Billedvev

Ragnhild Enge (b. 1948) creates tapestries on the tapestry’s own terms, making full use of the medium's inherent possibilities. With rich colour nuances based on the qualities of yarn and a confident mastery of visual composition, her tapestries today stand as independent visual expressions. During the 1990s, her artistic production underwent a convincing development, a search for a textile expression characterized by a concentrated yet poetic visual language and a compelling use of colour. Visual elements such as dots, lines, and symbols form rhythmic patterns across the woven surface. The tapestries are clear and resolved in form, while also possessing a tactile sensitivity and warmth. Flawless craftsmanship is a prerequisite for the result.

Ragnhild Enge grew up in Lillehammer, and Gudbrandsdalen, where she is from, has been a center for Norwegian tapestry art for centuries. Nevertheless, she turned to Sweden to study tapestry and textile craftsmanship as a profession. She was educated at the School of Design and Crafts (Konstindustriskolan) in Gothenburg from 1972 to 1976, where she studied under well-known Swedish textile artists such as Elsa Agéli and Ulla Magnusson. Ragnhild Enge debuted at the Oppland Exhibition in 1984. Since then, she has participated in numerous juried exhibitions. She was represented at the National Autumn Exhibition (Høstutstillingen) in 1991, 1993, and 1996. She held a solo exhibition at the Nordenfjeldske Museum of Decorative Arts in 1995. In 1997, she took part in the International Triennial of Tapestry and Textile Art in Tournai, Belgium. Her tapestries feature abstract motifs. The artist seeks to create a textile surface unified by tonal variations within a single color—green, as in “Savn” (1996), blue in “Blå gobelin” (1997), and ochre in "Reise" (1998). Color, material, and technique, these three components together create a vibrant textile surface. Against this surface, subtle rhythms of non-figurative visual elements, lines, dots, and ornaments, emerge.

In 1997, Ragnhild Enge collaborated with painter Håkon Gullvåg and designer Randi Bakken on the creation of the new bishop's cope in Nidaros Cathedral. Håkon Gullvåg won the closed competition for the design of the cope, which featured a red cloak with the Easter gospel depicted along the front stoles. The shield on the back of the cope shows Olav on horseback—also interpretable as Christ on a donkey.

The cope's visual motifs were executed in an extremely nuanced and refined tapestry by Ragnhild Enge. With a rare ability to translate a cartoon into woven form, she preserved the painter’s line and color palette, while at the same time adding a compelling visual and textile dimension through the weaving process.

Ragnhild Enge is artistically aligned with several of Norway’s leading younger tapestry artists, sharing a common approach to image, technique, and color. They also share an educational background in tapestry from art schools abroad. These artists have sought out environments where tapestry is connected to a modern visual language and continues to evolve today. This has brought new impulses to the Norwegian art scene and helped maintain the vitality of Norway’s strong tapestry tradition.

Text translated by Oslo Kunstforening in 2025