Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (31 July 1889 – 17 April 1966) was one of
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
's first female painters and
textile artists
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
. Taught initially by prominent Icelandic artist
Þórarinn B. Þorláksson
Þórarinn Benedikt Þorláksson (February 14, 1867 – July 10, 1924Kunst Index DanmarkThorarinn B. Thorlaksson URL last accessed August 13, 2007.) was one of Iceland's first contemporary painters, the first Icelander to exhibit paintings in ...
, Júlíana settled in
Denmark
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and returned to Iceland in the summers, the visits inspiring her landscape paintings, one of which won the
Eckersberg Medal
The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting.
The Ec ...
in 1947.
Júlíana was an active supporter of artists and the arts. She was an early member of the Danish Female Artists' Society, and sat on the boards of the Charlottenborg Exhibition and 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 Dan ...
. Though best known for her painting, Júlíana Sveinsdóttir was also a significant artist working in textiles, her commissions including a rug that decorated the court chamber of the
Supreme Court in Copenhagen.
Learning to paint; leaving Iceland
Júlíana was born in
Vestmannaeyjar
Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland.
The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyj ...
(the Westman Islands), off the southern coast of Iceland, on 31 July 1889.
[Hrafnhildur Schram, 'Black rock, blue ocean', in ''Júlíana Sveinsdóttir: Patterns of Land and Colour'', Listasafn Íslands, Reykjavík, 2003]
Júlíana's interest in art was sparked at school, and by the time she was twenty she had received lessons from one of Iceland's most famous twentieth century artists Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, and travelled 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 study in several private drawing schools, and finally the
Royal Danish Academy of Art
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 ...
.
Apart from a brief period in the late nineteen twenties, Júlíana would make her home 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
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
, and though she always entertained the idea of returning to Iceland to live, she never did so.
However, while she spent much of her working life in Denmark, her summers were spent in Iceland, and the country's landscapes were the principal subject of her paintings.
[Audur Ólafsdóttir, 'Júlíana Sveinsdóttir', in Ólafur Kvaran and Karla Kristjánsdóttir (eds), ''Confronting Nature: Icelandic Art of the 20th Century'', National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík, 2001, p. 78.] She was intensely conscious of her heritage, writing "I have always wanted to bring my works back home and defend myself. Yes, defend my absence from the country, show people what I've done, remind them that I'm woven from a more Icelandic thread than anyone else".
Júlíana Sveinsdóttir and the role of women as artists
The recognition of Júlíana's work, and the slow movement toward supporting herself through her art, coincided with the organisation and gradual acceptance of women in the European artistic community. She was an early (though not founding) member of the Danish Female Artists' Society (KKS), serving on its board from 1935 to 1949 and participating in its exhibitions.
[Dagný Heiðdal, 'An Icelandic painter in Denmark', in ''Júlíana Sveinsdóttir: Patterns of Land and Colour'', Listasafn Íslands, Reykjavík, 2003.] The goals of the KKS included increasing female representation on decision-making bodies, improving access for women to grants, as well as providing a social and artist network. From all of these things Júlíana benefitted. From 1941 to 1949 she was on the board of the ''Charlottenborg Exhibition'', and in 1955 she was elected to the board of the Danish Royal Academy of Art: neither of these had had any female board members when the KKS had been founded.
She also benefited from access to grants, including the Tagea Brandt travel stipend in 1946.
Textile art
Working in Copenhagen Júlíana created abstract rug designs of note, including a piece which won the Gold Medal at the Italian Triennial in Milan, in 1951, the first design award won by an Icelander in an international exhibition.
[Harpa Þórsdóttir, 'Weaving with Icelandic wool', in ''Júlíana Sveinsdóttir: Patterns of Land and Colour'', Listasafn Íslands, Reykjavík, 2003.] Júlíana Sveinsdóttir was later commissioned by the Danish State Artwork Fund to create a rug that decorated the court chamber of the
Supreme Court in Copenhagen.
Although her textile works were remarkable and attracted international acclaim, they went largely ignored in her home country for some decades, where only her paintings drew attention and reviews. It was not until the 1950s, and following the Triennial win, that there was finally in her own country a recognition of their importance and artistic merit.
Legacy
Throughout her career, while she did paint still lives and portraits, it was Júlíana Sveinsdóttir's landscapes that aroused critical admiration and won awards, including the prestigious Eckersberg Medal in 1947.
She is regarded as having been a significant innovator from the 1930s to the 1950s through her approach to the landscape subject and her colour palette.
Júlíana Sveinsdóttir was one of a number of Icelandic artists the impersonation of whose work was the subject of a 2005 court case.
The
craters of
Mercury are named after artists. Following the first Mercury fly-by of
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
spacecraft ''
MESSENGER'',
one of the newly discovered craters was named after Júlíana Sveinsdóttir.
[Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,]
Mercury Features Receive New Names
', Media release, 28 April 2008, retrieved January 2009.
Awards
* 1946: Tagea Brandt travel stipend
* 1947: Eckersberg Medal
* 1951: Gold Medal, Italian Triennial, Milan
References
Reading
* Audur Ólafsdóttir, 'Júlíana Sveinsdóttir', in Ólafur Kvaran and Karla Kristjánsdóttir (eds), ''Confronting Nature: Icelandic Art of the 20th Century'', National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík, 2001, p. 78.
* Hrafnhildur Schram, Dagny Heiddal and Harpa Thórsdóttir, ''Patterns of Land and Colour: Júlíana Sveinsdóttir'', Listasafn Íslands, Reykjavík, 2003.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sveinsdottir, Juliana
Landscape artists
1889 births
1966 deaths
Textile artists
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni
Icelandic women painters
Juliana Sveinsdottir
Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal
Juliana Sveinsdottir
20th-century Icelandic women artists
20th-century women textile artists
20th-century textile artists