Icelandic art

Last updated

Icelandic art has been built on northern European traditions of the nineteenth century, but developed in distinct directions in the twentieth century, influenced in particular by the unique Icelandic landscape as well as by Icelandic mythology and culture.

Contents

Contemporary Icelandic painting is typically traced to the work of Þórarinn Þorláksson, who, following formal training in art in the 1890s in Copenhagen, returned to Iceland to paint and exhibit works from 1900 to his death in 1924, almost exclusively portraying the Icelandic landscape. Þorláksson was not the only Icelandic artist learning in Denmark at that time: there were several Icelanders, both men and women, at the academy in the closing years of the century, and these included Ásgrímur Jónsson, who together with Þorláksson created a distinctive portrayal of their home country's landscape in a romantic naturalistic style.

Today, many of Icelandic artists are registered with The Association of Icelandic Artists. The Icelandic Art Center aims to represent Icelandic artists abroad. Every other year, Iceland participates in the Venice Biennale and has done so since 1960. Sigurður Guðjónsson, video artist, has been chosen to represent his country in the coming biennale, which opens in 2021. In 2019, Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir participated on behalf of Iceland. Before that, Egill Sæbjörnsson represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale, in 2017. Christoph Büchel was chosen to represent Iceland in 2015, with his work "The Mosque", which was located in the church of Santa Maria della Misericordia.

Iceland has one biennale, called the Sequences, which focuses on video and performances and has been held nine times. Artists Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and Ingólfur Arnarsson were the curators of Sequences 2019.

Iceland has many museums and galleries.

Landscape painting

The distinctive rendition of the Icelandic landscape by its painters can be linked to nationalism and the movement toward home rule and independence, which was very active in this period. Other landscape artists quickly followed in the footsteps of Þorláksson and Jónsson. These included Jóhannes Kjarval, Jón Stefánsson, and Júlíana Sveinsdóttir. Kjarval in particular is noted for the distinct techniques in the application of paint that he developed in a concerted effort to render the characteristic volcanic rock that dominates the Icelandic environment.

The emergence of abstract art

Abstract art became prominent in Iceland in the mid-twentieth century, spearheaded by artists such as Svavar Guðnason and Nína Tryggvadóttir. However some of the country's prominent artists working in that period eschewed abstractionism, such as Gunnlaugur Scheving who instead favoured narrative content and an approach to colour and form possibly influenced by fauvism and cubism; and Louisa Matthíasdóttir, based in New York, who learned from abstract expressionism but nevertheless painted from life.

The return of figurative art

Einar Hákonarson's show in 1968 distinguished itself from its Icelandic art scene then current as Hákonarson's paintings were pop, figurative and expressionistic. This exhibition brought the figure back into the Icelandic painting, which had been dominated by the abstract art for years. [1] Hakonarson said he was more influenced by feeling for nature, rather than by trying to paint a specific part of it. [2]

Icelandic art from the late twentieth century

In Iceland, Ms. Emilia Bjorg Sigurdardottir displayed her creation, Next Soil, as part of product design art. Iceland in April 2016 11.JPG
In Iceland, Ms. Emilía Björg Sigurðardóttir displayed her creation, Next Soil, as part of product design art.

The portrayal of the landscape through visual art has remained a prominent (perhaps the most prominent) theme in Icelandic art to the present day, often reflected in the exhibitions at the country's national gallery. Its 2007 summer exhibition, for example, was called "Alas Nature!" and described as an exhibition which "aims to examine nature in a different light and from a different angle from what is generally accepted". [3] Debate has occurred within the artistic community as to whether an appropriate balance has been struck in the support of galleries and public institutions for different media, traditions and subjects in Icelandic visual art. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Ásmundur Sveinsson was an Icelandic sculptor, whose works include “Thor's gavel”, the ornate gavel used by the President of United Nations General Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ásgrímur Jónsson</span> Icelandic painter

Ásgrímur Jónsson was an Icelandic painter, and one of the first in the country to make art a professional living.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjarval</span> Icelandic painter

Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjarval was an Icelandic painter. He is considered one of the most important artists of Iceland. His son is interior designer Sveinn Kjarval.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gljúfrasteinn</span>

Gljúfrasteinn is a writer's home museum, which was the former home of Halldór Kiljan Laxness, a 1955 Nobel Prize for Literature winner. It is located in Mosfellsbær, east of Reykjavík, Iceland. The name of the house is derived from a large stone in the vicinity called Gljúfrasteinn, about which Halldór wrote the short story "Steinninn minn helgi" at the age of 19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Þórarinn B. Þorláksson</span> Icelandic painter

Þórarinn Benedikt Þorláksson was one of Iceland's first contemporary painters, the first Icelander to exhibit paintings in Iceland, and recipient of the first public grant that country made to a painter.

Júlíana Sveinsdóttir was one of Iceland's first female painters and textile artists. Taught initially by prominent Icelandic artist Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, Júlíana settled in Denmark and returned to Iceland in the summers, the visits inspiring her landscape paintings, one of which won the Eckersberg Medal in 1947.

Einar Hákonarson is one of Iceland's best known artists. He is an expressionistic and figurative painter who brought the figure back into Icelandic painting in 1968. He is a pioneer in the Icelandic art scene and art education. He has been called “The crusader of the painting”, due to his involvement in those conflicts many Icelandic painters have had with the public fine art centers over the last 20 years.

Karl Kvaran was an Icelandic painter and draughtsman. He is considered one of the principal exponents of the geometric abstractionist school of painting in Iceland in the early sixties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reykjavik Art Museum</span> Art institution in Iceland

Reykjavik Art Museum is the largest visual art institution in Iceland. It occupies three locations in Reykjavík; Hafnarhús by the old harbour (64.1490°N 21.9406°W), Kjarvalsstaðir by Klambratún (64.1378°N 21.9135°W) and Ásmundarsafn in Laugardalur (64.1416°N 21.8853°W).

Herman Gvardjančič, is a Slovene painter.

Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson are collaborative artists based in Rotterdam and Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helgi Fríðjónsson</span>

Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson is an Icelandic artist. He grew up in Búðardalur and moved at the age of 15 to Reykjavík. He studied Fine Arts and Crafts from 1971 to 1976, after which he went to The Hague and studied at De Vrije Academie (1976–77) and then at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. He returned to Iceland when his studies were finished in 1979.

Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir is an Icelander art curator. She specializes in contemporary art, photography, history of photography and fashion. She is full professor of art history and art theory at the University of Iceland.

Shoplifter is a New York City-based contemporary artist who works with synthetic and natural hair. When Arnardóttir moved to New York in 1994, her birth name was mispronounced as Shoplifter and she has gone by that name ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigurður Guðjónsson</span> Icelandic contemporary artist (born 1975)

Sigurður Guðjónsson is an Icelandic contemporary artist. He works in the field of installation art and video art.

Studio Other Spaces (SOS) was founded by artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann in Berlin in 2014. The studio works on interdisciplinary and experimental building projects and artworks for public space. Eliasson and Behmann's partnership offers a platform for art and architecture to intersect and enrich each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erla S. Haraldsdóttir</span> Icelandic visual artist

Erla S. Haraldsdóttir is an Icelandic visual artist primarily working with painting, drawing, printmaking, and photomontage. She is based in Berlin and Johannesburg.

References

  1. ↑ Visir 23.3 1968 http://www.einarhakonarson.com/media/articles-60s-part1.pdf Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine .
  2. ↑ [RUV] Icelandic state TV interview 1976 http://www.einarhakonarson.com/media.html Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine .
  3. ↑ National Gallery of Iceland, Alas Nature!, http://www.listasafn.is/?expand=0-114&i=114&root=1 Archived 2007-08-05 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved July 2007.
  4. ↑ Einar Hákonarson, Biography, http://www.einarhakonarson.com/bio.html Archived 2012-09-09 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved July 2007.

Reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.