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72 A T L A N T I C A ART
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Ragna Róbertsdóttir acknowledges that most Icelanders know her from her Lava Landscapes. Her graceful
and delicate lava paintings in which she glues tiny pieces of lava from mount Hekla, a local active volcano,
make a lasting impression. When you know that Róbertsdóttir has carried bags of this lava with her to muse-
ums and galleries in America and Europe, where she then painstakingly creates new wall paintings on site,
you start to think of her as the Volcano Lady. Her forthcoming exhibit and retrospective, Róbertsdóttir’s first
in her native Iceland, will display that she most certainly is more than that.
In addition to using lava, Róbertsdóttir has created indelible installations using turf, earth, glass and stones.
As with her lava presentations, the care and precision with which she arranged her exhibits allow an observ-
er to truly appreciate these raw materials of Icelandic life. As one critic put it, standing before Róbertsdóttir’s
work “is a profoundly personal (and profoundly cultural) engagement with landscape and site.”
Róbertsdóttir is excited about bringing a full representation of her work to the Icelandic public. “It means a
lot to me,” she said in a phone interview. “I’ve been working for over twenty years, but I’ve never been able
to see all the works together. It’ll be a great opportunity to see how the work relates.”
The Ragna Róbertsdóttir Retrospective will be held in the west wing, with new exhibits in the centre room
of Kjarvalsstadir from 3 September to 31 October. BC
Kjarvalsstadir, v/Flókagötu, 105 Reykjavík
Featured at the National Gallery this autumn are three fascinating exhibitions. The
first is a retrospective of the works of Gudmunda Andrésdóttir, one of the main
representatives of abstract art in Iceland in the twentieth century. Her style
developed from geometric abstract art into more complex and lyrical works. Later
she began investigating the movement of the circular form, research for which
she is renowned in Icelandic art history. The second exhibition is on the preser-
vation and restoration of the works in the National Gallery. This exhibition dedi-
cated to art restoration deals with the main aspects of the preservation, repair
and study of the cultural valuables that belong to the National Gallery's collection
and are entrusted to the care of its restoration department. Finally, the National
Gallery will celebrate its 120th anniversary with a special celebratory exhibit. The
National Gallery's collection now numbers some 10,000 works and the exhibition
aims to shed light on the full depths of the museum’s catalogue.
The National Gallery, Fríkirkjuvegur 7, 101 Reykjavík.
Volcano Lady
Anniversary Celebration
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