G43 - Gift folder - Icelandic Art II – The Pioneers - 2011

The pioneers of modern Icelandic art, painters Þórarinn B. Þorláksson (1867-1924), Ásgrímur Jónsson (1876-1958), Jóhannes Kjarval (1885-1972) and Jón Stefánsson (1881- 1962) were very different artistic personalities. Yet most of their early work can be seen as an extension of the romantic nationalism that characterized Icelandic cultural life. Þorláksson and Jónsson captured the characteristics of the Icelandic light and the stillness of the bright summer nights, Stefánsson came to grips with the barren and monumental aspect of the highlands and Kjarval infused the landscapes that he painted with a rich and turbulent inner life.