Einar Jonsson

Einar Jonsson (May 11, 1874 – October 18, 1954) was an Icelandic sculptor, born on Galtafell, a farm in southern Iceland.

Contents

1 Biography 2 Style of sculpture 2.1 Public Monuments 2.2 Private Commissions 2.3 Other Works 3 Images 4 References 5 See also 6 External link

Biography

At a young age he proved himself to be an unusual child with an artistic bent. At that time there was little or no sculpture tradition left in Iceland, so Jonsson moved to Denmark where he attended the Copenhagen Academy of Art. In 1902 the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, awarded Jonsson a grant to study in Rome for 2 years. Jonsson returned from Rome to Copenhagen and settled down there. In 1909, after living abroad for almost 20 years Jonsson 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, Gudjon Samuelsson.

In 1914 Jonsson was awarded a commission to create a statue of Icelandic explorer Thorfinnur Karlsefni for placement in Philadelphia. In 1917, the day after he married Anne Marie Joergensen, he and his bride traveled to the United States to complete the work, and today Jonsson's intrepid Norseman stands on East River Drive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 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 Jon Sigurdsson statue and had it placed in the Manitoba Leislative Building grounds. As with the version in Reykjavik, the statue in Winnipeg included the bas relief The Pioneers on the base.

After two years in America, Jonsson returned to Iceland where he produced an amazing body of work, none of it seen outside the country. Unlike most other sculptors, Jonsson worked almost entirely in plaster. This had to do partly with the lack of good modeling clay in Iceland, but it allowed Jonsson to work on his individual sculptures for years. Spending over a decade on a particular piece was not uncommon.

Style of sculpture

Jonsson'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 amazing body of works Jonsson'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. Jonsson'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 Jonsson 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 Jonsson'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 Jonsson Museum in Reykjavík is a must for all sculpture enthusiasts who may find themselves in Iceland.

Public Monuments

• The Outlaw - 1900
• Jonas Hallgrimsson - 1907
• Jon Sigurdsson - 1911
• Christian IX - 1915
• Thorfinn Karlsefni - 1920
• Hallgrims Petursson - 1922
• Ingolfur Arnarson - 1924
• Hannes Hafstein - 1931

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 Ragnheidur

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

Images

References

• Einar Jonsson, Myndhoggvari, Skuggsja, Bokabud Olivers Steins SF Hafnafjordur, 1982 ISBN 84105478
• Einar Jonsson, Myndir, Kaupmannahofn, Prentsmidja Martius Truelsens 1925
• Einar Jonsson: Poet in Stone, Einar Kvaran, photographs by David Finn, Sculpture Review, Winter 1998
• Einar Jonsson, Henry Goddard Leach, American-Scandinavian Review, Vol. 41& 42, 1953
• Einar Jonsson, Einar Jonsson,, American-Scandinavian Review, Vol. 3. 1915

See also

• Artists of Iceland
• Ingólfur Arnarson
• Hannes Hafstein
• Jónas Hallgrímsson

External link

• http://www.skulptur.is/index.e.htmlde:Einar Jònsson