Nina Tryggvadottir

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

 

1913       Born March 16 in Seydisfjordur, Iceland

1920       Moves with family to Reykjavik

1927       Studies painting with Icelandic painter Asgrimur Jonsson

1933-35  Studies painting with Icelandic artists Finnur Jonsson and Johann Briem

1935-39  Studies at the Royal Academy of Art, Copenhagen

1937       First exhibition at Charlottenborg, Copenhagen

1939       Moves to Paris for a year

1942       First one-person exhibition, in Reykjavik, Iceland

1943-44   Moves to New York, shares apartment and studio with her friend painter Louisa Matthiasdotttir.

         Studies with Ferdinand Leger where she meets and befriends sculptor Louise Bourgeois.

         Becomes part of the New York School

1945       One person show at The New Art Circle – J.B. Neuman Gallery, Fuller Building, New York, NY.

              Designs sets and costumes for Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale, conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos

1948       One person show at The New Art Circle – J.B. Neuman Gallery, Fuller Building, New York, NY

1949       Marries artist Alcopley, moves to Charles Street 

              Tryggvadottir is unjustifiably deported to Iceland during the “Red Scare”

1952-57  Moves from Iceland to Paris, France with Alcopley and year old daughter Una Dora

         Lives and works in Paris.  Has many exhibitions in France and Europe. She befriends Jean Arp,

         Mark Tobey, Sonia Delauney, Julius Bissier, Pierre Soulage, Yves Klein, among other notable artists

1957-59  Moves to London with her family where she lives and continues to exhibit extensively in London and  Europe

1959-68  After years of trying to return to New York, US State Department sends her a telegram saying she 

              can return.  Tryggvadottir and family return to New York and rent a loft on Great Jones Street

              Resumes friendships with New York School artists including Bill and Elaine deKooning, Barnett

Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Milton Resnick, Ibram and Ernestine Lassaw, and with

Hannah Arendt, Edgard and Louise Varese, Frederick Kiesler, Phil Guston, among many others

              Exhibits in group and solo shows yearly in Reykjavik, New York, and in Europe

1968       Dies June 18 in New York

 

Nina Tryggvadottir was born in 1913 in Seyðisfjörður, on the East coast of Iceland, where she was raised before moving to Reykjavik with her parents. Tryggvadottir was interested in art from an early age and would take art lessons from her uncle, the landscape painter Ásgrímur Jónsson. In 1935 Tryggvadottir went to Copenhagen to study at the Royal Danish Academy of Art, following which, she lived in Paris. After returning to Iceland at the outbreak of WWII, she went to study in New York on a stipend from the Icelandic State. There, she studied under Morris Kantor, Hans Hoffman and Fernand Leger, and exhibited at the prestigious New Art Circle Gallery run by JB Neumann. She was asked to create stage sets and costumes for a staging of the famous ballet, Soldier’s Tale, by Igor Stravinsky and CF Ramus. After being banned from the US under McCarthyism, Tryggvadottir lived in Paris, where she exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne and London, where she showed works at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and also presented numerous solo exhibitions at galleries throughout Europe. She was permitted to move back to NY in 1959 where she lived and worked until the end of her life in 1968.

Tryggvadottir has exhibited internationally and her work resides in numerous private and public collections throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States, including: the Museum of Modern Art, NY; Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France; The National Gallery of Iceland; The Reykjavik Municipal Art Gallery, Iceland; and Musee D’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

2015-16“Nina Tryggvadottir: Poetcast”  The National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

2014     “Nina Tryggvadottir: A Retrospective”  David Findlay Jr Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2012     “Nina Tryggvadottir: Paris 1952”  David Findlay Jr Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2007     “Nina Tryggvadottir: Works from the 1950s and 60s” David Findlay Jr Gallery, New York, NY, USA

1998     Sigurjon Olafsson Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

1996     National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik,  Iceland

            Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland

1995     National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

1988     Nyhofn Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland

1982     ASI Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

1974     National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

1967     National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

1963     Galleri KB, Oslo, Norway

            Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal, Germany

1961     Rose Fried Gallery, NY, USA

1959     Drian Gallery, London, UK

1958     Galerie La Roue, Paris, France

            Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal, Germany

            Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London, UK

1957     “Stained Glass Paintings” Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France

            “Cabinet d”Art Graphique de Nina Tryggvadottir”  Galerie Saint Laurent, Bruxelles, Belgium

1956     “Stained Glass Paintings” National Library of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

1955     Oslo Kunstforening, Oslo, Norway

            Galerie d’Aujourd’hui, Palais des Beaux Arts, Bruxelles, Belgium

            Gallerie Birch, Copenhagen, Denmark

1954     “Collages”  Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France

1948     The New Art Circle - J.B. Neuman Gallery, NY, USA

1945     The New Art Circle - J.B. Neuman Gallery, NY, USA

1942     Unuhus, Reykjavik, Iceland

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

2009     “From Unuhus to 8^th Street”  Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland

            “Women of the Spirit” Arnesinga Museum, Hveragerdi, Iceland

2006-14 David Findlay Jr Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2005     “American Abstractionists. Part 2” David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, USA

2004     “Icelandic Art”  Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

2003     “Modern American Art 1930-1975” Gary Snyder Fine Art, New York, NY, USA

2002     “500 Works on Paper 1922 –2002” Gary Snyder Fine Art, New York, NY, USA

            “Man & City”  Reykjavik Municipal  Art  Museum, Iceland

2001     “Abstract Expressionism: Expanding the Canon” Gary Snyder Fine Art, New York, NY, USA

            “Confronting Nature”  Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA

1998     “Icelandic Painting of the 20th Century”  Hong Kong Museum of Art, China

1990     Icelandic Festival for the Arts, National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

            “Icelandic Art” Travelling exhibition: Cologne, Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Brul and Pulheim, Germany

1987-88 “Nordic konkretlist 1907-1960”   Amos Andersons Konstmuseum, Helsinki, Finland

1987     “Icelandic Abstract Art”  Reykjavik Municipal Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

1986     “Fifty Years of Painting in Iceland  1936-1986”Travelling exhibition: Saint Malo, Rochefort & Paris, France

            “Another Landscape”  Nordisk Konstcentrum, Helsinki, Finland

1985     “Icelandic Women Artists 1888-1930”  National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

1981     “Det Staerke Lys”  Mostings Hus, Copenhagen, Denmark

1979     “La Donation Seuphor”  Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France   

            “Icelandic Art 1944-1979”  Minnesota Museum of Art, Minneapolis, USA

1974     “1100 years of Icelandic Art”  Reykjavik Municipal Art Museum, Iceland

            “Islandsk Kunst”  Sammenslutningen af Danske Kunstforeninger, Copenhagen, Denmark

1971     “Selection of Artists from the Drian Gallery”, Drian Gallery, London, UK

1966     “Five Icelandic Painters”  Drian Gallery, London, UK

            “Drian Gallery Artists, 1966”  Drian Gallery, London, UK

1963     “Nina Tryggvadottir and Alcopley”  Kaare Berntsen Gallery, Oslo, Norway

1961     “Painting and Sculpture Acquisitions” The Museum of Modern Art, NY, USA

1958     Lords Gallery, London, UK

            “The Women’s International Art Club”  Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK

            “Contemporary Scandinavian Painting”  Galerie Raymond Creuze, Paris, France

1957     Stedelijk Museum, Sciedam, The Netherlands

            “50 Years of Abstract Art”  Galerie Raymond Creuze, Paris, France

            “XII Salon des Realites Nouvelles’  Musee des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris, France

            “Nordic Art 1947-1957”  Goteborgs Konstmuseum, Goteborg, Sweden

1956     “Collages” Rose Fried Gallery, NY, USA

            Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

            XI Salon des Realites Nouvelles, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris”  Paris, France

            “Divergences 4”  Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France

            “Comparaisons”  Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France

            “Premiere Exposition Internationale de l’Art Plastique Contemporain”  Musee des Beaux Arts

             de la Ville de Paris, France

1955     “Divergences 3”  Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France

            “Icelandic Art” Pallazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy

            “Modern Icelandic Painters”  Galerie De Unga, Stockholm, Sweden

            “Comparaisons”  Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France

            “Artistes etrangers en France, 1955”  Petit Palais, Paris, France

            “Exhibition of Stained Glass Windows and a Mural” Groupe Espace, Paris, France

            “X Salon des Realites Nouvelles”  Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France

1954     “Icelandic Art”  Radhus, Copenhagen, Denmark

1953     “Un Ensemble Abstrait International”  Galerie di Segni, Nice, France

1952     “September Group”  National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

            “Icelandic Art”  Palais des Beaux Arts, Bruxelles, Belgium

1951     “Inaugural Exhibition”  The National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

            “Icelandic Art”  Kunstnerenes Hus, Olso, Norway

1950     “Nordic Art”  Taidenhalli-Athenu-Konsthallen, Helsinki, Finland

1947     “September Group”  National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

            “Nordic Art 1946-1947”  Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden

1938     “Akademielevers Udstilling af Sommerarbejder,  Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

1937     “Icelandic Art”  Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

 

SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Tryggvadottir is in numerous private and public collections throughout Europe, USA & Japan including:

 

The Museum of Modern Art, NY, USA

Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France

The National Gallery of Iceland

The Reykjavik Municipal Art Gallery, Iceland

Musee D’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France

 

PUBLIC WORKS

14 abstract stained glass windows; installed at the Church of St. Anthony, Langweiler, Germany

3 stained glass windows spanning 3 floors commissioned by the National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik       

Mosaic altarpiece for the Cathedral Seat at Skalholt, Iceland,

3 storey outdoor mosaic mural is installed at Hotel Loftleidir, Reykjavik Airport

Mosaic mural in the main branch of the National Bank of Iceland, Reykjavik

Mosaic mural is installed at Icelandic Air, Kennedy Airport, New York

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY*

Barr, Alfred H., Jr.  Painting and Sculpture Acquisitions. January to December 1961.  The Museum of Modern Art

  Bulletin, 29, No. 1-2. NY, 1962

Blakeston, Oswell.  Iceland and Ibiza.  Art News, March 1, 1958

Boudaille, Georges.  Tryggvadottir.  Le Monde. March 7, 1957

Boiudaille, Georges.  L’Art Nordique – A Paris.  Les Lettres Francaises, May 22-28, 1958

Campbell, Lawrence. Nina Tryggvadottir.  Craft Horizons, 22, No.6.  NY 1962

Dictionary of Women Artists.  Ed. Delia Gaze.  Fitzroy Dearborn, London & Chicago, 1977.

  Vol. 2, pp. 1375-1377

Farr, Dennis.  Recent Paintings and Stained Glass.  The Burlington Magazine, June 1959

Hagen, Yvonne.  Art and Artists.  New York Herald – Paris, June 15, 1955

Hodin, J.P.  Nina Tryggvadottir.  Quadrum 6.  Bruxelles, 1959

Hodin, J.P.   Portrait of the Artist Nina Tryggvadottir.  Art News & Review, 11, No. 8, 1959

Johansen, Soren Steen.  Tryggvadottir og Alcopley.  Verdens Gang, March 21, 1963

Johnson, W.E.  Modern Icelandic Painters at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.  Guardian, October 26, 1965

Langsner, Jules.  Nina Tryggvadottir and Alcopley. Galleri Kaare Berntsen, Oslo, Norway. 1963

Laxness, H., Seuphor, M., & Schram, H. Nina Tryggvadottir. Serenity and Power.  Iceland Review, Reykjavik, 1982

Matthey, Francois.  Vitraux de Tryggvadottir.  Galerie La Roue, Paris, 1958

Phaidon Dictionary of 20^th Century Art. Phaidon Press, Ltd.  Oxford & NY, 1973

Seuphor, Michel.  Abstract Painting: Fifty Years of Accomplishment, From Kandinsky to the Present.

  Harry N. Abrams. NY, 1962

Seuphor, Michel.  Dictionaire de la Peinture Abstraite.  Paris, 1957

Seringhaus, Will.  Nach Hundert Parnass-Asstellungen  General Anzeiger, November 10, 1958

Seringhaus, Will.  Vier Kunstausstellungen in Wuppertal, gemalde von Alcopley, Tryggvadottir, Zang und

  Edith Sommer.  General Anzieger, November 22, 1963

Thwaites, John Anthony.  Maler und Malerin, Alcopley und Nina Tryggvadottir in der Wuppertaler Galerie Parnass

  Deutsche Zeitung und Wirtschaltszeitung, November 25, 1963

Tryggvadottir, Nina.  Painting with Light Through Colored Glass.  Leonardo, 1968. Vol. 1, pp. 125-135

Van Nerom, Robert.  Nina Tryggvadottir.  Beaux-Arts Bruxexlles, January 31, 1955

Vilhjalmsson, Thor.  Nina Tryggvadottir.  The American Scandinavian Review, 61, No.3, 1961