Haukur Halldórsson (born 1937 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic artist and illustrator. After beginning his career as a graphic designer and illustrator he developed into a visual artist. Halldórsson's work also includes sculpture. He is a co-author of th
Yggdrasil Divination Decktogether with his daughter
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir.
Biography & Personal Life
Haukur Halldórsson was born in
Reykjavík in 1937. He married Sigrún Kristjánsdóttir and has three children with her: a son
Kristján Már Hauksson, who works in digital advertising, daughter
Hallgerður Haukssdóttir, chairwoman of the Icelandic Animal Association, and contemporary artist
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir who has worked with Halldórsson on several projects. He is active in the Icelandic
neopagan
Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...
organisation
Ásatrúarfélagið. In 1994, he stood for election to become the organization's ''
allsherjargoði
Allsherjargoði (, ''All-People Chieftain''; plural ''-goðar'' ) was an office in the Icelandic Commonwealth, held by the goði who held the ''goðorð'' of the descendants of Ingólfr Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland. The role of the ''all ...
'', but lost to
Jörmundur Ingi Hansen. Aside from his artistic work Halldórsson has been a commercial designer, a sailor and builder for over the years.
Education and early career
He studied at the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts but never graduated. He moved to
Copenhagen to continue his studies in design and print and returned to Iceland in the early 1960s, There, he started the advertising agency Cello with his friend from studying in Denmark, Egil Nordheim. He subsequently started Kassgerðin Design Agency in partnership with Bragi Hinriksson. After Kassagerðin, he worked independently in advertising until the early 1980s when he started focusing solely on becoming an artist.
During his years as a designer, he worked on multiple projects, ranging from stamps to different packaging designs. While at Kassagerðin he created the promotional material for
H-dagurinn
H-dagurinn or Hægri dagurinn ( Icelandic: The right day) on 26 May 1968 was the day that Iceland changed from left hand traffic to right hand traffic. The change itself occurred formally at 6:00 am.
History
Although Iceland had been ruled by D ...
in 1968 when Iceland moved from left traffic to right.
As an Artist
His first art exhibition was in Gallery Djúpið in
Reykjavík in 1978 with
Einar Þorsteinn Ásgeirsson. His first solo exhibition was in
Reykjavík in 1980 in Gallery Torg run by the composer
Jóhann G. Jóhannson. Since then he has made numerous exhibitions in Europe, China and the United States. Allthough his main medium is drawing and illustrations, he works in, and explores various mediums such as painting, sculpture, and jewel making.
Halldorsson's main subject matter revolves around themes of folklore of his home country Iceland, the
Brothers Grimm,
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a ...
and
Nordic mythology. He has created numerous drawings and illustrations on the subjects. Halldórsson has travelled widely to research art, to China, various countries in Europe, and the United States. In
New Mexico he encountered
Navajo Indians
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
, and observed the art of sand-casting, which he later applied in his own art practice.
His selection of works from 1978 to date combines disparate elements from the worlds of fantasy, myth and everyday experience. His artwork often contains mythical and magical entities as much of his practice revolves around North-European mythology and Nordic mythology. He has gathered information about historical
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
European calendars and myths associated with different parts of the year, which has been the basis for some of his works.
One of his most famous works is the
Arctic Henge (Heimskautsgerðið), a series of circles and basalt columns that began its construction in 2004 at the village
Raufarhöfn in northeastern Iceland. It has a diameter of 52 meters, functioning as a pagan calendar with numerous references to
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
particularly the
Dvergatal of the
Poetic Edda.
Yggdrasil Divination Deck
Among his latest work are his illustrations for the
Yggdrasil Divination Deck. that he worked on with his daughter
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir and which draws from Norse mythology. It wa
published in 2019by
Llewellyn Worldwide.
Board Games
From early age, he had a keen interest in board games and has through the years designed and published several of them, He designed the board game Útvegsspilið and co-published it together with Tómas Tómasson and Jón Jónsson. In the game, players compete by earning money in the fishing industry. The game became a big success in Iceland and paved the way for Rallyspilið, Dýraspilið and Astróspilið which he designed with
Einar Þorsteinn Ásgeirsson. He create
custom chess piecesbased on the
Tupilaq, native myths from Greenland
Illustrated Works
*''Steinn Bollason: ævintýri frá Rúmeníu'', by Hólmfríður Knudsen (1967)
*''Íslenzk frímerki í 100 ár''(1977)
*''Útvegsspilið'' (1977)
*''Á förnum vegi: umferðarleiðbeiningar handa 7–9 ára börnum'', by Sigurður Pálsson (1979)
*''Stóra barnabókin: sögur, ævintýri, ljóð, þulur, bænir, barnagælur, gátur, leikir, þrautir, föndur'', by Jóhanna Thorsteinsson (1982)
*''Tröll: sögur og teikningar úr íslenskri þjóđsagnaveröld'', by
Jón Árnason (1982)
*, by Anders Hansen (1983)
*''Blautleg ljóð'', by Skeið sf (1985)
*''Í stjörnumyrkri'', by Ari Gísli Bragason (1989)
*''Reiðskólinn þinn: undirstöðuatriði reiðmennsku í máli og myndum'', by Haukur Halldórsson (1991)
*''Álfar, æsir og menn : fyrsti hluti'', by Haukur Halldórsson (2008)
*''Galdur og ættarmerki'', by Haukur Halldórsson (2008)
*''Tarot norðursins'', by Haukur Halldórsson (2009)
*"Fóa og Fóa feykirófa: þjóðsaga", by Haukur Halldórsson, ''Nesti og nýir skór'' (2015)
English translations
*''Some Icelandic recipes'', by Elín Kristjánsdóttir (1973)
*''One Hundred Years of Icelandic Stamps'', (1977)
One Hundred Years of Icelandic Stamps
''Morgunblaðið
''Morgunblaðið'' (, ''The Morning Paper'') is an Icelandic newspaper. ''Morgunblaðið''s website, mbl.is, is the most popular website in Iceland.
History
''Morgunblaðið'' was founded by Vilhjálmur Finsen and Ólafur Björnsson, brother of ...
'' (1977)
*''Trolls in Icelandic folklore: stories and drawings'', by Jón Árnason (1982)
*''Elves, aesir and humans: first book'', by Haukur Halldórsson (2008)
*''Yggdrasil: Norse Divination Deck'', by Haukur Halldórsson and Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide (2019)
References
External links
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halldorsson, Haukur
1937 births
Haukur Halldorsson
Haukur Halldorsson
Haukur Halldorsson
Living people
Haukur Halldorsson
Modern pagan artists
Haukur Halldorsson
Board game designers
Adherents of Germanic neopaganism