Janus Kamban (10 September 1913 in
Tórshavn
Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...
– 2 May 2009) was a Faroese sculptor and last living representative from the "first generation" of professional artists in the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
.
Kamban is the first and most important sculptor in the Faroe Islands. In 1930 he went to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
to the
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark.
History
The Royal Dani ...
to study painting, but soon changed his direction and attended the School of Sculpture in the Art Academy from 1932 to 1935 and from 1938 to 1940, where he studied under Professor
Einar Utzon-Frank
Aksel (Axel) Einar (Ejnar) Utzon-Frank (30 March 1888 – 15 July 1955) was a Danish sculptor and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. During his lifetime, he produced many sculptures, some of which stand as public monuments. U ...
. Study tours in the 1930s led him to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
,
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
and
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
.
In his Copenhagen studio he organized the first exhibition of Faroese Art in
Denmark
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, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
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...
. In addition to his own works, it included works by Gudmund Hentze,
Sámal Joensen-Mikines
Sámuel Joensen-Mikines (1906–1979) was a Faroese painter. He was the first recognised painter of the Faroe Islands and one of the Faroe Islands' most important artists. Many of his paintings have been displayed on Faroese stamps.
Gallery
Fi ...
, Elin Borg Lützen,
Ruth Smith and Ingolf Jacobsen.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he had to remain in
German-occupied Denmark since the
Faroe Islands were occupied by Britain. However, in August 1945, Kamban returned to the Faroe Islands on the first ship, the Aarhus. Once there, he immediately established himself as a sculptor.
His first monumental work was ''Móðurmálið'' (mother tongue), made in 1948 from local
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
, as an anniversary memorial for
V U Hammershaimb, 1846, creator of the Faroese written language. For some time, the sculpture was hidden behind tall bushes but has once again been made visible and can be seen close to the Faroese National Library.
However, the bronze bust for the politician and lawyer Niels Winther (1822–92) is clearly visible at the entrance to the national library, and the 3.8 × 2.9 metre cement relief ''Søgumaðurin'' (the storyteller) of 1956 can be seen on the facade of a local school in Tórshavn. Other monuments produced by him can be found all over the Faroe Islands, and his subjects are common everyday practical aspects of island life: seamen, islanders, sheep,
pilot whale
Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus ''Globicephala''. The two extant species are the long-finned pilot whale (''G. melas'') and the short-finned pilot whale (''G. macrorhynchus''). The two are not readily distinguishable at sea, a ...
s, the
Faroese chain dance and so on. He used plaster, cement, baked clay, wood, basalt and
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
. Two of his sculptures, ''Sheep with two lambs'' (cement, 1955) and ''Four whales'' (1986), are exhibited at the Faroese Art Museum.
In addition to his sculptures, he also produced graphics, particularly
linocut
Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...
s, including numerous book illustrations, posters, logos and even three postage stamps.
Janus Kamban was one of the founders of the faroese republican party (
Tjóðveldi
Republic ( fo, Tjóðveldi), formerly known as the Republican Party ( fo, Tjóðveldisflokkurin) is a left-wing political party on the Faroe Islands committed to Faroese independence.
History
The party was founded in 1948 as a reaction to th ...
). He advocated for the secession of the Faroe Islands from Denmark, and the establishment of an independent republic. Being an advocate for self-reliance, self-sufficiency and the development of faroese culture, he also co-founded the faroese artists association ''Listafelagið''.
Since 1970 he has lived in a house on the coast (Yviri við Strond in Tórshavn) with a view to
Nólsoy Nólsoy (previously also ''Nölsoy''; da, Nolsø; non, Norsey) is an island and village in central Faroe Islands, 4 km east of the capital Tórshavn in Streymoy.
Description
Nólsoy is the lowest of the Faroes; the highest point is Eggjark ...
, built according to his specifications in the classical style, with black
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
outside walls and
grass roof. At the age of 85, he fell off his bicycle and broke his right hand and it has not healed properly, putting an end to his career as an artist.
Exhibitions
*1935 Skulpturudstilling,
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...
*1941 Skulpturudstilling, Haveselskabets Garden,
Frederiksberg
Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...
*1943 Utzon-Frank and his students, Charlottenburg. 1943–45 Koloristerne
*1948 Ólavsøkuframsýningin, Tórshavn, 1951–52, 1954–56, 1959–63, 1966–70, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1978, 1980–93
*1970 Faroese Art,
Bergens Kunstforening
*1971 Art from the Faroes,
Pier Art Gallery,
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
*1976 Faroese Art, the free exhibition, Copenhagen
*1983 Grafiska Sællskapet,
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
. Føroysk List, the Nordic Kunstcentrum,
Helsingfors
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
*1986 Faroese Art, Nikolaj Kirke Kbh.
*1992 Várframsýningin, Tórshavn
References
*Information for this article was translated from the Danish and German Wikipedia pages about Janus Kamban.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamban, Janus
1913 births
2009 deaths
Faroese sculptors
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni
People from Tórshavn
20th-century Faroese people