VIGELAND, GUSTAV

born April 11, 1869, Mandal, Norway died March 12, 1943, Oslo in full Adolf Gustav Vigeland Norwegian sculptor, best known for his major work, Fountain Square, an outdoor sculpture complex, in Frogner Park, Oslo. He is said to have been the most prolific sculptor of all time. Vigeland's parents were farmers, and he was apprenticed to a wood-carver when he was 14 years old. His first work was shown in 1889, and, though early influenced by Auguste Rodin, he soon developed his own realistic style. His works were often controversial, and he remained poor all his life. The early sculptures, mostly portrait busts and reliefs, are now in the Vigeland Museum in Oslo. The later, monumental works are concentrated in Oslo's largest park, for which he designed more than 200 individual sculptural projects, including an entrance, bridge, fountain, circular staircase, mosaic labyrinth, and, literally, a stone forest of people. A central monolith, carved from a single block of solid granite 57 feet high, weighed 270 tons before sculpting began. It consists of 121 figures and is surrounded by 36 major groupings, all dealing with the various periods in the cycle of lifebirth, childhood, adolescence, maturity, old age, and death.