From Unuhús to West 8th Street

At the beginning of the 1940’s, Icelandic artists Louisa  Matthíasdóttir (1917–2000) and Nína Tryggvadóttir (1913–1968) studied under Hans Hofmann (1880–1966), a German painter regarded as one of Modernism’s leading pioneers. Hofmann  ran his art school on West 8th Street, NY. Before Louisa and Nína took off for the States they were regular visitors at Unuhús, a little red house in Gardastræti, Reykjavik. Unuhús hosted many great guests over the years, not least poets, writers and artists. Louisa Matthíasdóttir and Nína Tryggvadóttir, who are two of Iceland’s most admired artists, occupy a very prominent position in this exhibition, which hosts over sixty oil paintings by Hofmann and his students Nell Blaine (1922–1996), Jane Freilicher (1924) and Robert De Niro senior (1922–1993), who were all known figures in the American art scene.

All of the works by foreign artists are on loan from private collections in the U.S., through the intermediary of the Tibor de Nagy Gallery and Amaringer & Yohe Fine Arts.

Text by Hrafnhildur Schram curator

The exhibition is a part of Reykjavik Arts Festival 2009.

Sunday 21 June 3 p.m.
Kjarvalsstaðir – From Unuhús to West 8th Street
Una Dóra Copley, daughter of artist Nína Tryggvadóttir, participates in a guided tour through the exhibition.

Sunday 26 July 3 p.m.
Kjarvalsstaðir – From Unuhús to West 8th Street
Programme in connection with the exhibition.