Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1994, Page 81

STEREÓSKÓPMYNDIR Á ÍSLANDI
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and also bought glass plate negatives from other photographers such as the Icelandic photo-
grapher Magnús Ólafsson. There are over 8,000 negatives in Elfelt's "Stereoskop-Galleri"
from all over the world, of which 200 are from Iceland, dating from 1900-1930.
II.
An expedition was made in 1860 to study the possibility of laying a submarine telephone
cable from North America to the European mainland. The expedition was headed by an
American, Taliaferro Preston Shaffner, but took its name after its vessel, Tlw Fox.
Among its members were a Danish soldier, Th. Zeilau, who wrote a book on the expedi-
tion, and Arnljótur Ólafsson, a member of the Icelandic Parliament, the Alþingi, who kept a
diary during the expedition. The third member of interest was I. C. Woods, the expedition's
geographer and photographer. Little else is known about Woods.
The Fox sailed from Britain via the Faroe Islands to Iceland and then to Greenland.
At least seven photographs taken during the expedition are preserved. They are in Det
Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen. They are ali stereoscopic. Four are from Iceland, two
from Greenland and one from the Faroe Islands. It seems that these photographs are only a
fraction of the photographs Woods took during the expedition, if tlie numbers given on the
surviving photographs are anything to go by.
These are the oldest known stereoscopic photographs of Iceland, as well as being among
the oldest known photographs of scenery from Iceland. There are two older groups of pho-
tographs known. The French geologist Alfred-Louis Oliver Des Cloizeaux, took daguerreo-
types in Reykjavík in 1846, which are in the Musée National des Arts et Traditions
Populaires in Paris. A group of nine photographs taken on the French ship Arthemise in 1859
is in the collection of the National Museum of Iceland.
III.
In 1866 Sigfús Eymundsson returned to Iceland after nine years of studying in Norway
and Denmark. He had learned photography in Bergen in 1864. Sigfús began working as a
photographer after his arrival and was to become a pioneer in Icelandic photography and the
first photographer to last in the trade.
In 1867, Sigfús advertised stereoscopic photographs showing parts of Dýrafjörður,
Isafjörður, Önundarfjörður (all in the West Fjords) and Reykjavík. No stereoscopic glass
plate negatives are preserved in his collection in the National Museum of Iceland. But fifteen
original copies which are undoubtedly from the group mentioned in the advertisement are
in the collection of the National Museum. These show different sites in the West Fjords, and
also Þingvellir. Upon inspection it turns out that these photographs are not what they seem
at first sight. They are not stereoscopic, but two identical photographs set side by side to give
the appearance of a stereoscopic photograph. It seems that Sigfús had not mastered the tech-
nique. He did not continue to produce this type of photograph except in 1875, and never
advertised stereoscopic photographs again.
IV.
A boom in stereoscopic photography in Iceland took place during the first decade of this
century. Many Icelandic photographers tried their hand at this kind of photograph. From a
quick inspection on stereoscopic photographs in the largest photographic collections in
Icelandic museums the names of three photographers are most prominent: Magnús Ólafs-
son, Carl Ólafsson and Bárður Sigurðsson.
Magnús Ólafsson seems to have been the most productive of these three. 45% of the
stereoscopic photographs in the National Museum of Iceland, 43% of the Icelandic pho-