Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1962, Blaðsíða 72

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TÍMARIT ÞJÓÐRÆKNISFÉLAGS ÍSLENDINGA
of creation was carving in wood,
which he had seen done by two of
the workers on his father’s farm;
but he was never satisfied with his
efforts either at drawing or carv-
ing.
Jónsson’s practical father was
gravely concerned about the boy’s
artistic inclination and utter lack
of interest in farming. His parents
felt that the road of art was an
arduous one and promised little
livelihood. But Jónsson knew he
wanted to tread that road. And
through the kindly intercession of
a neighboring clergyman, Jónsson’s
father finally agreed to let the boy
follow his inclination. So the win-
ter of 1892 to 1893 he stayed in
Reykjavík, studying among other
things foreign languages, drawing,
and painting. In the spring he left
for Copenhagen, Denmark, where
he was to receive all his formal
training in art.
After two brief abortive attempts
at becoming interested in wood
carving, which he was advised to
study first, Jónsson became the
pupil of the Norwegian sculptor
Stephan Sinding, with whom he
worked the following two years.
Although he had great admiration
for Sinding both as an artist and
as a man, Jónsson did not feel that
Sinding was particularly skilled as
a teacher or that he took much in-
terest in his pupils, whom he saw
only seldom. But from this period
derived the first ideas for some of
Jónsson’s later works, e.g. “Wave
of the Ages” (1894-1905) and the
angel and the horse on “The Lamp”
(1894-1918).5
5. Ibid., p. 166.
Toward the end of his stay with
Sinding, Jónsson began attending
evening classes at “Den Tekniske
Selskabskole” (The Technical So-
ciety School) in Copenhagen. But
upon leaving Sinding, he studied
drawing at the school of the broth-
ers Gustav and Sophus Vehrmeren
for a while until he entered the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts in
Copenhagen for three years of study
under the sculptors Theobald Stein
and Vilhelm Bissen, to both of
whom he felt deeply indebted.6
For the third year of his study at
the academy he was granted a
stipend by the Althing while home
in Iceland for the summer of 1897.
For the next four years Jónsson
stayed and worked in Copenhagen,
taking part in the 1901 Charlotten-
burg exhibition with his famous
group “Outlaws” (1898-1900).
Upon receiving from the Althing
another grant (almost exhausted in
paying the sculptor’s debts, inci-
dentally), Jónsson in 1902 left for
the Etemal City—visiting art in-
stitutes in various cultural centers
on the way: Berlin, Dresden, Mu-
nich, Vienna, and Florence. During
eighteen months of economic hard-
ship in Rome, Jónsson produced
several works, among them a huge
group entitled “Man and Woman”
(later destroyed) and the originals
to such works as “Saga,” “The
Watchman”, and “Ingólfur Arnar-
son.”7 On the retum journey to
Copenhagen he visited Budapest,
Kolaszvár (in Transylvania), and
Vienna.
There followed seven difficult
6. Ibid., p. 166.
7. Ibid., p. 203 , 239.