Sculptor Sigurjón Ólafsson and his Portraits

Editors: Lise Funder and Birgitta Spur
Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 2008
In English, 128 pages, 27x24.5 cm 111 photos, soft bound
ISBN 978-87-88755-05-3
Design and layout: Halldór Þorsteinsson
Print: Prentsmiðjan Oddi, Reykjavík
Distribution outside Iceland: Boggalleriet, Rønde, Danmörku, artbooks@boggalleriet.dk
- also published in Danish as:
Billedhuggeren Sigurjón Ólafsson og hans portrætter
ISBN 978-87-88755-03-9

Exhibition catalogue for Sigurjón Ólafsson´s Portrait Exhibition in the Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark, Sept. 27^th - Dec. 31^st 2008.
Content: Introduction by former president of Iceland, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, foreword by the directors of the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum and The Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle. An revised article on Sigurjón Ólafsson and his portraits by Art Historian Charlotte Christensen. Sigurjón Ólafsson´s biographical sketch by Birgitta Spur. The list of exhibiting works includes large photos of the portraits and biographical notes or memos on every sitter and a bibliography.

Price: 2.500 ISK

• The Horse (1952, 17 min)
  During the years 1941 - 45 Abraham Cécar Lamoureux´s equestrian statue of King Christian V on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen was reconstructed. The task was entrusted to professor Utzon-Frank with Sigurjón Ólafsson serving as his head assistant. A film-diary by Bjarne Henning-Jensen.
• Images in a Mountain (1990, 10 min)
  A documentary by Ásgeir Long on Sigurjón Ólafsson´s largest commission, the abstract wall reliefs on the Búrfell power plant, executed in 1966 - 69.
• Those Rounded stones (1992, 16 mín)
  Video produced on VHS tape by Ólafsson Museum in 1992 which received Silver Screen Award at the 27^th US international Film and Video Festival in Chicago 1994. This video film is partly based upon an interview with Sigurjón Ólafsson, from 1980 by sculptor Erlingur Jónsson, who assisted Ólafsson for a time. The form, anatomy and texture of his portraits are discussed, as well as the artist's different treatment of materials, light and shadow, colour and motion. Insight is offered into Ólafsson's ideas through an examination of individual works. The film includes photographs and film of the artist at work. Soundtrack: Icelandic and English

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 2006
In Icelandic with 10 pictures 16 pp
ISBN 9979-9548-3-3
Design: JP
Print: Svansprent

Catalogue with exhibition with new metal sculptures by Hallsteinn Sigurðsson in Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum Sept 16th to Nov 30th 2006

Article: "Hallsteinn og hrynjandinn í rýminu" by Art historian Jón Proppé

ISK 500

Lava Flowers

Editor: Birgitta Spur
Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 2005
Icelandic and Danish with English abstract. 80 pp. 21x26 cm
ISBN9979-9548-2-5

Catalogue with the exhibition Lava Flowers (in Ólafsson Museum - Reykjavík, 17.09.05-27.11.05; Akureyri -North Iceland 21.01.06-17.03.06; Herning-Jutland 07.04.06-14.05-06, Copenhagen late fall 2006) with works by Danish COBRA artists Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt, and contemporary Icelandic artists Svavar Guðnason and Sigurjón Ólafsson.

Art historian Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson discusses the influence of the Danish Høstudstilling (Harvest exhibition) in Reykjavík 1948 and the importance of the visit of Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt to Icelandic artists of that time, just after the second world war. Art historians, Hanne Lundgren and Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir, introduce the artists and their work.

ISK 1500

Isle Hessner
Mánasigð - Under månens segl - Qaammatip imissikkiartuaarnerani - A Slice of The Moon

Curator: Birgitta Spur
Advisers: Bodil Kaalund, Jessie Kleemann

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 2002
Icelandic, Danish, Greenlandic, English size:A4, 24 pp.
ISBN 9979-9548-1-7

Catalogue published for the exhibition A Slice of the Moon with works by Greenlandic Isle Hessner in Ólafsson Museum, Iceland 09.10.04-11.28.04, Johannes Larsen Museet í Kerteminde, Danmark, 03.18..05-05.16.05., Greenland National Museum and Archives, Nuuk Greenland 06.27.06.-08.14.05. Aticles e.g. by Danish artist and art historian Bodil Kaalund..

ISK 800

WOMAN - madam, crone, miss and the lady...

A CD with poems written (and recited for recording) by eleven female poets inspired by sculptures by Sigurjón Ólafsson referring to the woman. Published in connection with an exhibition in the museum May 23 - June 30 2002 at Reykjavík Arts Festival.

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 2002
CD and text booklet (32 pp) in Icelandic.
ISBN 9979-9548-0-9

This is an outstanding sample of the spoken Icelandic language

Poets: Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir: Kona 1950; Fríða Á. Sigurðardóttir Ekkjan; Þórunn Valdimarsdóttir Pallas Aþena; Kristín Ómarsdóttir Fjallkonan; Vilborg Dagbjartsdóttir Snót; Linda Vilhjálmsdóttir Af skepnunni (Kona); Elísabet K. Jökulsdóttir Kona í spegli; Ingibjörg Haraldsdóttir Kona/tré; Sigurbjörg Þrastardóttir Móðir og barn; Margrét Lóa Jónsdóttir Leyndarmál (Álfkona) og Vigdís Grímsdóttir Torsó.

ISK 1200

Speglanir / Reflections

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 2001.
Icelandic. 16 pp. Softbound.
ISBN 9979-9124-9-9

Catalogue with the exhibition Speglanir / Reflections (September - Otlober 2001) where the prominent Icelandic sculptor Helgi Gíslason exhibits sculptures and drawings related to the human body.

Birgitta Spur: Foreword; Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir: Reiða og óreiða (Order and Chaos)

ISK 700

Hærra til þín. Trúarleg minni í vestnorrænni list (Nearer to Thee. Christian themes in Nordic Art)

Editor: Birgitta Spur
Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum and Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum Reykjavik 2000.
Icelandic/Danish. 80 pp. Softbound.
ISBN (Iceland) 9979-9124-7-2 ISBN (Denmark) 9979-9124-8-8

Catalogue with the travelling exhibition Nearer to Thee, which was the contribution of the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum and the Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum to the Christian Millennium Festival and Reykjavik - European City of Culture in theYear 2000. Selected works by twentieth-century Nordic artists: Olivia Holm-Møller, J.A. Jerichau, Ásmundur Sveinsson, Hannah Ryggen, Sámal Elias Joensen-Mikines, Sigurjón Ólafsson, Robert Jacobsen, Jakob Weidemann and Svend Wiig Hansen. Most of these artists never contributed to traditional ecclesiastical art but nevertheless they devoted some of their works to Christian and religious themes.

Articles by Karl Sigurbjörnsson, Bishop of Iceland; Charlotte Christensen; Troels Andersen; Eiríkur Þorláksson; Håkon A. Andersen; Bárður Jákupsson and Per Hovdenakk.

Sigurjón Ólafsson. Ævi og list II (Life and Art II)

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1999.
Icelandic/English Summary. 350 pp. Hardbound.
ISBN 9979-9124-6-4

The second volume elucidates Ólafsson´s life and career in Iceland after his return from Denmark autumn 1945. Art historian, Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson, gives a clarifying picture of how the artistic environment was in Iceland at the time Sigurjón returned. Ingólfsson also deals with the environmental influence on Ólafsson´s creativity and his career as well as his contribution to contemporary art in Iceland.
Each volume includes a catalogue raisonné of all the tridimensional sculptures that Ólafsson worked in that particular period.

The books were nominated the Icelandic Literature Award for the year 1999.

ISK 3.000

Sigurjón Ólafsson. Ævi og list I (Life and Art I)

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1998
Icelandic /English Summary. 192 pp. Hardbound.
ISBN 9979-9124-5-6

Sigurjón was the precursor of the modernism in Icelandic sculpture and with this book, in two volumes, the life and work of the artist is studied for the first time. The first volume treats his youth in Eyrarbakki, his first steps in the artistic world in Reykjavík and his life and studies in Denmark from 1928 to 1945. By Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson and Lise Funder. Over 200 photographs. The books were nominated the Icelandic Literature Award for the year 1999. Each volume includes a catalogue raisonné of all the tridimensional sculptures that he worked in that particular period.

ISK 3.000

Vættatal - Dialogue on Eerie Beings

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1996.
Icelandic/English. 24 pp. Softbound.
ISBN 9979-9124-3-X

On the occasion of the Reykjavik Arts Festival 1996, Páll of Húsafell exhibited his sculptures alongside a selection of Sigurjón's works in the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum. Both sought inspiration in Icelandic nature.

Birgitta Spur: Foreword; Thor Vilhjálmsson: Dialogue on Eerie Beings; Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson: Nature's Memories.

ISK 300

Gunhild Skovmand einu sinni var... (once upon a time ...)

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1995.
Icelandic and Danish (equally). 24 pp. Softbound.
ISBN 9979-9124-2-1

Catalogue with Gunhild Skovmand´s silhouette exhibition in Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, June - July 1995.

Birgitta Spur: Foreword; Gunhild Skovmand: Thoughts; Hans Laumann: Silhouettes

ISK 300

Frá prímitívisma til póstmódernisma í norrænni höggmyndalist / From Primitivism to Postmodernism in Nordic Sculpture.

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum and Hafnarborg The Hafnarfjörður Institute of Culture and Fine Art, Reykjavík and Hafnarfjörður 1995.
Icelandic/English. 96 pp. Softbound.
ISBN 9979-9124-1-3

The exhibition From Primitivism to Postmodernism in Nordic Sculpture was intended to accentuate the salient traits and currents in the century's sculpture as they appear in the works of five Nordic sculptors: Bror Hjorth, Sigurjón Ólafsson, Mauno Hartman, Bjørn Nørgaard and Gunnar Torvund. The exhibition was a part of the Nordic Cultural Festival Sólstafir / Sunbeams.

Petrún Pétursdóttir and Birgitta Spur: Preface; Küllike Montgomery: Bror Hjorth; Birgitta Spur: Sigurjón Ólafsson; Juhani Pallasmaa: Mauno Hartman; Claus Hagedorn-Olsen: Bjørn Nørgaard; Leena Mannila: Gunnar Torvund.

ISK 800

Íslandsmerki og súlur Sigurjóns Ólafssonar / Emblem of Iceland and other Columnar Works of Sigurjón Ólafsson

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1994.
Icelandic/English. 72 pp. Softbound.
ISBN 9979-9124-0-5

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Icelandic republic, the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum opened an exhibition connected with Emblem of Iceland, a monument to the foundation of a republic in Iceland in 1944. Sigurjón Ólafsson was commissioned to produce this large work in 1969 which was erected at Hagatorg in Reykjavík (close to University cinema)

Birgitta Spur: Emblem of Iceland and the Columnar Works of Sigurjón Ólafsson; Susanne Jorn: Friendship (Poem); Auður Ólafsdóttir: Pillar to Emblem of Iceland.

ISK 800

Árbók LSÓ 1991 og 1992 (Yearbook 1991 and 1992)

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1993
Icelandic/English. 118 pp. Softbound.
ISSN 1021-6626

Birgitta Spur: Introduction; Report; Auður Ólafsdóttir: Images in a Mountain. Bas-reliefs by sculptor Sigurjón Ólafsson on the frontage of the Búrfell hydroelectric plant, 1966-69; Sólveig Georgsdóttir: Stacking Saltfish. A Mural without a Wall; Inga Lára Baldvinsdóttir: Art in Eyrarbakki; Þorgrímur Gestsson: The Community the City Swallowed; Susanne Jorn's sensitive poem Tracks in Sand accompanying Ólafson´s last sculpture.

ISK 800

Tracks in Sand

Poems to the Sculptures of Sigurjón Ólafsson by Susanne Jorn

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1992.
Text in English and Japanese. 48 pp. Clothbound.
ISBN 9979-9069-3-6

Susanne Jorn, a poet and scholar of Oriental languages, illustrates Ólafsson´s beautiful work with her sensitive verse. With Japanese translation by the outstanding Japanese poet Kazuko Shiraishi.

ISK 2500 (Limited edition of 500 copies)

Those Rounded Stones [VHS - videotape]

This video film is partly based upon an interview with Sigurjón Ólafsson, from 1980 by sculptor Erlingur Jónsson, who assisted Ólafsson for a time. The form, anatomy and texture of his portraits are discussed, as well as the artist's different treatment of materials, light and shadow, color and motion. Insight is offered into Ólafsson's ideas through an examination of individual works. The film includes photographs and film of the artist at work.
Sigurjón Ólafsson was without doubt the most inspired and sensitive creator of portraits Iceland has produced. His inspiration is brought out in the many methods he had at his disposal in order to express his perception of his sitters. His sensitivity to individual character bears fruit in portraits which are rich in psychological content. (Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson, art historian).
Manuscript: Auður Ólafsdóttir, Birgitta Spur, Sólveig Georgsdóttir and Ólafur Rögnvaldsson. Translation into English: Anna Yates. Produced for Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum by AX film. Running time: 17 minutes. Winner of Silver Screen Award, 27th US International Film and Video Festival, Chicago, 1994.

ISK 2000

Sigurjón Ólafsson Danmark-Island 1991

Editors: Birgitta Spur, Troels Andersen and Sólveig Georgsdóttir

Silkeborg Kunstmuseums Forlag, Silkeborg 1991
Icelandic/Danish. 108 pp. Softbound.
ISBN 87-87932-33-4

A catalogue with a travelling exhibition on Ólafsson's sculptures in Kastrupgårdsamlingen, Vejle Art Museum, Silkeborg Art Museum in Denmark and Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum in Iceland. Introductions by Icelandic Cultural Minister Svavar Gestsson and Danish Cultural Minister Grethe Rostbøll. Articles by Birgitta Spur and Peter Eriksen. Susanne Jorn: Interviews with Johan Galster, Robert Jacobsen and Pierre Lübecker.

ISK 800

Sigurjón Ólafsson. Andlitsmyndir (Portraits)

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1990.

Icelandic. 16 pp. Softbound

Text by Birgitta Spur and Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson

Catalogue with an exhibition on Sigurjón Ólafsson's portraits, statuettes and public sculptures.

Not available

Árbók LSÓ 1989 og 1990 (Yearbook 1989 and 1990)

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1990
Icelandic/Danish/English Summary. 98 pp. Softbound.
ISBN 9979-9064-1-3

Articles by Birgitta Spur, Erlingur Jónsson, Bo Lagercrantz. This volume introduces the rich and thriving Icelandic contemporary art in different genres. It contains interviews with sculptor Sigurjón Ólafsson, sculptor Helgi Gíslason, composer Atli Heimir Sveinsson, and librettist Thor Vilhjálmsson.

ISK 800

Málmverk og aðföng (Metal sculptures)

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum Reykjavík 1989
Icelandic/English 56 pp. Softbound.

Catalogue with an exhibition on Sigurjón Ólafsson´s metal sculptures from the years that he spent as a patient at the Reykjalundur sanatorium, 1960-62, a period referred to as his Iron Age.

Birgitta Spur: Foreword; Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson: Space and Coincidence of Material, Sigurjón Ólafsson's Metal Sculptures, 1956-62

ISK 800

Árbók LSÓ 1987 og 1988 (Yearbook 1987 and 1988)

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1988.
Icelandic/Danish. 84 pp. Softbound.

Articles by Birgitta Spur, Hemming Theisen, Ole Thomassen, Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson and Tora Raknes.

ISK 800

Árbók Listasafns Sigurjóns Ólafssonar 1986 (Yearbook 1986)

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavík 1986
Icelandic/Danish/English. 84 pp. Softbound.
ISBN 87-88755-061

Birgitta Spur: Sigurjón Ólafssons Museum; L. Alcopley: Sigurjón and his works; H.P. Jensen: Et besøg hos Sigurjón; Susanne Lyngborg: Digte; Elise Heide-Jørgensen: Sigurjón i København; Otto Gelsted: Rundt om en Fjord København 1943; Peter Eriksen: Han tog forskud på fremtiden; Hans Mølbjerg: Odin spiller skak; Björn Th. Björnsson: Article in catalogue from 1980; Þór Magnússon: Laugarnes

Not available

Sigurjón Ólafsson myndhöggvari / sculptor

Editor: Birgitta Spur

Sigurjón Ólafsson Foundation, Reykjavík 1985

Icelandic/Danish/English. 240 pp.

Articles on Sigurjón Ólafsson by Thor Vilhjálmsson and Kristján Eldjárn; a photo biography; catalogue of works by Sigurjón Ólafsson.

Not available