Listasafn Íslands (National Gallery of Iceland), Reykjavik

A review of the National Gallery of Iceland as of November 2022. An unusual experience in that the National Gallery of Iceland had no Icelandic art on view when I visited!

The National Gallery Of Iceland

Is it just me, or do you also expect a National Gallery to contain examples of the art of that country? I mean sure, the National Galleries in London or Washington D.C. have works from all over art history and the world. But they also have plenty of examples from closer to home. If anything, I expect this to be an even stronger trend in smaller countries: it’s not like you can see Icelandic art very easily in other countries, after all.

So I was a little surprised by my visit to the National Gallery of Iceland. There was no permanent collection on view at all, just two temporary exhibitions. This partly a case of semantics. Several museums in Iceland are actually groups of institutions. The Reykjavik City Museum for instance manages the Settlement Exhibition, Arbaer Open Air Museum, Museum of Photography, Maritime Museum and Viðey Island. The National Gallery of Iceland, for its part, also manages the House of Collections/House of Culture (Safnahúsið) and the Home of an Artist, dedicated to Ásgrímur Jónsson.

But still, it was a bit of a surprise not to find any Icelandic art in here at all! It turns out it’s elsewhere and I found it when I went to the House of Collections the following day. It meant I spent a bit less time in the National Gallery of Iceland than I had intended. And also had a good poke around all spaces because for a while I was sure the Icelandic art must be somewhere and I just hadn’t found it! Alas it was in vain, so I will now move on to the exhibitions I saw on their own merits. Carry on reading below.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating (as an exhibition space): 3.5/5
Salterton Arts Review’s rating (if you’re expecting Icelandic art): 1/5

Zanele Muholi

I was commenting recently about how the privilege of international travel can make it easier to manage exhibition schedules. Miss it in one city, see it in another! I didn’t expect this to apply to Iceland. And yet, I was surprised to see that this retrospective of work by Zanele Muholi, which I missed at Tate Modern in the post-lockdown rush, was at the National Gallery of Iceland! A very nice surprise.

Muholi is a South African photographer and visual artist. Their work focuses on the struggle for rights of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex people. This exhibition includes work from a few different series, including creative self portraits using found materials, images of couples, and celebrations of activism. The National Gallery of Iceland here comes into its own as a good exhibition space. The exhibition is split over two floors, each with images displayed on the walls and partitions to give additional exhibition space. It feels spacious and relaxed. There’s enough room to step back and see the aesthetic groupings of works from particular series.

Overall this is a nicely curated exhibition and I was glad to have a second chance to see it. Muholi’s work is a perfect blend of important politically and impactful aesthetically, and deserves to have as wide an audience as possible.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3.5/5

Zanele Muholi on until 12 February 2023

Jewellery By Dieter Roth

While Zanele Muholi was a pleasant surprise to find at the National Gallery of Iceland, Jewellery by Dieter Roth was a completely new discovery for me. I didn’t previously know anything about Dieter Roth, or his jewellery. Luckily that’s what exhibitions are for: to inform me about both those points and show me some examples!

Dieter Roth was a Swiss artist born in 1930, and who died in 1998. He worked across multiple disciplines as a visual artist, poet, musician and filmmaker. Roth is not known specifically for his jewellery, but there is an Icelandic connection here. He created his first jewellery pieces in collaboration with his Icelandic wife Sigríður Björnsdóttir, and worked out of a goldsmith’s atelier in Reykjavik. His artistic creations in the realm of jewellery share qualities with his wider creative style, including repurposing and elevating discarded objects.

This was a nice, small exhibition. In the centre of the room were plenty of examples of Roth’s jewellery, with preparatory drawings and other archival materials around the outside. In a separate space at the back was a video with an interview on Roth’s work. It wasn’t earth-shattering, but it was nice to be exposed to a new artist, and particularly from an interesting angle in a focused exhibition.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5

Jewellery by Dieter Roth on until 22 January 2023