Einar Jónsson (11 May 1874 – 18 October 1954) was an Icelandic sculptor, born in ''Galtafell'', a farm in southern Iceland.
Biography
At a young age Einar proved himself to be an unusual child with an artistic bent. At that time there was little or no tradition of sculpture in
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
, so Einar moved to
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
where he attended the
Copenhagen Academy of Art. In 1902 the
Althing
The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...
, the Icelandic parliament, awarded Einar a grant to study in Rome for 2 years. He returned from Rome to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
and settled down there. According to The Einar Jónsson Museum in Reykjavik, after residing in Rome:
"Jónsson completely rejected naturalistic depiction and publicly criticized the classical art tradition, which he felt had weighed artists down. He emphasized the need for artists to forge their own path and cultivate their originality and imagination instead of following the footsteps of others. His ideas were related to German symbolism, and he developed a figurative language composed of interpretable symbols, personification and allegory."
[Olafur Kvaran, "Sculptor Einar Jónsson: The Quest for Originality," The Einar Jónsson Museum, 2003.]
In 1909, after living abroad for almost 20 years he made an arrangement with the Althing to provide him with a home and studio in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
. In return, he agreed to donate all his works to the country. Einar designed this combination living and working space in collaboration with Architect Einar Erlendsson, though early plans for the house were designed for him by Iceland's State Architect,
Guðjón Samúelsson
Guðjón Samúelsson (16 April 1887 – 25 April 1950) was a State Architect of Iceland, and the first Icelander to be educated in architecture. He has been described as one of Iceland's most influential architects. His notable designs include th ...
, but these were never realised.
In 1914 Einar was awarded a commission by Joseph Bunford Samuel to create a statue of Icelandic explorer
Þorfinnur Karlsefni (Thorfinn Karlsefni) for placement in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Bunford commissioned the sculpture through a bequest that his wife, Ellen Phillips Samuel, made to the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the
Association for Public Art),
specifying that the funds were to be used to create a series of sculptures "emblematic of the history of America." ''Thorfinn Karlsefni'' (1915–1918) was installed along Philadelphia's Kelly Drive near the Samuel Memorial and unveiled on 20 November 1920.
There is another casting of the statue in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
, Iceland.
In 1917, the day after he married
Anne Marie Jørgensen, he and his bride travelled to the United States to complete the work, and today Einar's intrepid Norseman stands on East River Drive in Philadelphia. Several years later, in 1921, his second major North American work was erected when the Icelandic community in
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
, Canada purchased a casting of his
Jón Sigurðsson
Jón Sigurðsson (17 June 1811 – 7 December 1879) was the leader of the 19th century icelandic nationalism, Icelandic independence movement.
Biography
Born at Hrafnseyri, in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of ...
statue and had it placed in the Manitoba Legislative Building grounds in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
. As with the version in Reykjavík, this statue included the
bas relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
''The Pioneers'' on the base.
After two years in America, Einar returned to Iceland where he produced an amazing body of work, none of it seen outside the country. Unlike most other sculptors, Einar worked almost entirely in
plaster
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
. This had to do partly with the lack of good
modeling clay in Iceland, but it allowed Einar to work on his individual sculptures for years. Spending over a decade on a particular piece was not uncommon for him.
Style of sculpture
Einar'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 large body of works Einar's spiritual nature is clearly seen, though it is often difficult to describe. The themes for these works are frequently drawn from Christ's consciousness, deep Cosmic spirituality like the eternal, infinite body and consciousness of the universe or God, Icelandic Mythology (Understanding of the so-called
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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
or North-East, North-West and even Central-European War-Godhs mythology is just a part of Icelandic Mythology and understanding or description of these is mostly derived from the Icelandic one) and Icelandic
folk tales.
Einar's world is populated by
Elf
An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...
s, "Hidden people" or "
Huldufolk",
Vættir
A wight is a being or thing. This general meaning is shared by cognate terms in Germanic languages, however the usage of the term varies greatly over time and between regions. In Old English, it could refer to anything in existence, with more s ...
,
Jötnar,
angel
An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
s and
troll
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...
s, by beautiful women and bold warriors, and most of all a layer of symbolic content that can invariably be felt, but not always understood.
A hint to some deeper meaning in Einar's powerful art is for example: "Karma" an eternal law of energy which returns all action towards its origin.
Like in Christ's saying that one will reap what one has sown.
That same law or eternal principle, changes the will and desires of the psyche or so to speak. This is because of the fed up condition or state of "mind" or psyche.
One will eventually be tired and sick of destruction of nature or other people's lives and the desire for constructive live-giving actions will be dominant.
One example of this is the sculpture "Skuld" where Einar uses Icelandic Mythological symbolism of "Urdur, Verdandi and Skuld" which were the witches of destiny or "Karma".
There are also very positive hints in other pieces of Einar's masterful art, to that, that every being or lifeform is eternal in its essence and evolves and chances on the outer sides or layers or material sides of its consciousness like the body, thoughts and desire.
This outer part or detail of the consciousness is not even understood in physics, phenomenon of time, space and matter that is to say.
The connection of the soul or rather its eternal and unchangeable part or layer of the whole consciousness to the world of time, space and matter is even further away from understanding except with symbols, and eventually later on, and only with self experience.
Henry Goddard Leach (see
references
A reference is a relationship between Object (philosophy), objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. ...
) described Einar Jónsson 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
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...
.
In recent years Einar's plasters have been cast in
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 metalloid ...
and placed in the garden of his home and studio or in city parks in Reykjavík and throughout Iceland.
He donated his work to the
Einar Jónsson Museum in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
, which opened in 1923.
Public monuments

*''The Outlaw'' – 1900
*''
Jónas Hallgrímsson'' – 1907
*''
Jón Sigurðsson
Jón Sigurðsson (17 June 1811 – 7 December 1879) was the leader of the 19th century icelandic nationalism, Icelandic independence movement.
Biography
Born at Hrafnseyri, in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of ...
'' – 1911
*''
Christian IX'' – 1915
*''
Þorfinnur Karlsefni'' – 1920
*''
Hallgrímur Pétursson
Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614 – 27 October 1674) was an Icelandic poet and a minister at Hvalsneskirkja and Saurbær in Hvalfjörður. Being one of the most prominent Icelandic poets, the Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík and the Hallgrímskirkja ...
'' – 1922
*''
Ingólfur 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 Ragnheiður
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
*''Protection'' – 1912-1934
*''Sparks I'' – 1913–31
*''Spirit and Matter'' – 1918–22
*''
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
Wrestling with Old Age'' – 1939–40
*''Trees of Life and Death'' – 1909–40
See also
*
List of Icelandic artists
*
Ingólfur Arnarson
*
Hannes Hafstein
*
Jónas Hallgrímsson
References
Sources
*''Einar Jónsson, Myndhöggvari'', Skuggsjá, Bókabúð Olivers Steins SF Hafnarfjörður, 1982
*''Einar Jónsson, Myndir'', Kaupmannahöfn, Prentsmiðja Martius Truelsens 1925
*''Einar Jónsson: Poet in Stone'', Einar Kvaran, photographs by David Finn, Sculpture Review, Winter 1998
*''Einar Jónsson'',
Henry Goddard Leach, American-Scandinavian Review, Vol. 41& 42, 1953
*''Einar Jónsson'', Einar Jónsson, American-Scandinavian Review, Vol. 3. 1915
*''Modernist sculpture parks and their ideological contexts – on the basis of the oeuvres by Gustav Vigeland, Bernhard Hoetger and Einar Jónsson'', Małgorzata Stępnik, „The Polish Journal of Aesthetics", No 47 (4/2017), pp. 143–169.
External links
The Einar Jónsson MuseumEinarJonsson.isPhotos of his sculptures on Flickr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonsson, Einar
1874 births
1954 deaths
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni
Einar Jónsson
Einar Jónsson
Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal