Revisited

 Kristján Helgi Magnússon’s paintings made a great impression when he made his entrance onto the art scene nearly 100 years ago. His reputation was not confined to Iceland, as he also held exhbitions of his art in cities on both sides of the Atlantic, where critics praised his landscapes, portraits and still lifes. In Iceland, on the other hand, the response to his art was mixed, and today few people are familiar with his work; his name is rarely mentioned in discourse on Icelandic art. Nonetheless his contribution to art is extensive, and interesting in many ways. In a forthcoming retrospective, the National Gallery of Iceland will showcase the works of this short-lived artist, who died in 1938 aged only 34, after a brief but interesting career.

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication of an extensive book on the life and work of Kristján H. Magnússon, edited by Einar Falur Ingólfsson; essays in the book are written by Guðmundur Oddur Magnússon and Dagný Heiðdal , as well as Einar Falur himself. The book is published by the National Gallery in collaboration with relatives of Kristján’s wife Klara Helgadóttir, and descendants of the couple.

In addition to his fine art, Kristján Helgi Magnússon also trained as a commercial artist during his advanced studies at the National Academy of Design in New York, 1926–27, and from that time onward he worked in this field alongside his artistic practice, in New York and in Reykjavík. Kristján’s experience in lithography and advertising design stood him in good stead when he designed advertisements and posters for Eimskipafélag Íslands (the Iceland Steamship Company), 1929-34. The Art Deco style in crafts, design and architecture, which had been launched at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris in 1925, was flourishing in New York at that time.