The White Falcon - 10.02.1945, Blaðsíða 2
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-ABROAD IN ICELAND-
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Johannes Ejarval, Icelandic artist, and one of his works.
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The evolution of pictor-
ial art in Iceland lias been
« so; rapid Ilial many of the
$ very first to take uji pain-
47 ting as a profession are
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still alive and productive.
In keeping with this mo-
dernism, Iceland is per-
haps one of the few coun-
tries in the world today
in which art is subsidized
by the government. Some
years ago, to encourage
native talent and to rem-
ove “commercialism”
from art (or the necessity
to become a plumber to
earn a living, rather than
to pursue their talents ys
artists) Iceland establish-
ed an Association of Ice-
landic Artists. This in-
cludes the Union of Ice-
landic Pictorial Artists,
(painters and sculptors)
Writers, Poets and Play-
wrights, Musicians, Archi-
tects and Actors. All mem-
bers of the unions receive
a yearly stipend from the
state which, while not en-
ough to support one en-
j; tirelv, does help materi-
ally in bolstering any av-
erage income. It is enough
of an incentive at any rate
to encourage one with
such talent to pursue it as
a life career (rather than
some other calling that
might otherwise offer
more money)- The subsi-
g
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dy is given all such union
artists, regardless of their
“rating,” the most wealt-
hy and renowned receiv-
ing their stipend as well
as the struggling novice.
In other words, it is not
an award or compensat-
ion for mediocrity-supp-
orting those unable to
earn a living otherwise.
While there are now a
few art schools in Ice-
land, the majority of the
contemporary artists have
received .all their train-
ing abroad. This is reflect-
ed in their expression-
most of the present day
art being of the French
impressionist school-tem-
pered by a unique Ice-
landic interpretation. Cu-
bism, abstractism. arid
surrealist art have made
little headway here.
Icelanders support their
artists well. Practically
every home, no matter
how small, usually man-
ages to have at least one
original work of Iceland-
ic art. At the present time
approximately 20 artists
in the area of Reykjavik
alone earn a comfortable
living by their art alone.
Before the war many
found ready markets ab-
road to supplement such
local incomes. Manv are
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world reknown. Johannes
Kjarval (shown above)
is perhaps one of the
foremost Icelandic paint-
ers today. Born here 60
years ago, he painted at 4;
an early age, later going 4;
abroad to studv at the «
Royal Academy of Art in s;
Copenhagen, where he «
received his degree. Then s*
followed a “grand tdur” f?
of Europe with addition- «
al study in France and 4?
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Italy. Ndt having studied ;;
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under any of the “old 5;
masters,” Kjarval has a 5?
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technique which is almost 8
entirely “pure” giving his §
works an individualism *;
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that has made him great- j;
His paintings are extrem- 4?
ely popular in Scandin- 0
avia where, before the y
war, lie held many exhi-
bitions.
Jon Porleifsson is a
well-known exponent of
the present-day French
impressionist school here.
His works have an “inter- 54
national” approach keen-
Iv blended with a streak a
of Nordic simplicity. Am- 47
ong many other promin- 47
ent artists are GuSmund- ;;
ur
ur Einarsson, Finnur
Jonsson, Johann Briem, 5?
Jon Engilberts, Gunnlaug- g
ur Scheving and Gunn- 4?
laugur Blondal. 4?
Believe it or.not, our office has been flooded by in-
quiries from would-be members of the recently formed
“Swoonatra Club” .... whose founding was written-upy
in last week’s issue of The White Falcon .... It seems
that many had a “secretpassion” for Sinatra’s singing,
but were afraid to come out in the open and admit it
.... As “Frankie” Carlson has now led the way, it must
be with a big sigh of relief that the others can join in
with their admiration .... Pvt. Johnnie Britton writes
in to suggest that the club assume potential world-wide
recognition by renaming it the “Iceland Chapter of the
International Order of GI swooners for Frank Sinatra”
.... Woo-woo!!
5k >k
Some protests are beginning to be recorded by U.S.
soldiers over their gaunt misnomers of GI Joe .... Dog-
face .... Doggie .... or Doughfoot feel that it takes
away what little individualism they may have .... All
the pseudonyms are of this war’s vintage .... The overly-
used “GI Joe” originated with the Army itself .... “GI”
first being applied to articles of clothing and equip-
ment, then hair-cuts — finally to the soldier himself
.... Dogface, or Doggie was coined by U.S. infantry-
men who firmly believed that they lead a dog’s life com-
pared to other branches of the Army .... Doughfoot is
thought to have originated during the present campaign
in Italy — due to the disagreeable mud collected on the
infantryman’s big four-buckle galoshes — giving him
a gauche appearance .... Anyway, many soldiers do
not like such “handles” .... prefer being called by name
or at least as a member of their proper branch of service.
* 7*4 *
An anecdote comes from France, highlighted by the
great American cigarette famine .... A Baltimore soldi-
er, cleaning up a recently-vacated company headquart-
ers, was diligently picking up stray bits of paper and
cigarette butts, when lie was motioned to by a smiling
Alsatian civilian who shouted, “Attendez! That eez not
necessaire — take ceci”........and jubilantly presented
the soldier with one genuine American cigarette.
* * jfc
At a recent payday at Fort Belvoir, Va., in the line
of I.O.U. holders and other collectors stood a GI with
an outstretched hat bearing the sign: “Furlough Fund”
.... Soldiers chipped in $4.00 before they realized the
enterprise was strictly a private one!
INTENSIVE TRAINING SCHEDULED FOR Gfs
TRANSFERRED TO ARMY GROUND FORCES
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Army Says AH WACs
Will Now Be Trained
At Ft. Des Moines, Iowa
The WAG training center
at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., will
be discontinued and all mili-
tary training of WACs will
he consolidated at Fort Des
Moines, Iowa, by April 1, the
i\Var Dept, has announced-
The change is said to be in
line with the Army’s WAC
recruiting program for 1945
which will stress the enlist-
ment of women possessing
specialized skills, rather
than large numbers, togeth-
er with those qualified for
training and service as medi-
cal and surgical technicians
in Army hospitals.
MEN OUTNUMBERED
The population of the U.S.,
according to a recently re-
leased Census Bureau estim-
ate, is 138,100,874 as of last
July 1. Armed forces over-
seas were included in this
total. Women outnumbered
the men by about 6,000 the
Bureau savs.
According to a, War Dept,
announcement, an intensive
six weeks’ training course
has been adopted by the
Army for GIs transferred to
the Infantry from the Air
and Service Forces. The
men are to get special train-
ing as riflemen in order to
prepare them for service in
combat units.
So far, 55,000 men have
been transferred to the
Ground Forces from these
sources. Advanced replace-
ment training centers will
include Camp Bowie and
Camp Maxev, Tex.; Camp
Livingston, La.; and Camp
Gordon, Ga. Some training
will also be given at Ft. Jack-
son, S-C.; Camp Gruber,
Okla.; Camp Swift, Tex; and
Camp Van Dorn, Miss.
-“..Dimes" Campaign
(Continued from Pajre 1)
used in the organization’s
work of alleviating suffer-
ing from the dread disease
for which science has as yet
found no cure.
Gen. Duncan declared
himself “highly pleased”
that the drive should have
elicited such warm response
here.
Italian Youth?. Get New
Schoolbooks Which Don’t
Think So Much Of Benito
The Allied Commission in
Italy has just completed the
printing of 1,000,000 text-
hoks for a re-education cam-
paign designed to remove
Fascist doctrines and ideo-
logies from the minds of Ital-
ian children. In order to ex-
punge Fascist dogma* it was
nececssary to rewrite com-
pletely a series of textbooks
used in the elementary
schools, while 759 books us-
ed in secondary schools were
eliminated or edited.