not as thick as it was. The outlines of the shapes are more definite, and the surface is flatter and more geometrical than before. But circles and horse- shoes still appear, together with pointed and curved organic forms with figurative associations. These forms are broken up into countless units which often resolve into various beings and strange representations. A good example of this is the woman who appeared in Jóhannes’s first pictures, particularly from 1951 and before. She has now returned in an even more curving and non-objective guise. She enters into the composi- tion at an angle, and flows into it, made up of countless unitary shapes. As we have seen, Jóhannes first finished his apprenticeship as a goldsmith before he turned to painting. He did not, however, give up his goldsmith’s craft, and during the fifties and sixties worked at the trade for long periods at a time. Initially he worked for Jón Sigmundsson, but later established his own workshop. There is no doubt that his experiences of such dissimilar materials has had a profound effect on his development as an artist. The goldsmith has enhanced the painter’s awareness of the strength and simplicity of the form. In his metalwork Jóhannes appeared as a highly independent artist, to whom the texture of form and the nature of the material were all important. His work in this field was highly innovatory in this country. Jóhannes’s pictures speak for the fact that they are the fruits of deep conflict. On the one hand he is a born painter, while on the other he finds it difficult to express himself. This conflict can sometimes stifle expression, but at best the result is powerful and poetic. In spite of a very decisive structure of form Jóhannes builds up his pictures to a large extent on the colour itself, its power, inner tension and the harmony of various colour- tones. As he himself said in a newspaper interview in 1957: “When a picture takes shape in my mind it is always the colour which first makes itself felt. The main problem for me is the balance of colours. Form is less important, and the problems of form are for the most part automatically resolved when the colours appear on the canvas. In fact it is the colours in my pictures which decide the form and arrangement of the picture.” Bera Nordal

(1) Kápa
(2) Kápa
(3) Blaðsíða [1]
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(27) Blaðsíða [25]
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(29) Blaðsíða [27]
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(31) Blaðsíða [29]
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(38) Blaðsíða [36]
(39) Kápa
(40) Kápa
(41) Kvarði
(42) Litaspjald