Female Idols

To mark the centennial of women in Iceland winning the right to vote, Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum has created an exhibition of classical portrait sculptures of women produced by Ólafsson. Along with those works, other works by the artist are on display. The works are carved in stone and wood and they focus on the female image in Ólafsson's art – Das Ewig-Weibliche – taking on the image of the goddess.

Sigurjón Ólafsson (1908–1982) is among the best known portrait sculptors in the Nordic countries. He created over 200 portrait sculptures, mostly of men who held important roles in society. Ólafsson's female portraits are less well known, apart from a portrait sculpture of his mother, Guðrún Gísladóttir, created in 1938, that in 1939 won him the sought-after Eckersberg-price. Copies of the portrait belong to the collections of three state museums located in the Nordic countries.