Art by Ingálvur av Reyni - Through time and space December 18, 2020, marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of visual Faroese artist, Ingálvur av Reyni (1920-2005) in Tórshavn. On this occasion, we will look back at the unique artistic presentations that elevated the visual arts in the Faroe Islands, and all of us, to a higher stage.
Ingálvur av Reyni’s influence and significance for the visual arts in the Faroes cannot be overestimated. His influence is consequential, both at a basic and revolutionary level. It revolves, first and foremost, around a long life of artistic endeavours in this country – a life presented with a challenges which are far from simple, being able to survive in the Faroe Islands as a professional visual artist supporting a family, facing all the resulting daily issues and expenses. In addition to this basic role of being an artist providing for a family, Ingálvur av Reyni plays a no lesser role in our art history as an antagonist and a rebel - and as the unique visual artist who resolutely launched the movement towards non-figurative, abstract visual arts in the Faroe Islands.
Colourful truths
Ingálvur av Reyni has painted an astonishing number of fine paintings - and he did so working by his teacher Aksel Jørgensen’s principles of using clear contrast colours – and also when later meeting with Jack Kampmann, following his advice of dimming his colour schemes to grey and dark. His grey paintings are exceptionally good, as are the black ones - small and monumental at the same time. This also goes for his magnificent paintings of more recent years, not to forget his drawings and watercolour paintings.
Tinganes – 17KR stamp
His figurative and serene oil painting “Tinganes”, dating back to 1947, is a true gem. The colours in this small painting are arranged according to the doctrine of contrast colours, which Ingálvur av Reyni‘s teacher, Aksel Jørgensen, taught his students at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, from which doctrine Ingálvur took years to detach himself. He thought he was too little independent in his work after his education at the Academy, but this painting, dating back to his formative years, remains very powerful. Ingálvur av Reyni manages to use colour contrasts deliberately, being himself an excellent colourist. The dominant blue-violet tone in the painting obtains warmth and lustre from the strong complementary orange coloured surfaces, while the hint of green gets an almost auricular response from the burgundy and rust red surfaces. Although this is a figurative painting, it is also a rather abstracted surface work, indicating what lay ahead for the artist.
Through time and spaces - 39KR stampT
his painting is magnificent in every sense of the word. When Ingálvur av Reyni was 82 years old, he was given the assignment of painting a large work for the Faroese Parliament Hall, which was to displayed on the wall, behind the rostrum and the Parliament chairman. He discarded his first attempt and painted another painting, which in his opinion was more simple and light. The discarded painting was bought by an insurance company and is extremely interesting and depicted on the stamp. The title of this work is “Gjøgnum tíð og rúmdir” - Through time and space – which is a title of a poem by Janus Djurhuus. A fragment of the poem reads: “Deep in my mind / Where distant centuries dwell / Deep in my mind / Where hosts of forefathers slumber / A song lingers ... / And laughter is heard from salubrious sources ... / In it warm and soothing breezes blow/ In it surge furious waves and raging storms ... ”
If we transfer the content of Janus Djurhuus’ poem onto this work of art, the painting can possibly be perceived as a hymn to the Faroe Islands, its history, people, nature and weather. The choice of colours is rendered in grey with black strokes, but with many of the same bright colours that Ingálvur av Reyni used as a young artist, where bright red and pink find their balance in various greenish contrasting shades, where orange streaks light up on blue colour surfaces and violet colours tremble at a hint of sun yellow. The composition is arranged like a panoramic landscape, but the painting is extremely abstract, expressive and dynamic with rhythmic repetitions and opposite movements at an angle. Look at the painting for a moment and compare it with the small painting “Tinganes”. Despite 55 years, lots of experience and the great dissimilarity between these two works of art, the figurative and idyllic and the abstract and violent, the difference is not as great as one might think – as they were both created by the very same person, Ingálvur av Reyni - a visual artist who throughout his long artistic life continued to challenge himself, thus creating a life’s work of immense significance to the Faroese visual arts.
Kinna PoulsenMA in Art History and Art Critic
