John Savio

John Andreas Savio (28 January 1902 – 13 April 1938[1] ) was a Sami artist from Norway who was known for his woodcuts.

His father was Per Savio, a polar explorer who was one of the first two people to spend a night on the Antarctic continent, and his mother was Ellen Strimp, daughter of a wealthy Sámi merchant.

His parents died when he was aged three; first his mother from tuberculosis, then his father from drowning on the Varangerfjord while he was sailing to Vadsø to retrieve his wife's coffin.

His grandparents were fairly wealthy by the standards in Finnmark at the time, and they had the means to give the child a good upbringing and education.

In Oslo he also took courses at Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole that year, but he became ill with tuberculosis and had to quit school.