Árdís - 01.01.1950, Side 35

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
33
with the elements. As it ages it takes on the appearance of old
ivory. The lamp was carved in the form of a tree, its sturdy, but
narrow trunk as the base. Each little crooked twig — even with its
knot carved to look very natural. But the part that caught my eye
was the little carved sparrow perching on a limb with its head
eocked as though ready to take flight. A lovely piece of work. One
of Rikhardur Jonsson’s apprentices, Gudmundur Kristjansson has
now become well known, his work being in great demand. We
acquired two of his carvings as gifts, a book shelf and a jewel case.
Another form of art though unfortunately fast waning is that
of the silver-smiths. They fashion with painstaking care the delicate
filigree jewelry; broaches, bracelets, pendants and earrings. This is
slow, tedious work requiring a magnifying glass, a burning flame
to melt the silver as they work — and tweezers of countless sizes
with which to handle and shape the metal. Each craftsman if
versatile and clever can originate innumerable designs. The metal is
always silver but sometimes gold plated.
If I were to go on and describe the ceramics, needlework,
weaving etc., I suppose I could fill pages, but I will go on and tell
you a bit about the other forms of art.
Pictorial art is still in infancy, being little known until after
the turn of the century. As I have mentioned previously, isolation,
toil and impoverishment lent little impetus to the finer arts. Such
conditions restrict the development of a nation’s inherent artistic
ability. Consequently the verbal art, especially of traditional verse
and lore had been the outstanding art of these isolated people.
Poetry flourished and Iceland has through the ages given birth
to many distinguished poets. During our first week in Reykjavik
and always on our subsequent visits there, as well as in other towns
on the island we were amazed at the number of book stores. They
seemed to be on every other street corner. Not only were they
filled with books by native authors but also with translations, par-
ticularly American and British. It is noteworthy that in proportion
to its population of 150,000 they annually publish more books than
any other nation. Literature flourishes abundantly in this old
land of the sagas. But if we were impressed by the number of
books we were equally if not more so impressed by the paintings
which adorned the walls of almost every home we entered. In fact,
no home however humble is complete without its oil paintings