proclamation of truth as the aim of art, Thaulow insisted
even at this early date that art in the nature of things must
be aristocratic, a pleasure of the few and a pleasure alone.

In the art life of Christiania during the eighties Fritz
Thaulow played an important role. He seemed to have a
native gift for attracting young people. Active and hand-
some, enthusiastic and amiable, well-to-do and independent,
full of good humor and confidence, with an air of foreign
culture and a certain quality that could not fail to make him
noticeable as a man about town, Fritz was the lion of the
day. Everybody knew him, almost everybody liked him; his
comrades and all of Christiania with them called him only
by his first name.

In the long and acrimonious struggle with Kunstfore-
ningen he took an active part. This institution, the object of
which was to buy and parcel out works of art to its members,
and which commanded a considerable budget, measured with
the standards of the time, was governed by an altogether
incompetent board of directors. It was impossible in the
long run for the painters to be content with a state of affairs
in which all sorts of amateurish, untalented productions were
purchased and spread through the homes to assess for them-
selves the modicum of interest in art that existed in Chris-
tiania at that day. The conflict led to a long-continued
strike, which ended in victory for the artists: no picture was
to be considered for purchase that had not previously been
passed upon favorably by a jury of their own number. The
campaign, though difficult, had been conducted on the part
of the artists with unyielding persistency. Its leaders were
Werenskiold, Thaulow, and Krohg.

As a teacher, too, Thaulow exerted a great influence. It
was he who established the so-called open air academy at
Modum, a village near Christiania, whither a large group
of young painters followed him to practise under his direc-
tion the precepts of outdoor study. Here at Modum Thau-
low painted his large picture, now in the National Gallery,
of Hougsfossen in spring flood, tumbling down the moun-
tain-side in foaming cascades and dirty yellow eddies.

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