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Pastor Friðrik Friðriksson (1868 - 1961)
In 1951 Sigurjón Ólafsson was asked to devise a monument to pastor Friðrik Friðriksson, who was a highly regarded public figure in Iceland through his work with the local YMCA, which he had founded. It was a task which meant a great deal to Ólafsson, both personally and artistically, as he was very fond of "pastor Friðrik" as he was known to all and sundry. The sculptor had met the pastor as a young man, when he had attended YMCA meetings, and taken lessons in German from him before leaving Iceland in 1928. Both of them had spent the war years in Copenhagen, and in 1943 Ólafsson had modelled an affectionate portrait of his friend. Pastor Friðrik sat for the early version of the official portrait in the primitive Nissen hut which Ólafsson occupied in Laugarnes, on the Reykjavík coast. The final modelling of the full-size portrait took place in Copenhagen in the summer of 1952, in the large teaching atelier in Charlottenborg. The bronze statue of pastor Friðrik was placed in the centre of Reykjavík and unveiled on May 24th, 1955. Sculptor Sigurjón Ólafsson and his Portraits Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum 2008, ISBN 978-87-88755-05-03 |