Gunnfríður Jónsdóttir
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Gunnfríður Jónsdóttir was an Icelandic sculptor born in the North West of Iceland on December 26, 1889. She died in 1968.
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[edit] Family
Gunnfríður's grandfather, Einar Andrésson was a nationally known rimster, who was suspected of witchcraft. Her parents were Halldóra Einarsdóttir Andréssonar and Jón Jónsson.
[edit] Early life
At the age of 19 Gunnfríður attended a young women's school, but was forced to move to Akureyri and learn the art of tailoring after the school burned down. She was to be a successful both in Iceland and in Denmark, where she moved to in 1919. By 1924 she had returned to Iceland and that year she married Icelandic sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson. She returned to Sweden with him where he was studying with sculptor Carl Milles. In 1929 they returned to Iceland, making their home in Reykjavik. Gunnfridur and Ásmundar were divorced about 1940.
[edit] Work
In 1931, shortly after returning to Iceland, Gunnfríður created her first sculpture, A Dreaming Boy. This was followed by many other works, a good number of them portraits. The Icelandic National Art Museum collection contains a number of her works.
Her best known sculpture, Land in Sight , carved from Norwegian granite, was dedicated at Strandarkirkja in 1950. The work commemorates a local tale of a sailor, lost at sea during a terrible storm, who was guided to shore by a shining female figure. He promised to build a church if he was saved, and thus the first church on that spot was erected around the year 1200. Since that time the bay has been referred to as "Angel Cove."
[edit] References
- Bjarnasson, Kondáð, Strandarkirkja: The Church at Strönd in Selvogur,
- Davíðsson, Steingrím, Gunnfrídur Jónsdóttir: Listaverk, Gefið Út Á Kostnað Listakonunnar, 1964, translated from Icelandic by Einar Ragnarsson Kvaran
