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Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I were in Iceland, but this weekend would be particularly exciting. An exhibition about the work of one of Iceland’s first photographers, Sigfús Eymundsson, is opening at the National Museum in Reykjavik. I dabbled in black-and-white photography many years ago, and still often miss being in the darkroom. Seeing old photographs from the early days of the craft is especially interesting, and even more so if they are of Iceland 🙂 This article on Vísir discusses the upcoming retrospective with its creator, as well as giving some insight into the life of this fascinating pioneer.
Maðurinn sem skapaði myndina af Íslandi
The man who created the picture of Iceland
„Þeir sem einhvern menningarsögulegan áhuga hafa ættu að geta horft á þessa sýningu út frá ansi mörgum sjónarhornum,“ segir Inga Lára Baldvinsdóttir, fagstjóri Ljósmyndasafns Íslands. Inga Lára er höfundur yfirlitssýningar á ljósmyndum Sigfúsar Eymundssonar, sem opnuð verður í Þjóðminjasafninu á laugardag, og nýrrar bókar um þennan fjölhæfa athafnamann sem kemur út sama dag.
“‘Those with any interest in cultural history should be able to look at this exhibit from many different points of view’, says Inga Lara Baldvinsdottir, program director at the Photography Museum of Iceland. Inga Lara is the designer of the retrospective of photography by Sigfus Eymundsson, which is set to open at the National Museum on Saturday, and the author of a new book about the multi-talented entrepreneur which comes out the same day.”
From the very first sentence I was confused by the word ordering 🙂 So hafa is putting ‘einhver menningarsögulegur áhugi‘ into the accusative, while ættu is the 3rd person plural past subjunctive of eiga, which is being used in the phrase eiga + infinitive to mean ought to. In this case the verb is að geta, which requires the past participle, so you have horft, from horfa. So there’s enough grammar to get through the weekend!
skapa v (acc) (-aði) create athafna/maður m business man, entrepreneur sögu·legur adj historical menning f (-ar,-ar) civilization, culture sýning f (-ar,-ar) exhibition sjónar·horn n (-s,-) point of view yfir·lit n (-s) survey, summary, overview ansi adv pretty, rather fjöl·hæfur adj versatile
Á sýningunni, sem er liður í 150 ára afmæli Þjóðminjasafnsins, verða verkum þessa frumkvöðuls í ljósmyndun á Íslandi gerð skil og gefur meðal annars að líta upprunalegar myndir eftir Sigfús sem aldrei hafa áður komið fyrir sjónir almennings. Inga Lára segir þetta í raun fyrstu yfirlitssýninguna á ljósmyndum Sigfúsar. „Árið 1976 var gefin út bók eftir Þór Magnússon með úrvali mynda af ljósmyndastofu Sigfúsar, sem var mjög vinsæl. Á þessum tíma var að hefjast vakning á því að gamlar ljósmyndir hefðu menningarsögulegt gildi og síðan hafa myndir Sigfúsar gengið aftur og aftur í bókum um sögu Reykjavíkur og húsasögu borgarinnar, því hann var lykilmaður í ljósmyndun á 19. öld.“
“In the exhibit, which is part of the 150th anniversary of the National Museum, a full account is given of the work of this pioneer in photography in Iceland, and among other things offers a glimpse of original photos by Sigfus which have never before been seen by the general public. Inga Lara says this is actually the first full survey of photographs by Sigfus. ‘In 1976 a book was published by Thor Magnusson with a selection of photographs from Sigfus’ studio, which were very popular. At that time an awareness was beginning that old photographs had cultural significance, and since then Sigfus’ pictures have appeared again and again in books about Reykjavik’s history and the city’s houses, since he was a key figure in photography in the 19th century.”
gera skil deal fully with, give a full account of frum·kvöð/ull m initiator, originator uppruna·legur adj original úr·val n (-s) selection, assortment, pick gildi n (-s) worth, merit, value
Í bókinni er meðal annars farið yfir ævi Sigfúsar og hans stóra þátt í því að skapa myndina af Íslandi, eins og Inga Lára orðar það, enda var hann í raun fyrsti ljósmyndari landsins til að gera sig gildandi og gera ljósmyndun að alvöru atvinnuvegi.
“Among other things the book covers Sigfus’ life and the large part he played in creating photos of Iceland, as Inga Lara mentions, since he was in fact the first photographer in Iceland to establish himself and make photography a true profession.”
The word líf is probably better know for meaning life, but ævi is used a lot as well, and seen in many compounds, like ævi·saga (biography), ævi·dagar (lifetime), ævi·kvöld (old age), ævi·lok (death)…
ævi f indecl life orða v (acc) (-aði) mention gilda v (-ti,-t) be valid atvinnu·vegur m industry
„Sigfús hafði alltaf mörg járn í eldinum, enda fjölhæfur maður og duglegur. Hann byrjaði að taka myndir árið 1866 og rak ljósmyndastofu í Reykjavík til 1909 og lést tveimur árum síðar. Bókabúðina hóf hann að reka 1872 og seldi hana sama ár og hann lést. Þá stóð hann líka í prentsmiðjurekstri og bókaútgáfu, auk þess sem hann var umboðsmaður fyrir Allan-skipafélagið sem flutti Íslendinga vestur um haf. Það eru ákveðin forréttindi að fá að vinna að svona sýningu og skemmtilegt að fá tækifæri til að sinna rannsóknarstarfi sem þessu,“ segir Inga Lára.
“‘Sigfus always had many irons in the fire, being so multi-talented and hardworking. He started taking pictures in 1866 and ran a photography studio in Reykjavik until 1909, dying two years later. He opened a bookstore in 1872 and sold it the same year he died. He also busied himself with printing and publishing, in addition to being a representative for Allan shipping, which carried Icelanders west over the sea. It is a distinct privilege to get to work on such an exhibit and exciting to have the opportunity to pursue research such as this,’ says Inga Lara.
It was interesting to see that the saying “many irons in the fire” is the same in Icelandic!
for·réttindi n pl privilege sinna v (dat) (-ti,-t) care for
It didn’t occur to me at first that this might be the Eymundsson, as in the bookstore, but then that year sounded familiar. So I had to check – yeah, under the Eymundsson logo is the phrase “Bóksali frá 1872” 🙂
Ljósmyndasafn Íslands
Þjóðminjasafn Íslands
Wikipedia entry for Sigfús Eymundsson