Around 1909 a change occurs in Gustav Vigeland’s art. The form becomes fuller and more harmonious. We see this clearly in the two marble sculptures Mother and Child (1909) and Female Torso (1909). The sculptures have fewer details compared with Vigeland’s earlier works.

This simplification of the form is continued in a series of 33 medium-sized sculptures modelled during the period 1913–1915, among them Man Cradling Woman in His Arms (1913). In these works we see the beginning of the monumental idiom that characterises the sculptures in the Vigeland Park.

During this period Vigeland was preoccupied with the art of Paul Gauguin (1848–1903). He also showed an interest in the French artists Aristide Maillol (1861–1944) and Antoine Bourdelle (1861–1929), both known for their simplified style. At the same time, Vigeland maintained a fascination for the art of earlier times, in particular Egyptian art and the art of antiquity.

Gustav Vigeland, Man Cradeling a Woman, 1913. Plaster.

Between 1913 and 1915, Vigeland modelled a series of 33 medium-sized sculptures (approximately 60–70 cm in height). In these works, a clear stylistic shift occurred in Vigeland’s art. The forms became more monumental, the figures devoid of detail, and the compositions increasingly compact. In total, 16 of these groups were later carved in stone, most of which are now placed in the courtyard of the Vigeland Museum. Several of the motifs were also repeated in the granite sculptures surrounding the Monolith in Vigeland Park.

Gustav Vigeland, Mother and Child, 1909. Marble.

As early as 1905, Vigeland noted certain formal changes in his work, writing: “My figures are becoming heavier; they are no longer as stiff and dry. It happens to every artist that his figures grow larger with the years; at a distance they seem to grow in parallel with himself.” However, it seems more likely that the extremely slender figure style was abandoned not because Vigeland himself had grown broader, but because he had become interested in depicting figures in a full, natural scale.

In 1907, Vigeland revisited the plaster model for Mother and Child, literally making the figures fuller by modelling over the earlier, thinner forms. Details became less pronounced, and the surface was smoothed out. In its new version, the group became one of his most popular works and exists in several replicas, both in marble and bronze.

Gustav Vigeland, Female Torso, 1909. Marble.

Female Torso is based on a sketch from 1902. The 1909 version appears fuller and more harmonious in form.

The model for this sculpture was Inga Syvertsen (1883–1968), who lived with Gustav Vigeland for nearly twenty years, from 1902 to 1921. Officially, she was his housekeeper; unofficially, she was his partner and assistant. She posed as a model, cast sculptures in plaster, and assisted Vigeland in various ways in the studio. Syvertsen also documented the sculptor’s life and work for posterity—both through her meticulously kept studio journal, where she recorded daily events, and through her photography.

Gustav Vigeland, Man Cradeling a Woman, 1897. Bronze.

This sculpture is a fine example of how one can trace the stylistic development in Vigeland’s work. The motif was dear to the artist, and he modelled it several times (in 1897, 1905, and 1914), each time with different formal solutions that reveal his artistic evolution. Gradually, the group was given an increasingly austere and self-contained form. A version from 1913 can also be seen in this gallery, while a full-scale version in granite stands in front of the museum.