Summary
- Elinborg Lützen’s private life and beginnings as an artist
- How Edvard Munch influenced her
- The start of Lützen’s artistic career: book illustrations in ink & lithography
- Lützen was artistically most active during the 1960s–1970s
- How Lützen discovered her distinctive style
- Elinborg Lützen’s legacy in Faroese art today
A Short Biography
Elinborg was born in 1919 in the village Klaksvík, in Borðoy, the largest of the Faroe Islands’ northern isles. She spent her childhood there until she turned 11 and moved to an aunt in Tórhavn to attend secondary school.
Her family belonged to the Faroese bourgeois class which provided vast cultural education, but it was her time with her aunt in Tórhavn that truly sparked her artistic journey. Exposed to European art and culture, as well as the works of budding Faroese artists like Janus Kamban, Lützen’s talent was discovered and nurtured by her aunt, Ingeborg Lützen.
Financial support from her aunt enabled Elinborg to pursue further education at the Danish Drawing and Art Industry School for Women from 1937 to 1940.
World War II & Marriage
Like many other artists of the Islands’ war generation such as Jóannis Kristiansen (1918–1988) and Ruth Smith (1913–1958), she was stuck in Denmark during the Second World War and the Faroe Islands’ occupation by the British.
At this complicated time, she started dating the Faroese painter Sámal Joensen-Mikines (1906–1979), who was 13 years older than her.
The couple got married in 1941 to conform to moral standards. They moved back to the Faroe Islands as soon as the war neared its end and return was possible. The relationship was anything but functional and Lützen moved back to her home village in 1947. They divorced some years later in 1952.
Elinborg Lützen, Ævintýrmynd II, 1973, Listasavn, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
After the Divorce
The break-up encouraged Elinborg’s development as an artist, as she was no longer bound to her husband’s shadow. At the age of 38, she went to the Bergen Academy of Art and Design under the guidance of the Danish graphic artist Povl Christensen, who became one of her biggest fans and supporters.
Christensen (1909–1977) had a lasting influence on her artistic techniques. He worked with wood cutting and illustrated several hundred publications of classical world literature at a time when graphic art and printmaking became very popular in post-war Denmark.
A Special Honor
In 1977 Elinborg Lützen received the Faroese parliament’s annual national prize as an acknowledgement for her work as the second woman in the country’s history. The first one was fellow artist Ruth Smith in 1955. Lützen moved back to Tórshavn in her late 50s where she spent the rest of her life until her death in 1995.
Elinborg Lützen, Ævintýrmynd I, 1973, Listasavn, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
What’s Munch got to do with it?
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) is one of the most well-known Norwegian painters and graphic artists. He inspired generations of artists, especially in the northern European countries. Munch was Mikines’ biggest role model. It is therefore unsurprising that references to his work can be found in Elinborg’s art as well as in her husband’s.
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893, The National Museum, Oslo, Norway.
Elinborg & Sámal
As already mentioned, the artist’s relationship with her partner Mikines did not go well. While still in Denmark, Elinborg Lützen struggled with his alcohol consumption and bar-hopping habits. After returning to the Faroe Islands, where alcohol was prohibited up until the 1990s, Mikines’ temper started to become a problem.
The Lonely Ones
Edvard Munch, Two People. The Lonely Ones, 1899, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Köln, Germany.
The couple’s problematic relationship as well as their artistic influence on each other can be observed through some of the artworks inspired among others by Munch’s print The Lonely Ones (1899–1917).
In the print, a woman and a man can be seen from behind. They are standing next to each other on a beach and looking at the sea in front of them.
The composition evokes the impression of human beings abandoned in nature and also their mutual alienation. The silhouette of the man is one with the black strip of coast, while the white dress of the woman stands out more clearly from the beach and the sea.
The described scene can be found in many of Mikines’ artworks from the 1930s and 1940s. A few examples are an untitled watercolor from a visit to Paris (1937) and the paintings Kvøld (Evening, 1939), Várdagur, skipini fara (Ships depart on a Spring Day, 1940), and Morgunsól (Morning Sun, 1947). What is noteworthy when looking at those artworks in chronological order is the positioning of the figures.
Elinborg Lützen, Ungt par betragter solen, undated, Listasavn.
Sámal Mikines, Untitled, 1937, Guide to Faroe Islands.
Sámal Mikines, Kvøld, 1939, Ny Carlsbergfondet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sámal Mikines, Várdagur, skipini fara, 1940, Listasavn, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Sámal Mikines, Morgunsól, 1947, Søguskyn.
Ungt par betragter solen
The figures are standing close together. It even looks like as if the man is standing a little bit in front, while the woman turns towards him.
Untitled watercolor from a visit to Paris (1937)
In the picture from 1937 we see a family—a mother with a child to her left and her right, and a little bit behind her, a father. All four are facing the sun on the horizon. Land and presumably the sea cannot be distinguished from each other.
Kvøld (Evening)
In Kvøld we see a family again, but this time the father is facing towards the spectator. Behind him, mother, daughter, and son are watching the sunset. The characters’ genders are underlined by their coloring in red or blue/brown.
Várdagur, skipini fara (Ships depart on a Spring Day)
In Várdagur only a female figure wearing a blue dress is depicted, while Morgunsól shows us a couple again.
Morgunsól (eng. Morning sun, 1947)
A woman in a white dress is standing next to a seated figure, who is wearing dark clothing, a sign that it might be a man. The gendered color choices are congruent with Edvard Munch’s paintings.
Family and the Sea
In the 1937 painting, we see a family—a mother with a child on either side of her, and slightly behind her, the father. All four are facing the sun on the horizon, with the land and sea indistinguishable from each other. In “Kvøld,” we again see a family, but this time the father faces the viewer while the mother, daughter, and son watch the sunset behind him.
The characters’ genders are highlighted by their colors: red for the mother and children, and blue/brown for the father. In “Várdagur,” only a female figure in a blue dress is depicted, while “Morgunsól” shows a couple again—a woman in a white dress standing next to a seated figure in dark clothing, suggesting a man. These gendered color choices are consistent with Edvard Munch’s paintings.
The prevailing distance between the women/mothers and men/fathers in Mikines’ paintings is quite interesting. In none of his works do the couples touch. The first two paintings present the family as a union, but this union gradually breaks apart in the subsequent paintings. This theme appears after a period in Mikines’ life where he lost many family members to tuberculosis.
Why is this interesting when writing about Elinborg Lützen?
An undated aquarelle titled Ungt par betragter solen (Young Couple Watching the Sun) depicts a similar scene. The key difference is that the figures are standing close together, with the man slightly in front while the woman turns towards him. All five works reference Munch’s prints. They provide insights into Elinborg’s and Mikines’ views on relationships between men and women, opening room for speculation about their expectations, dreams, wishes, and disappointments in their own relationship.
Art & Literature
The greatest legacy Elinborg Lützen left to the Faroe Islands is her ink illustrations and illustrative prints for many Faroese books and translations.
Lützen had a very deep interest in literature and owned an extensive private library filled with works by the Grimm brothers, Karen Blixen, and various ghost stories.
Her inspiration and push came from Povl Christensen who illustrated world literature with wood prints. Lützen and Christiensen had known each other already before she came to Bergen and stayed in close contact even after she left.
How It Started
The first publication that Lützen illustrated was the children’s book Í Skýmingini (At Nightfall), a collection of nursery rhymes and fairy tales published in 1948 by Sofía Petersen (1884–1960), who gathered these stories from her grandmother.
This work preserved an important cultural heritage and got elevated to a whole new level through Lützen’s ink drawings. A new edition was printed again in the 1980s.
A Variety of Projects
This marked the beginning of the artist’s very diverse illustration projects during the 1950s. She illustrated a Faroese translation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, a collection of Danish folk songs by Poul M. Pedersen (a project initiated by Povl Christensen), Hans Andrias Djurhuus’ collection of children’s rhymes and the first volume of Ævintýr translated by the Faroese author Heðin Brú.
Sofía Petersen, Í Skýmingini, 1948, self-published.
Hans Andrias Djurhuus, Barnarímur, 2010 edition, Føroya lærarafelag, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Heðin Brú, Ævintýr I, 1959, Føroya lærarafelag, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Heðin Brú, Ævintýr 5, 1973, Føroya lærarafelag, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Sofía Petersen, Í Skýmingini.
The first publication that Elinborg illustrated was the children’s book Í Skýmingini (At Nightfall), a collection of nursery rhymes and fairy tales published in 1948 by Sofía Petersen (1884–1960), who gathered these stories from her grandmother. This work preserved an important cultural heritage and got elevated to a whole new level through Elinborg’s ink drawings. A new edition was printed again in the 1980s.
Hans Andrias Djurhuus, Barnarímur, 2010 edition.
This was the starting signal for the artist’s very diverse illustration projects in during the 1950s.
Heðin Brú, Ævintýr I.
She illustrated a Faroese translation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, a collection of Danish folk songs by Poul M. Pedersen (a project initiated by Povl Christensen), Hans Andrias Djurhuus collection of children’s rhymes and the first volume of Ævintýr translated by the Faroese author Heðin Brú.
Heðin Brú, Ævintýr 5.
In the second volume of Ævintýr, Elinborg shifts from ink drawings to linoleum printing. She sticks to this method for the rest of this six-volume strong series—a book project that lasted from 1959–1974 and brought out her full potential as a graphic artist.
The Dark and Magical 1960–1970s
In the second volume of Ævintýr, Elinborg shifted from ink drawings to linoleum printing. She sticks to this method for the rest of this six-volume strong series—a book project that lasted from 1959–1974 and brought out her full potential as a graphic artist. During the 1960s she illustrated two more children’s books followed by two translations in the 1970s.
Her Own Style
Today Elinborg is known for her fantastical and surreal big-format prints. She didn’t start with the linoleum printing technique. Her style gradually evolved over the years and was influenced by the guidance of Povl Christensen. Her early prints from the 1940s show this inspiration as well as a more simplistic start to the artistic work with printing.
Elinborg gives the mystical world a painted face. Nature’s forces become tangible pictures.
Ohrt, Nils & Barður Jákupsson (2019): Elinborg Lützen – Svart-hvítur gandur/Sort-hvid magi. Listasavn Føroyar, Tórshavn, p. 13.
Elinborg Lützen, Neytakonur, 1985, Listasavn, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Fairy Tales and Landscapes
Her art can be divided into two categories: fairy tales and landscapes. While the first one includes all kinds of magical creatures the latter is characterized by certain reoccurring motifs like the houses of her childhood home, milkmaids, roosters, and memento mori compositions.
A lot of her figures are connected to local myths and Nordic mythology. If you are interested in Faroese legends I would recommend listening to the podcast series titled Myth & Legends by Visit Faroe Islands.
Her expression is expressionistic, but one can also see features of Surrealism.
Anthoniussen, Eilen (2019): Ein undangongukvinna fyllir 100. Atlantic Review.
Elinborg Lützen, Bardagi á vertshúsi, Undated, Listasavn, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Other than Norse mythology and Munch, other artists inspired Lützen’s compositions.
References can be easily found towards classical painters like Domenico Ghirlandaio, Hieronymus Bosch, or Pieter Bruegel. From the 1970s onwards her style got more and more surreal and cryptic up to the point of cubistic and abstract expression.
Graphical Legacy
While Lützen was still alive she didn’t want her own solo exhibition. Like her contemporary Ruth Smith, she was riddled with self-criticism and doubted the worth of her work. Neither her teacher Povl Christensen nor fellow artists or family members could convince her of her talent.
The artist and artbook author Bárður Jákupsson tried many times to get her to put together an exhibition but was met with no success. After her death, he finally managed to convince her heirs to get access to her printing plates and in 2010 he organized a solo show at the North Atlantic House in Copenhagen, which was followed in 2019 by a show at the National Gallery in Tórshavn.
Inspiration for Many
Lützen’s black and white prints as well as her fantastical and mysterious worldbuilding left a lasting impression in Faroese art history. To this day it inspires the Islands’ diverse art scene and made printmaking a Faroese staple.
The artist Janus Kamban (1913–2009), following Lützen’s path, became known for his minimalistic prints. The artist Jóna Rasmussen (1946–) continues this line of printmaking. Even younger painters like Silja Strøm (1987–) named Elinborg Lützen directly as their source of inspiration. Furthermore, printmaking got established as a hobby for many Faroese people through schools like Litbrigdi.
Silja Strøm, We are yellow, 2018, Listasavn, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Hommage
In 2018 the Faroese doom metal band Svartmálm (Black metal) published their first LP. The cover is adorned with Lützen’s print Ævintýrmynd I (Fairy-tale picture I) from the year 1973.
One year later the artist was honored in her birth town Klaksvík with a bronze statue by the artist Hans Pauli Olsen. Her legacy lives on and can be seen throughout the year as part of the permanent exhibition at the national gallery Listasavn.
