Reykjavík Grapevine - 03.12.2004, Síða 30

MICHAELANGELO, RODIN AND EINAR JÓNSSON
by Leslie Royce
For me, there were two master
sculptors - Michaelangelo and Rodin
- who moved me to speechlessness.
Now, through that fence, I was
meeting someone who ranked with
them - indeed, my list now had to
read Michelangelo, whoever this was
in Iceland, and Rodin.
There was a gate and it opened.
Now, inside this magic garden, I met
a genius who deserves to be known
and appreciated by the whole world.
I spent several hours in the rain,
taking photos and wondering who
was this Einar Jonsson and why was
he such a secret to me and to those
I knew. Later, I found a brochure
at Sunna and discovered there was
a museum. I did not get to go but
knew I would be back.
Once home, I printed copies
of my pictures and sent them to
those I knew would be awed by
them. Everyone was asking the
same question: Why isn’t he world
famous? Every artist friend has been
moved to either words of extravagant
praise at the majesty and mystery in
his work or speechlessness. Thus I
was not the only one who thought
something must be done to make
Jonsson available to the world and
the first step was to acquire all the
material that I could on him and
his art. I am not a person of wealth
but would go without food to own
anything with his work in it. I
bought Myndir I and Myndir II and
the book on him published in 1954
in Stockholm, all of these found on
the Internet.
In November, I returned to
Reykjavik, just for the weekend so
that I could go to the museum. My
friend, Sachio, and I had decided to
create a website to introduce Einar
Jonsson to the world, so we had to
begin our research by seeing the
museum. While there we bought
books and post-cards and met two of
the most charming women acting as
Guards - Helga and Gudrun. They
were very helpful and as sad as we
were that more people did not know
of Jonsson.
At Kolaportid, I managed to
buy 2 books by Einar Jonsson, his
opinions and his memories. They
are, of course, in Icelandic. So I am
writing this to ask if there are those
of you in Iceland who would help
translate at least his book on his
opinions - it is 223 pages long. The
more people who are willing, the less
each will have to do. don’t believe
you can refuse this heartfelt request
for assistance to make the genius of
Einar Jonsson known and respected
all around the world. My e-mail is
elroyce@aol.com
I am returning to the sculpture
garden in January - I know the
museum is not open, but I know how
much I will enjoy walking among his
works again.
A beginner´s guide to Estonian culture
Saatus by Kirile Loo
What will become of the nestlings?
One became the sun above the earth
The other the star in the sky
The third the headland in the field
The fourth the name of the meacow
Thousands of years before Björk´s primal masterpiece
Medúlla, the Balto-Finnic cultures sang about the origins
of the earth in runic verse. The runic songs were written in
the Balto-Finnic proto language, before it branched out into
different languages such as Finnish, Estonian and Karelian.
The songs were ever-changing and were to some extent
overtaken by folk songs written by the national poets of the
19th Century. But the form still exists, and perhaps is not all
that different from its original version in the first millennium
BC. One of the foremost interpreters of the Kalevala meter
is Kirile Loo. She grew up with her grandmother in a village
with no electricity, and learnt to sing from her grandmother
before moving on to the Tallinn School of Music. Saatus, her
1997 album features
such instruments
as the kannel, the
oldest Estonian string
instrument. According
to tradition, God
made the kannel and
the Devil made the
bagpipes. Most non-
Scots would be inclined
to agree. Lobby our
local record store for
this or order it online.
And here in Reykjavík is where I fell in love, helplessly and hopelessly. I am not a romantic child
but a 68 year-old retired, reasonably realistic, somewhat mature woman who did not expect such a
thing to happen. But outside my window at Guesthouse Sunna, I could see sculptures and decided to
wander around the outside of the fence and see what I could see of them. I love art BUT I often feel that
paintings allow me only to see what that artist saw, like looking at that subject through the artist’s eyes;
sculpture, however, allows me to experience what the artist saw, to feel what they felt, to embrace what
they embraced and thus to see and feel and embrace for myself - to have that same experience.
DARKNESS IN TALLINN by Ilkka Jarvi-Laturi
“What do we do now that we’re free?”
”I don’t know, go to work as always.”
The scene shows two working men discussing the benefits of
freedom in the first film made in Estonia after independence.
The story´s premise is a heist to highjack Estonia’s gold
reserves upon their return to the country after independence
from the Soviet Union. Directed by a Finn in 1993, it has
a healthy dose of Tarantino but manages to convey a very
Baltic atmosphere, and the gangsters Russianness makes them
particularly menacing at a time before this became a cliché.
The protagonist is a man named Toivo, an electrical engineer
assigned to black out the city during the heist. He initially
takes part because the money will buy a lot of baby food, but
then suffers a crisis of conscience. Despite a disappointingly
upbeat ending, the film still manages to capture the hopes
and disappointments of
post-Soviet Estonia. And
the gimmick of shooting
the first half in black and
white and then switching
to colour as the lights go
on is simply stunning.
Darkness in Tallinn is
available at video rentals
such as Aðalvideóleigan
at Klapparstígur and
Toppmyndir at Sólvallagata
27 and Aðalvideóleigan at
Klapparstígur 37.
The Czar´s Madman by Jaan Kross
The writer Jan Kross
was born in 1920,
the same year that
Estonia first achieved
independence. During
the Second World
War, he was arrested
first by the Nazis and
then by the Soviets
for being an Estonian
patriot. Upon returning
from the Gulag in
1954 he became a
professional writer.
His novels are usually
historical and often deal with the struggle of Estonians against
Baltic Germans, a metaphor for Estonia´s struggle against the
Soviet Union. The Czar´s Madman is perhaps his best known
work. Set in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, it is a sort
of historical 1984, where the only sane person in society is
classified as a madman for his opposition to an unjust regime.
But the fact that the book describes a society that has existed
(and in the form of the Soviet Union still existed at the time)
makes the prospect even more chilling than in Orwell´s
dystopia. The Czar´s Madman has been translated into
English by Anselm Hollo, published by Pantheon, and into
Icelandic by Hjörtur Pálsson, published by Hólar.
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