Poetcast

The exhibition illuminates the artistic career of Nína Tryggvadóttir (1913–1968), with a publication and the display of a large collection of her works. The National Gallery of Iceland has 80 works by Tryggvadóttir, from the period 1938–1967, in its collection. Along with works chosen from this collection, many works are on loan from various sources. Most of those works are seldom on public display, and include works from the collection of Una Dóra Copley, the artist's only child, many of those have never before been shown in Iceland.

Nína Tryggvadóttir studied art in Copenhagen and New York and also lived in Paris, London and Reykjavík. The bulk of her work are oil paintings on canvas, although Tryggvadóttir is also known for her illustrated books for children, works on paper and stained glass and mosaic works, located in such places as in the National Museum of Iceland, Skálholtskirkja, the headquarters of Landsbankinn, the service desk of Loftleiðir (presently, Icelandair) at the John F. Kennedy-airport, New York, and in Hotel Loftleiðir (presently, Hotel Reykjavík Natura). Tryggvadóttir was among the most avant-garde and innovative artists of her generation and was instrumental in the form changes taking place in Icelandic art during the nineteen forties and fifties. She showed her works extensively around the world, including exhibitions at the ICA; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and in Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels as well as in the New Art Circle gallery in New York. She is one of four Icelandic artists whose works are in the collection of MoMA; Museum of Modern Art in New York, and her works are in the collections of many other art museums and individuals around the world.