Frederik Collett

Frederik Collett (1839–1914) was a Norwegian painter who worked primarily as a chronicler of everyday life, street types, and landscape in Norway and France. He trained in Christiania and later in Paris, where he was influenced by the French naturalist tradition. His most distinctive contribution is a series of small, direct studies of Norwegian working people in traditional costume and occupational dress — Woman in local Costume (1875), Chimneysweeper (1876), Military Musician (1877), Woman with Basket and Umbrella (1875) — that form an informal documentary record of Norwegian urban and rural social types in the 1870s. These quick studies are painted with economy and directness, closely observing the particular details of costume and posture that identify each figure's social role. He also produced landscapes of Normandy — From Criqueboeuf in Normandy (1874) — and Norwegian scenery including Summer Landscape from Florø (1887) and Winter Landscape with a Mill (1888). He exhibited at the Christiania exhibitions and was a consistent if not prominent presence in Norwegian art of the period.

Collett's most characteristic work is intimate and sketch-like — direct observations of individual figures rendered with economy of means and clear attention to social specificity. His palette is subdued and naturalistic, his brushwork economical. His landscapes are more conventional, showing the influence of Norwegian and French naturalist practice.

Collett's series of Norwegian social types is a valuable documentary record of Norwegian working-class and rural costume in the 1870s. As a painter he belongs to the capable middle rank of Norwegian naturalism, less celebrated than Krohg or Werenskiold but contributing steadily to the visual culture of Norwegian artistic life.