Ingálvur av Reyni
Ingálvur av Reyni [ ˈɪngɔlvʊɹ ɛau ˈɹɛinɪ ] (born December 18, 1920 in Tórshavn , Faroe Islands ; † November 26, 2005 ibid) was a Faroese painter and graphic artist of the so-called "second generation" there. He is considered one of the leading exponents of Nordic modernism in the 20th century.
See also: Faroese art
youth
Ingálvur was born in 1920 as the third and youngest son of the merchant Jens av Reyni (1886–1948) and Christine Jacobsen (1881–1991) in Tórshavn. The family name av Reyni goes back to Høgareyn , part of the Tinganes peninsula . Originally his ancestors on his father's side were called Jensen, but around 1910 they took the name after this part of the city - a practice not uncommon in the Faroe Islands to emphasize local roots. Even so, before he was born, his parents had moved from Høgrareyn to Niels Finsensgøta on the corner of Kongagøta, where his father ran a bookshop.
In this bookstore, Ingálvur av Reyni came into contact with the visual arts at an early stage and, like his older brothers Jens Pauli and Sigrid, began to draw. Some of these children's drawings are still preserved today. In 1933 he saw three pictures by Faroese visual art pioneer Sámal Joensen-Mikines in the Jól í Føroyum Christmas booklet for the first time . After graduating from primary school in 1935, he went to sea as a cabin boy. a. came to Hamburg , Hull and the Netherlands . At home in Tórshavn he began an apprenticeship as a bookbinder .
His father, however, gave up the bookstore, became director of the first Faroese steamship company, later chairman of the General Insurance Company of the Faroe Islands, and finally he ran his own company overseas trade on a larger scale.
At the age of 16 it was already clear to the young Ingálvur that he wanted to become a painter. His first oil painting Ingutrøð (1937, 14 × 26 cm), which shows the estate of his grandmother Inga in Tórshavn, comes from that time . In 1938 he went to Bizzie Høyer's drawing school in Copenhagen , then from 1942 to the art academy there and from 1944 to the graphic school. He completed both in 1945. After the British occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II , he returned to his home islands. Very many of the Faroese intellectuals were then forced to spend the war years in German-occupied Denmark.
On January 12, 1946, Reyni married Elsa Petrine Thomsen, a nurse from Porkeri, of the same age in Tórshavn . In 1947 he had his first exhibition in the Faroe Islands together with the graphic artist Elinborg Lützen .
The painter
Ingálvur av Reyni subsequently rebelled against the epic content of the art of his predecessors with his expressionism and led painting on new paths. A clear coloristic French tone asserts itself in his art. The artistic roots come from Cézanne and Matisse .
Sometimes Reyni is referred to as "the least provincial Faroese painter" who, as a cosmopolitan , can assert himself with his work in any art metropolis in the world. Superficially, this may be related to the fact that the direct reference to Faroese naturalism in typical landscape painting and the influence of the “over-father” Sámal Joensen-Mikines is only insignificantly recognizable.
The tremendous nature, which in the Faroe Islands has a direct effect on the visual sense of every painter, is, however, the all-embracing theme of Reyni's art. The difference with him: nature is perceived from within, as structures, sounds, fragments of a cosmos, which contains possibilities for a painterly work with forms and movements, bright colors and rhythm. The expression of nature becomes the concept for an increasingly abstract language of forms. In light-flooded landscapes, interiors and figure paintings from the 1940s and 1950s, the cubist simplification of the motif is characteristic. The lines and shapes of nature are part or the basis of the cubist-inspired, strict composition of the picture, which is freed from all irrelevant elements. The work of art simultaneously becomes a picture of inner and outer reality. Increasingly strong contrasting colors are juxtaposed until the end of the 1950s a climax is reached in the daring contrast of complementary colors .
In 1958 he traveled together with his compatriot and artist colleague Hans í Mikladali on a first study trip to Paris , which he visited again in 1973 and 1979. The three visits to Paris are generally considered to be his most important trips abroad.
A special exhibition in Tórshavn in 1961 was groundbreaking - this was the first time that a directly abstract view of nature was shown. The paintings had names like Kurpali (disorder) and Sjón í fuglaeyga (bird's eye view). This exhibition did not suddenly herald the turnaround to non-figurative art - Ingálvur av Reyni dealt with landscape motifs in the 1960s and early 1970s as never before, albeit in a very abstract manner, especially with the central theme of the seaside location. The color change changes from the flaming strong clear colors to light, by no means dry gray tones to the deep black register.
A series of works from the 1970s consists of abstractions about groups of figures and bears titles such as Girls and People by the Sea - such a trilogy in the possession of the Faroese Art Museum . In recent years Ingálvur av Reyni has been a predominantly abstract painter, if the term can be used for non-figurative art that is based on the sounds and structures of nature. In his broadly painted, usually large and resolute compositions, the work of art breaks through from within. Warm earth colors glow from the lower layers, boil when touched with cold gray colored surfaces and set others on fire. The drama consists in the battle of colors and the dynamic movements of the brushstrokes. The rhythm is sometimes by scraping the brush handle in the thick of varnish marked glossy ink layer. This is concrete painting.
On September 21, 2004 it was announced that the painting Vildbrænding, hærgende storm will be included in the collection of the State Art Museum in Copenhagen . The Faroese newspaper Sosialurin calls this a great honor and recognition not only for Ingálvur, but for Faroese art as a whole.
The graphic artist
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Ingálvur av Reyni is also an excellent draftsman. The city with the houses around the harbor, the ships and boats as well as the people on the street - especially the old inhabitants of the city - are his favorite motifs. His ability to capture physiognomies in a single closed line is impressive. But his many trips to the European centers of art have also prompted him to draw figures and groups in crowds, interiors and street scenes. The drawings show a decidedly artistic sense for precise characteristics. But although the drawings in these cases are more figurative and narrative than the paintings, the motif is subject to the necessity of the line and the strict closed form. In many cases he also made nonfigurative drawings.
Ingálvur av Reyni has so far designed ten postage stamps for Postverk Føroya (four others document a selection of his paintings, see Wikimedia Commons ) and several Faroe Islands banknotes . The latter honor was otherwise only granted to Janus Kamban and, most recently, Zacharias Heinesen .
literature
- William Heinesen : Ingálvur av Reyni . In: Fra Færøerne Volume 1, 1964 (Danish)
- William Heinesen: Ingálvur av Reyni: Skitser og tegninger . Gøta, 1968 ("" Sketches and Drawings ", Danish)
- Gunnar Hoydal : Ingálvur av Reyni . Tórshavn 1989 (in Faroese, English and Danish summary)
- Lars Kærluf Møller (Ed.): Ingálvur av Reyni . Bornholms Kunstmuseum, 1992 (exhibition catalog in Danish)
- Jan Kløvstad (Ed.): Ingálvur av Reyni . Norðurlandahúsið í Føroyum og Nordiskt Konstcentrum, 1993 (Norwegian)
- Finn Terman Frederiksen: Rød Regn: En bog om painting Ingálvur av Reyni . Randers Kunstmuseums Forlag, Randers 1998, ISBN 87-88075-25-7 (184 pages in Danish, biography, analyzes of selected works, many color illustrations)
- Bárður Jákupsson : Ingálvur av Reyni, vatnlitamyndir . Atlantia (Denmark) 2001, ISBN 87-91052-01-7 ("Aquarelle", bilingual edition: Danish and Faroese)
Web links
- Art.fo - Faroe Islands Art Museum (English, Danish, Faroese)
- Faroeartstamps.fo - Ingálvur av Reyni (only slightly different basis for this article)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 250 × 380 cm from 2003, picture ( memento of the original from December 16, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reyni, Ingálvur av |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Faroese painter and printmaker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 18, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tórshavn , Faroe Islands |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 26, 2005 |
| Place of death | Tórshavn , Faroe Islands |