The Stage and the Canvas Olaf Jørgensen was a man of the theater, a painter whose hands were as much shaped by the dramatic lighting of the stage as they were by the quiet demands of portraiture. Born in Christiania, Norway, in 1844, his career was defined by a specific, functional utility: he was a teatermaler. This was not merely a decorative role. As a decorator for the Christiania Theater, Jørgensen was responsible for the visual a…