Kjære Höst og frúe!

Tak for sidste brev – det blev nok

længe med besvarelsen. Jeg sender idag 

i al hast nogle træsnit – De beder

mig sende nogle, som De vil sælge

for mig – det er altfor snildt mod mig

De talte om, at Rasmús Meyer

múligens tog en serie – jeg har derfor

mærket disse tryk, som jeg troede

kúnde passe i hans samling med et

lidet cigaretpapir, som kan afrives let. 

"Búkken, som kom til Himmerike" har

jeg kun et tryk af (den gamle plade);

jeg har skaaret den om igjen; men den

nye plade er ikke saa god, tror jeg.

De gamle tryk af de andre træsnit er

ogsaa mærkede med papirlapper. Prisen 

paa de forskjellige tryk overlader jeg  

til Eder – jeg har bare sat paa nogle

tal til forslag. Jeg har arbeidet med

nogle nye trykplader, men var úheldig med

II

et par plader, som sprak, da de var

skaarne i raa ved – jeg kommer vel

neppe nú at se lave dem færdige för

til hösten eller vinteren; – thi nú har 

vi jo snart den tid, jeg búrde male úde.

Nú maa jeg bede Dem være saa venlig at

vælge úd de træsnit, De maatte like eller

bytte om andre, som De har; men som De

múligens fandt bedre af disse nye – jeg 

har jo gjort mig mere úmag med disse

tryk og forsögt at "trykke pent" men

som De veed er man i haand tryk

meget afhængig af tilfældighederne

ved övelse og erfaring skulde man jo

kunne benytte sig godt af disse

tilfældigheder, som giver træsnittet dets

artistiske charme – men jeg er jo

endnú kún begynder i faget og næsten

alle disse tryk er jo udfört for 4–8

aar siden – nú vilde jeg lavet dem

meget bedre. Portraitter er jo úmúlige 

i træsnit – det blir som Múnch sagde til

Aavang, en ny mand for hvert tryk, – derfor

III

maa ogsaa et træsnit skjæres saa "grovt",

at det paa en vis maade kan omfatte

eller omramme alle tilfældigheder – det

er vanskeligheden ved træsnit.

Næsten ved hver eneste detail i pladerne

kan man frembringe forskjellige virknin-

ger – ved at trykke haard, svagt, megen

eller liden farve tyktflydende eller tynd-

flyden farve o.s.v. forúden farvesammen-

stemningen i sig selv – jeg maa jo kasere

en mængde tryk, saa det tager ikke saa

liden tid at trykke. Jeg sad i hele gaar

og skar trykkene af i kanterne for at

faa ret vinkel i dem, – men jeg blev

rent skúffet, da jeg saa dem efter at

de hvide og graa kanter var afskaarne

thi trykkene "tabte sig" svært. Derfor

vil jeg bede Eder være saa venlig at lade

rammemageren klæbe trykkene (ganske

löst) paa graat papir, förend de blir

fremvist til nogen, – thi da först faar

de sit rette údseende – nogle tryk er 

trykte paa graat papir, – de bör helst klæbes

(Indramming var jo bedst men {…}

       Jeg skylder vel Eder meget for indramming ogsaa?)

IIII

paa hvidt papir. Denne opklæbning 

er heldig ogsaa af den grúnd, at man

da ikke ser den stygge skidne bagside

af trykkene – (jeg bruger et stykke træ

med filler over til at præsse ^bagsiden med,

og disse filler blir fulde av alskens

maling og farve únder trykningen). 

Disse gamle tryk er jeg lei af – de var

jo væsentlig exprimenter – og jeg kommer

neppe herefter til at trykke flere af

dem úden efter særlig {…} bestilling – et par

af pladerne har jeg maattet fornye, da de

gamle var borte. 

Nú vilde jeg ogsaa gjerne at frk. Inger

skúlde have en komplet samling af

mine tryk, – hvis hún bryder sig om det;

saa haaber jeg hún vælger ud de, hún 

liker bedst.

Jeg er i saa store ökonomiske vanskelighe-

der, at jeg desværre endnú ikke kan bringe

tilbage, hvad jeg har laant af Eder, men

jeg haaber det maa ske engang i aar.

V

Jeg har endnú ikke malt noget i aar, – 

jeg plages frygtelig af aandenöd – men

nervösiteten har jeg ganske overvúndet 

ved haardt legemligt arbeide – jeg har 

arbeidet som en tyrk om dagene og

lagt et lidet stykke jord til "gamle mor

Norge" – jeg har múret úd i Jölstervandet

og lagt nogle meter til det lille stykke

jord, jeg havde för, – det er intet lönsomt

arbeide – men det gjör godt at slide 

med stenarbeide – stene tyngre end

et hestelas har jeg tomme for tomme

fört ud paa múren og aket mig alen

for alen ud i vandet såat stedet, 

som för var en vik, nú nærmest 

maa kaldes et lidet nes. Saa driver

jeg stadig paa med spadsertúre nede i 

det iskolde Jölstervand – jeg tog bad i 

vinter da isen laa – forresten er her

saa koldt om nætterne at det "flingrer"

over med tynd is hver nat – vandet ^er saa

sterkt afkjölet nú, som det kan blive. 

VI

Jeg har sat mig fore nú at blive

frisk om jeg saa skal synke i gjæld

til op over örene, – ja om jeg saa skal

begynde som pladsemand og bryde

op jord og sten. Nervösiteten og maven

er allerede klaret – men aandenöden

er værre og værsner, trods jeg forsöger

alle de mediciner, som jeg bare kan

opspörge – intet hjælper – men jeg

giver mig ikke; nú skal isvandskúrene

til, – jeg er allerede begyndt med 3 

ganges overgydninger pr. dag, hver paa 5 min.

Kari er helt bra igjen i fingeren, der

stod en liden flis af negleroden igjen

paa den ene siden, og nú er den vokset 

halvt údover fingeren saa hún faar endog

en slags negl igjen; – igaar ^11te mai var hún et aar.

Tror De Rasmús Meyer vilde kautionere

for mig i Jölsterbanken for 1000 kr., jeg tænker

paa at kjöbe en húsmandsplads at bo paa om

sommeren, da det er nær mine motiver og

fordi folk her er saa úmúlige mod ^mig at de

ikke vil sælge mig melk længer, og det trænger

VII

vi höilig baade til Kari og Engel, hvis

lunger ikke er gode – saa har vi ogsaa

tjenestepige; naar jeg kjöbte denne

húsmandsplads vilde jeg være hjúlpen

med melk poteter og korn og behövede

ikke at tigge folk ^{om at faa kjöbe} derom og fare

fra Herodes til Pilatús – om somme-

ren, naar folk er paa sæter er det des-

uden næsten ^ikke at opdrive melk selv om

folk vilde være rimelige mod mig –

nú trækker de mig op – naar de kan; –

för sagde de, at "han tene pænge for lett",

nú, da de har seet, at jeg er lige saa

god som dem med jord arbeide – siger de:

han er op i fant – "gud’je han var

vel ute af grænden" – og for at faa mig

bort er det om at gjöre at nægte mig

melk, og hvad de tror jeg mest trænger.

Den husmandsplads jeg tænker paa er billig

og jeg kan med lethed faa den solgt igjen,

og leiligheden kommer ikke igjen saa snart. 

Tör jeg bede Dere lægge et godt ord ind for mig hos

Meyer – han skal ikke tabe et rödt öre. Undskyld

mig, hvis det ikke gaar an. Ederes hengivne N. Astrúp

Engel beder hilse Eder hjærteligst

Undskyld hasten – jeg venter posten forbi

hvert öieblik.

Den bedste hilsen

Eders hengivne

Nikolai Astrup

    Dear Höst and Mrs!

Thank you for your last letter – it has taken

a while to respond. I am sending today

some woodcuts in all haste – You ask

me to send some, which You would like to sell

for me – you are too kind to me

You mentioned, that Rasmús Meyer

might perhaps take a series – I have therefore

marked those prints, which I thought

might be suitable for his collection with 

small cigarette papers, that can easily be torn off.

"The Billy-Goat, that Went to Heaven" I have

only one print of (the old block);

I have carved it over again; but the

new block is not very good, I think.

The old prints of the other woodcuts are

also marked with slips of paper. The price

of the various prints I leave 

up to You – I have only attached some

numbers as suggestions. I have worked on

some new printing blocks, but was unfortunate with

II

a few blocks, which cracked, since they were

carved in raw wood – I will most likely

not be able to see finish them before 

autumn or winter; – because now the 

season is soon upon us, when I should paint outdoors.

I would now ask You to be so kind as to

select the woodcuts, that You like or

exchange [them] for others, that You have; but which You

might prefer among these new ones – I 

have done my very best with these

prints and tried to "print neatly" but

as You know in hand printing one is

very dependent on chance occurrences

with practice and experience one should 

be able to utilise well these

chance occurrences, which give the woodcut its

artistic charm – but I am still

only a novice in the art and almost

all of these prints were made 4–8

years ago – today I would have made them

far better. Portraits are impossible 

in woodcut – it is as Múnch said to

Aavang, a new man for each print, – thus

III

a woodcut must also be carved so "coarsely",

that it can in a certain way include

or encompass all chance occurrences – that

is the difficulty with woodcut.

Almost with every single detail in the blocks

one can evoke different ef-

fects – by printing heavily, weakly, with a lot

or a little ink thick or fluid

ink etc. in addition to the colour 

harmony itself – I have to discard

a great many prints, so it takes quite 

a while to print. I sat all day long yesterday

trimming the edges of the prints in order to

achieve the right angle in them, – but I was

very disappointed, when I saw them after

the white and grey edges were trimmed

for the prints were greatly "diminished". I therefore

ask You to be so kind as to have

the framer paste the prints (rather

loosely) onto grey paper, before they are

displayed to anyone, – for only then will

they attain their rightful appearance – some of the prints are

printed on grey paper, – they should preferably be adhered

(Framing would be best but {…}

       I suppose I owe You a lot for framing as well?)

IIII

to white paper. This pasting 

is fortunate also because then one

does not see the ugly smudged reverse side

of the prints – (I use a piece of wood

covered with rags to press the ^{reverse side} with, 

and these rags get covered in all sorts

of paint and ink in the course of printing). 

These old prints I am sick of – they were

essentially experiments – and I will

hereafter unlikely print more of 

them unless by special {…} commission – a few

of the blocks I had to renew, as the

old ones were lost. 

Now I would also like Miss Inger

to have a complete collection of

my prints, – if she cares to;

so I hope she chooses those, which she 

likes the most.

I am in such great economic difficult-

culty, that I unfortunately still cannot

return, what I have borrowed from You, but

I hope that it will occur some time this year.

V

I have not painted anything yet this year, – 

I am terribly afflicted by shortness of breath – but

the anxiety I have pretty much overcome 

through hard physical work – I have 

laboured like a Turk during the day 

adding a little piece of land to "Old Mater

Norway" – I have built a wall that extends into Jölstervandet

and added a few metres to the little plot

of land I had from before, – it is by no means gainful

labour – but it feels good to struggle 

with stonework – I have carried stones 

heavier than a horse load inch by inch

out to the wall and crept foot

by foot out into the water so that the spot, 

which before was an inlet, can now almost 

be called a little spit. And then

I am continuously taking walks down to 

the ice-cold Jölstervand – I bathed this 

winter after the ice had come – by the way it is

so cold here at night that it is covered with

"flakes" of thin ice every night – the water ^is as

heavily chilled now, as it can be. 

VI

I have made up my mind now to get

well even if I have to sink into

debt up to my ears, – yes even if I have to

begin as a cottar and break

up soil and rocks. The anxiety and abdomen

are already vanquished – but the shortness of breath

is not good and worsens, even though I try

all the medications, that I can

track down – nothing helps – but I am

not giving up; now it’s time to try the

ice water cure, – I have already begun with 

dousing 3 times pr. day, each lasting 5 mins.

Kari’s finger is totally well again, there

was a little sliver of the nail root left

on one side, and now it has grown 

halfway across the finger so she will even have

a nail of sorts again; – yesterday 11^th May she was one year old.

Do You think Rasmús Meyer might provide surety

for me in Jölster bank in the amount of 1000 kr., I am thinking

of buying a tenant farm to live on during the

summers, as it is close to my motifs and

because people behave so impossibly towards ^me that they

won’t sell milk to me any more, and we are in great need

VII

of it for both Kari and Engel, whose

lungs are poorly – and then we also have

a housemaid; once I have bought this

tenant farm I would be self-sufficient 

when it comes to milk potatoes and grain and would

not have to beg people ^{to let me purchase} these things and travel

from Herod to Pontius Pilate – during the sum-

mer, when people are at their mountain farms it is 

furthermore almost ^impossible to get hold of milk even if

people behaved reasonably towards me –

now they aggravate me – whenever they can; –

before they would say, "he earns money too easily",

now, when they have seen, that I am just as

good as they when it comes to farming – they say:

he is bankrupt – "Alas if only he were

gone from the village" – and in order to get rid

of me the solution is to deny me

milk, and whatever they think I need most.

The tenant farm I am thinking of is cheap

and I can easily sell it again,

and such an opportunity will not appear again soon. 

Dare I ask You to put in a good word for me to

Meyer – he will not lose a cent. Pardon

me, if it is not plausible. Your devoted N. Astrúp

Engel sends You her warmest greetings

Pardon the haste – I am expecting the postman to pass by

any second.

With best regards

Your devoted

Nikolai Astrup