Den offisielle Islandske Kunstutstilling
27.01.51 – 18.02.51
The official Icelandic exhibition was arranged at Kunstnernes Hus in 1951. It contained paintings, sculptures, watercolors, drawings and graphic works by various Icelandic artists. Among the works in the exhibition were eight paintings by Ásgrímur Jónsson. The exhibition continued on to Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Ålesund and Trondheim.
Catalog text
Thank you for the invitation.
On behalf of Icelandic artists, we thank the Norwegian Government and Bildende Kunstneres Styre for the invitation to this exhibition of Icelandic visual art. The expression of this friendship has aroused joy among the Icelandic artists and among the people.
As is known, Iceland's Visual Art is of a young date. For centuries, the pictures that were born in Icelandic poetic minds were mainly limited to the world of word art.
At the dawn of the 20th century, some Icelandic visual artists suddenly appeared among the Icelandic people, without role models of domestic origin, without the support of artistic traditions.
Around the year 1910, Norwegian art authorities had spotted the awakening Icelandic visual art, and invited all Icelandic painters to participate in an exhibition here. They were two in total. Thorarinn Thorláksson and Ásgrímur Jónsson. Since then, others have joined, and the visual art has become an active factor in Icelandic cultural life.
In the four decades that have passed since Icelandic painting was first presented to the Norwegian public, the Norwegian side has repeatedly shown interest in Icelandic visual art, and Icelandic artists have had the opportunity to exhibit in Oslo and other Norwegian cities. A number of Icelandic artists have applied for education under informed Norwegian guidance.
Never, however, have Icelandic artists been offered such a large-scale reception as now, in Kunstnernes Hus under the auspices of Bildende Kunstneres Styre.
The Icelandic government and Icelandic artists hereby thank the brotherly hand that from the Norwegian side is stretched across the Norwegian Sea to the young Icelandic art, in clear remembrance of, the eternal truth that the poet of the Hávamál stated 1000 years ago: «For the good of a friend, there are opposites, even though he seems to have passed away ».
Then we leave this exhibition to the Norwegian public and the critics, and let the works speak for themselves, as a message from the millennial emigrant people.
Valtýr Stefánsson.
