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EINAR DAHL

 

 

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 Einar Dahl (1884 - 1976)

  

Einar Dahl lived two lives, one as a painter and another as a harness maker, artificial-limb maker, and shoe salesman. He began leather work in Lennox, South Dakota, after emigrating from Hedemark, Norway, in 1902 at the age of 18.  In 1907 he settled permanently in the Twin Cities of Minnesota (he lived at 3900 Beard Avenue North and/or 4250 France Avenue North in Robbinsdale, MN).  Dahl and several others were largely responsible for starting Minnesota competitive ski jumping and organizing the Twin Cities Ski Club.

 

Dahl had always drawn and painted, but his art training was limited to informal assistance from the Minnesota painters Otto Moilan, Carl Erickson, and Knute Heldner.  From 1923 on, he participated regularly in local exhibitions and shows at the Norwegian Club in Chicago.  His greatest honor was having a landscape purchased by the American Art Today Gallery for showing at the New York World’s Fair in 1940. At that time he had moved toward abstraction, more as personal development than as the result of outside influence.  He received his first cash award at the Minnesota State Fair in 1941. 

 

Dahl exhibited his work at the United American Artist show, Rockefeller Plaza, New York; Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland California; and one-man shows at the Rainbow Gallery, Minneapolis (1952) and the American Swedish Institute (1953 and 1955).  He served six years on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Artist Association.  He was also involved with the promotion of the Walker Art Center and served on their Board of Trustees.  The Minneapolis Star & Tribune added him to their long list of Town Toppers in 1953 for his outstanding work as an artist and promoter of the arts in the Twin Cities.

     

Dahl has work in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, University of Minnesota, Minnesota Historical Society and the Hennepin History Museum.

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