Untitled

Guðmunda Andrésdóttir was born in Reykjavík, November 3rd 1922. She is quoted as saying that it was Svavar Guðnason’s exhibition at the Listamannaskálinn in 1945 that inspired her to become an artist. In 1946 she started studying in Gothenburg and later at the Konstfack Art Academy in Stockholm. She also studied at the Otte Skjöld School of Painting in Stockholm 1945–1946. After doing clerical work and teaching art in Iceland for a while, she went to Paris and studied art at L’Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1951 and at L’Académie Ranson 1951–1953. During this time Guðmunda was introduced to the main styles and ideas of the Paris art scene where geometric abstract art was the latest thing. Paris shaped the artistic vision that Guðmunda would develop throughout her career, a vision based on absolute formalism and an exhaustive work process or variations on distinct ideas of form. She investigated the possibilities of the painting extensively, garnering more and more results. Guðmunda was one of the Icelandic artists who paved the way for abstract art and remained faithful to the abstract throughout her career. At the end of the 1950s she started breaking up her strict geometric painting. Her works were part of the Septemberhópurinn (1947–1952) group’s last exhibition in 1952 but her first solo show was in Ásmundarsalur in 1956 where she had 16 paintings. She was also a member of the Septem group (1974–1990) for years, a fellowship that provided Icelandic abstract painters with a venue.