation as Themes in Kitty L. Kielland's Art and Writings.

Cand.philol. Inger Margrethe Lund Gudmundson, curator at Stavanger Art Museum, is presenting her thesis for the degree of philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo. This groundbreaking thesis is the first in Norway to focus on Kitty Kielland.

Landscape Transformation, Freedom, and Liberation
Kitty L. Kielland (1843–1914) painted, wrote, and acted during a period of significant natural, cultural, and political change. By examining the themes of landscape transformation, freedom, and liberation, the thesis explores connections between Kielland's art, her social engagement, and her role in public discourse.

This is the first art-historical doctoral thesis dedicated to Kielland’s artistic career. A selection of her artworks and writings is analysed through ecocritical perspectives, theories of republican freedom, and recent art-historical research on women’s networks, collaboration, and negotiations of artistic identity.

The ecocritical approach rethinks the relationships between nature, culture, and art, while the republican theory of freedom emphasises the necessity of a free space for true liberty. The thesis argues that the themes of landscape transformation, freedom, and liberation should be viewed in the context of the private, hybrid, and public spaces Kielland’s art and writings navigated and shaped.

Jæren and Brittany
Kielland’s paintings from Jæren and Brittany are interpreted in a transregional context, focusing on the shared coastal heath landscapes and the transition from small-scale communities to early industrialisation. The thesis highlights Kielland’s portrayal of boulders and her engagement with the Ice Age theory of positivism. Several peat bog paintings are reinterpreted from an ecocentric perspective, while anthropocentric voices from Kielland’s contemporaries are also considered.

The themes of the thesis connect Kielland’s artistic and feminist activities. Through various interpretations, the study explores different forms of freedom. It demonstrates how Kielland’s paintings, short stories, and public debates address equality, openness about sexuality, individuality, and independence.

Upcoming events
Inger M. L. Gudmundson will defend her thesis on 7 February 2025 in Oslo. On 14 February, she will give a lecture at Stavanger Art Museum, sharing insights from her research on Kitty Kielland.