Einar Jónsson
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Einar Jónsson (May 11, 1874 – October 18, 1954) was an Icelandic sculptor, born in Galtafell, a farm in southern Iceland.
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[edit] Biography
At a young age Einar proved himself to be an unusual child with an artistic bent. At that time there was little or no sculpture tradition in Iceland, so Einar moved to Denmark where he attended the Copenhagen Academy of Art. In 1902 the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, awarded Einar a grant to study in Rome for 2 years. He returned from Rome to Copenhagen and settled down there. In 1909, after living abroad for almost 20 years he made an arrangement with the Althing to provide him with a home and studio in Reykjavík. In return, he agreed to donate all his works to the country. This combination living and working space was designed for him by Iceland's State Architect, Guðjón Samúelsson.
In 1914 Einar was awarded a commission to create a statue of Icelandic explorer Þorfinnur Karlsefni for placement in Philadelphia. In 1917, the day after he married Anne Marie Jørgensen, he and his bride travelled to the United States to complete the work, and today Einar's intrepid Norseman stands on East River Drive in Philadelphia. Several years later, in 1921, his second major North American work was erected when the Icelandic community in Manitoba, Canada purchased a casting of his Jón Sigurðsson statue and had it placed in the Manitoba Legislative Building grounds in Winnipeg. As with the version in Reykjavík, this statue included the bas relief The Pioneers on the base.
After two years in America, Einar returned to Iceland where he produced an amazing body of work, none of it seen outside the country. Unlike most other sculptors, Einar worked almost entirely in plaster. This had to do partly with the lack of good modeling clay in Iceland, but it allowed Einar to work on his individual sculptures for years. Spending over a decade on a particular piece was not uncommon for him.
[edit] Style of sculpture
Einar's works fall into three general categories. First, there were the public monuments that he was commissioned by the government to produce. The second group was private commissions that he obtained, consisting of portraits and cemetery monuments. The third collection consisted of the private works that he labored over as he became increasingly and deeply spiritually attuned and reclusive. In this large body of works Einar's spiritual nature is clearly seen, though it is often difficult to describe. The themes for these works are frequently drawn from Norse mythology and Icelandic folk tales. Einar's world is populated by angels and trolls, by beautiful women and bold warriors, and most of all a layer of symbolic content that can invariably be felt, but not always understood.
Henry Goddard Leach (see references) described Einar Jónsson like this:
- All things considered, Jonsson is unique in the world of art.
- If he had any prototype they were the symbolic artists of ancient
- Egypt. But Jonsson's nearest spiritual relative is William Blake.
In recent years Einar's plasters have been cast in bronze and placed in the garden of his home and studio or in city parks in Reykjavík and throughout Iceland. A visit to the Einar Jónsson Museum in Reykjavík is a must for all sculpture enthusiasts who may find themselves in Iceland.
[edit] Public Monuments
- The Outlaw - 1900
- Jónas Hallgrímsson - 1907
- Jón Sigurðsson - 1911
- Christian IX - 1915
- Þorfinnur Karlsefni - 1920
- Hallgrímur Pétursson - 1922
- Ingólfur Arnarson - 1924
- Hannes Hafstein - 1931
[edit] Private Commissions
- Memorial to the Eisert Family of Lodz, Poland 1935
- Monument to Dr. Charcot and His Ship - 1936
- Memorial to a Lost Airliner - 1952
- various cemetery markers including ones for Hannes Hafstein and his wife Ragnheiður
[edit] Other works
- Birth of Psyche - 1915-18
- Breaking the Spell I - 1916-22
- Breaking the Spell II - 1916-27
- Dawn - 1897-1906
- End - 1906-38
- Evolution - 1913-14
- Fantasy on Yggdrasill, the Tree of Life - 1949
- Fate - 1900-27
- Grief - 1926-27
- Guilty Conscience - 1911-47
- King of Atlantis - 1919-22
- Pioneer - 1902-11
- Sparks I - 1913-31
- Spirit and Matter - 1918-22
- Thor Wrestling with Old Age - 1939-40
- Trees of Life and Death - 1909-40
[edit] References
- Einar Jónsson, Myndhöggvari, Skuggsjá, Bókabúð Olivers Steins SF Hafnarfjörður, 1982 ISBN 84105478
- Einar Jónsson, Myndir, Kaupmannahöfn, Prentsmiðja Martius Truelsens 1925
- Einar Jónsson: Poet in Stone, Einar Kvaran, photographs by David Finn, Sculpture Review, Winter 1998
- Einar Jónsson, Henry Goddard Leach, American-Scandinavian Review, Vol. 41& 42, 1953
- Einar Jónsson, Einar Jónsson,, American-Scandinavian Review, Vol. 3. 1915
