Interesting Icelander for June 2025
- Sverrir Sigurdsson
- Jun 20
- 5 min read
Welcome to our Interesting Icelander series for 2025, with a focus on Icelandic Art and Culture. Our June profile explores the life and legacy of Ríkarður Jónsson (Sep 1888–Jan 1977).
by Sverrir Sigurdsson
My childhood hero was Ríkarður Jónsson (I391484), one of the most prominent Icelandic sculptors in the twentieth century. Ríkarður's most famous work is the Icelandic Coat of Arms, which won first prize in a national competition in 1918. Since Iceland was a Danish outpost at the time, his design featured the Danish crown surrounded by four protectors of Iceland, as described in the tales of Heimskringla, the history of Nordic Kings, written in the 13th century. These figures are the bull, the eagle, the dragon, and the giant Bergrisi (mountain giant), each guarding a section of Iceland. The current seal, redesigned after Iceland became independent in 1944, is a version of the original, with the Danish crown replaced by the Icelandic flag.
Ríkarður also carved the gavel used at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York. Unlike other rounded, mallet-like gavels, this one was carved in the shape of a Nordic dragon. At a UN Assembly in 1960, Nikita Khrushchev could have banged this gavel to protest another delegate’s speech, but he preferred to pound the lectern with his shoe.
Ríkarður worked in a variety of media. He created several busts and bas-reliefs carved in stone and other materials. His bas-relief of Sigríður Tómasdóttir can be found at the renowned tourist site, Gullfoss waterfall. She was the heroine who saved the spectacular falls from the hands of big corporations who wanted to harness them for electrical production.
Ríkarður’s artistry did not stop there. He was a gifted poet and an excellent singer. He sang in choirs, and in 1928 his solo songs were recorded on five gramophone disks and sold commercially. Ríkarður passed away in 1977, at 88 years of age.
I had the honor of meeting Ríkarður when I was twelve years old. This lucky strike came about while Dad was scouting for pieces of mahogany to build a bench for his foot pump organ. Somebody told him Ríkarður regularly imported exotic lumber of all shapes and sizes. Dad approached the master sculptor and got an invitation to visit the workshop. He brought me along for the treat of my young life. As I stepped into the studio, my first impression was, “What a mess!” Wood chips were scattered all around the floor, and sculptures in various stages of completion cluttered the small room. My eyes landed on the bust of an old man, and I could not take them off it: the bony terrain of the face, the rheumy eyes, and wrinkles that looked soft to the touch. The master was not just a carver, but a magician who could breathe life into wood. I would give anything to be able to carve like that!
Dad found and purchased the pieces he wanted. We engaged in a bit of shop talk, and I was thrilled to be included in the conversation. Ríkarður gave us tips on the kind of carving tools we might want to get. When we shook hands at our departure, I was struck by the strength of his grip. He was a powerful man, rippling with muscles developed from all the heavy-duty hammering and chiseling.
While researching my idol, I looked up his genealogical data in Icelandic Roots. The information blew me away. His father, Jón Þórarinsson, came from East Iceland and lived his early life as an indentured farmhand with woodworking skills. In the 1870s, natural calamities and famine devastated the country, hitting the eastern part especially hard. Icelanders from that part of the country left their home country in droves to settle for a better life in North America. During that time, Jón’s wife gave birth to eight children. Six died in infancy, and two after reaching the age of twelve. His wife died at age 39, one year after the birth of her last child. We can reasonably assume that poverty caused the demise of Jón's family.
Ríkarður was born in 1888 to Jón’s second wife, Ólaf Finsdóttir (I324010). By then the country’s living conditions had improved, and so had Jón’s personal fortunes. As a woodworker, his skills were useful for anything from constructing barns to carving elaborate figures onto headboards of beds or on the commonly used eating bowl called askur. It was probably the remuneration from this skill that enabled him to settle as an independent farmer, rather than eking out a living as an indentured farm worker. A couple of years after Ríkarður's birth, Jón became the farmer at Strýta in Hamarsfjörður, East Iceland. All six children of his second family reached adulthood and most lived to a ripe old age.
In all likelihood, Ríkarður learned woodwork from his father. He was not the only one in the family to become an artist. A younger brother, Finnur Jónsson, is well-known in Iceland for his avant-garde paintings. Both brothers studied art in Denmark. Finnur later augmented his artistry in Germany, while Ríkarður did the same in Italy.
Sculpting and carving have a long history in Iceland. When I was a child, my passion in life was wood sculpting, carving, and turning. The chess set I made during that period,
as well as a lamp and a bookshelf still exist in my household. Much of my inspiration came from visiting the National History Museum of Iceland, where wood carvings of all kinds can be found, some dating back to the settlement of the country. The accompanying picture is of a chessman I carved at age twelve from scrap mahogany, leftovers from the wood Dad got from Ríkarður
I have occasionally been surprised by the Icelandic sculptures exhibited in the countries I visited. The City Museum of Dresden, Germany, has on display an exquisitely carved religious statue made of a walrus tusk. It came from the Catholic Bishopric at Hólar in Hjaltadal, which was abolished when Iceland became Lutheran in the middle of the 16th Century. While strolling on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, I found a bronze statue of Þorfinnur Karlsefni*, the Icelandic explorer who lived in Newfoundland for about a dozen years around the year 1000 and was the father of the first European child to be born in North America. The sculptor was Einar Jónsson**, one of Iceland's best-known artists.
Icelandic sculptors have handed the torch from one to another. In the early years of the 20th Century, Ríkarður apprenticed in Reykjavík with Einar Jónsson. Shortly after graduating from Einar's tutelage at the outset of the First World War, Ríkarður mentored another well-known Icelandic sculptor, Ásmundur Sveinsson (I377121). These linkages give Ríkarður an important perch in the visual arts history of Iceland.
*Sadly, the Þorfinnur Karlsefn statue was vandalized and pushed into the Schuylkill River in 2018, nearly 100 years after being erected. It was rescued but remains in storage. Read the article here: Philly's Thorfinn Karlsefni Statue Toppled Into Schuylkill River
**Read the Interesting Icelander for May 2025 for a profile on Einar Jónsson.
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