Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2016, Blaðsíða 36

CHECK OUT THE NEW
REYKJAVÍK CITY MUSEUM
C OM P R I S I N G 5 TO P MU S E U MS:
Árbær Open Air Musem
Viðey Island
Reykjavík Museum of
Photography
Reykjavík Maritime Museum
www.reykjavikcitymuseum.is
The Settlement Exhibition
More information in the
Museums & Galleries section.
TABLE RESERVATIONS: +354 517 1800 — WWW.FORRETTABARINN.IS
N ý l e n d u g a t a 1 4 . 1 0 1 R e y k j a v í k
R E S TA U R A N T | B A R - H A P P Y H O U R F R O M 4 - 8 P M Tasty
Icelandic
tapas and
drinks by
the old
harbour
Certificate of Excellence
——— 2014 ———
“From Iceland’s Frigid Shore,
Where Women Vote, Come Won-
drous Fairy Tales.” Thus read a
headline in the Evening Sun on
November 3rd, 1915. The occasion
was the first visit by Icelandic
painter Guðmundur Thorsteins-
son, or Muggur, to New York City.
He was not there, however, to ex-
hibit his works. This was in the
middle of World War I and the
waters around mainland Europe
were infested with German sub-
marines. For the first time ever, a
trade mission was sent from Ice-
land, still a Danish dependency,
to the still neutral United States
to gather supplies for the isolated
island nation. The ship Botnia set
sail for the New World, carrying
on board 5000 barrels of herring
to exchange for goods. Leading the
mission was the merchant Ólafur
Johnson, and he had invited his
brother-in-law Muggur along.
As is usual for Icelanders
abroad, even in times of crisis,
only the best was good enough,
and Ólafur and Guðmundur
stayed at the Hotel Astor on Times
Square, where they soon caught
the eye of the local press. The
journalist in question was im-
pressed by Muggur’s paintings of
large-limbed trolls, and no less
impressed by the fact that in Ice-
land, women could not only paint
pictures but houses as well.

A Life in Pictures
When women in the US finally got
the right to vote in 1920, much had
changed. The war was over, but
Iceland, along with many other
countries, had been decimated by
the Spanish flu pandemic. The by
now 29-year-old Muggur had got-
ten married and divorced again,
which drove the previously life-
loving artist to depression and
drink. However, 1920 also brought
the first exhibition of Icelandic
painting abroad, in the royal capi-
tal of Copenhagen. Five artists
were represented, and the one
with the most works on display
was none other than Muggur.
His good looks had also been
put to use in ‘Sons of the Soil’
(‘Saga Borgarættarinnar’), a ma-
jor Danish motion picture shot
in Iceland. It would be released
in the following year to good re-
views, but film actors at the time
were badly paid, and in any case,
Muggur preferred to paint. This
was not very lucrative either—but
Muggur had for a long time been
supported by his wealthy father.
Man vs. Horse
Muggur should have been riding
high as Iceland’s best-known in-
ternational actor and painter, but
events soon took a different turn.
His father became bankrupt, as
is often the case with the wealthy
in Iceland, and as Muggur was
known for giving away his money
to friends or the poor, he found it
increasingly hard to make his way
in the world. In any case, he was
not long for it.
In the summer of 1923, his
health already deteriorating
due to hard living, he was ig-
nobly kicked in the back by his
own horse. He never fully recov-
ered, but still made one final trip
abroad to France and then Den-
mark, where he died in early 1924
at the age of 32. His body was sent
to Iceland and now rests in the old
cemetery by Suðurgata.
But his story was not over.
In the first major retrospective
of Icelandic art in 1927, also held
in Copenhagen, his work was well
represented. Paintings from this
very exhibition are now on dis-
play at the National Gallery of Ice-
land, overlooking the pond. Here,
alongside a host of other artists,
you can see Muggur’s paintings of
elves and other creatures, his im-
pressions of New York in 1915, as
well as more social-realist works
depicting such scenes as the one
of women carrying coal at the har-
bour, perhaps his masterpiece.
SHARE: gpv.is/muggur
Movie-Star, Painter,
Man of the World
The Story of Muggur
By VALUR GUNNARSSON
Art Icelandic Pioneer36
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 4 — 2016