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Author Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889 - 1975)
In 1964 Sigurjón Ólafsson modelled a life-size portrait of Gunnar Gunnarson. The version that he carved in stone in 1970 departs considerably from that portrait, as he sought to adjust the sitter's features to the character and volume of the block of stone. At the age of eighteen Gunnar Gunnarsson travelled to Denmark with the intention of becoming a writer, knowing full well that at that time it was well nigh impossible to "live by one's pen" in his native Iceland. In Denmark Gunnarsson became the successful writer he wanted to be and founded a family, living there until 1939, when he decided to return to Iceland. It was through his four volume History of the Borg Dynasty, which came out from 1912 to 1918, that Gunnarsson achieved his breakthrough as a writer in Denmark. He wrote almost exclusively in Danish; afterwards his books were translated into Icelandic, first by some of his Icelandic colleagues, Halldór Laxness among them, but later the author himself translated his most significant works into Icelandic. Gunnar Gunnarson occupies an important place in 20th century Icelandic literature. Sculptor Sigurjón Ólafsson and his Portraits Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum 2008, ISBN 978-87-88755-05-03 |