Art - Hjallis

Artist: Per Ung (1998). 
This sculpture of the popular speed skater Hjalmar Andersen (born 1923) from Trondheim, nicknamed "Hjallis", is a well-deserved monument.
A gift to the city for the millennium celebrations, it was unveiled on the day this king of speed skating turned 75, the 12th of March, 1998. It stands in front of the old telegraph building, but will be moved to the stadium at Øya, where skating races were previously held.
The statue shows Hjallis in action, which is the way many will remember him. It is based on a photo taken of Hjallis during the Olympic Games in Oslo in 1952, where he swings both arms during the last lap of the gruelling 10 kilometre race. Hjallis took three gold medals during these Olympic Games.
Per Ung was trained during the 1950s in the prevailing classical-realist sculpture tradition. He eventually developed his own Romantic-dramatic style, where body posture, facial expressions and gestures were used to express emotions together with a rough surface treatment.
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