Locals in Hvolsvöllur, a village in S. Iceland hope to erect a cast of the statue Spirit of Achievement which stands above the main entrance to the Manhattan Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue in New York. The 1931 sculpture, which is the was made by the Icelandic sculptor Nína Sæmundsson, is the symbol of the hotel and a beautiful example of the Art Deco style popular in the inter-war period.
Nína was born on a farm near the village. The town council intends to erect the cast in the center of the village in commemoration of the best known artist of the region.
Spirit of inter-war New York and rural Iceland
The sculpture has stood above the entrance of the Park Avenue hotel since its opening in 1931. At the time the Park Avenue Waldorf Astoria was one of the most exclusive and luxurious hotels in the world.
In anticipation of the opening of the hotel, a competition was held for the design of a sculpture that would come to stand before the main entrance. Nína's work was chosen out of 400 entries. Her work was meant to symbolize human ambition and achievement and match the themes of progress and innovation inherent in the hotel's design. The Waldorf Astoria site explains that
The female figure, cast in nickel and bronze, rises majestically upward from her perch upon a globe, a perfect symbol for the Waldorf's ideal of excellence.
The first professional female sculptor in Iceland
Nina Sæmundsson was the first Icelandic woman to work professionally as a sculptor. She was born at a farm in the Fljótshlíð region in South Iceland in 1892. She grew up at the farm, but while she was a teen her family moved to Reykjavík. As a young woman she studied art in Copenhagen. She spent much of her professional career in the US, but later returned to Iceland where she died in 1965.
The grace and beauty of the human body was a major theme in Nína's work. Her work contains both classical and Art Deco themes. According to her biography, written by the art historian Hrafnhildur Schram, the statue was inspired by the spirit of America which captivated Nína upon her arrival in the New World.
One of Nína's sculptures is found in down town Reykjavík, Mother's love, a statue of a young woman holding a baby. The sculpture stands in a small park on the north-east corner of the pond Tjörnin. A second sculpture by Nína, The Mermaid is located in the Southern part of Tjörnin.
Locals in Hvolsvöllur, a village in S. Iceland hope to erect a cast of the statue Spirit of Achievement which stands above the main entrance to the Manhattan Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue in New York. The 1931 sculpture, which is the was made by the Icelandic sculptor Nína Sæmundsson, is the symbol of the hotel and a beautiful example of the Art Deco style popular in the inter-war period.
Nína was born on a farm near the village. The town council intends to erect the cast in the center of the village in commemoration of the best known artist of the region.
Spirit of inter-war New York and rural Iceland
The sculpture has stood above the entrance of the Park Avenue hotel since its opening in 1931. At the time the Park Avenue Waldorf Astoria was one of the most exclusive and luxurious hotels in the world.
In anticipation of the opening of the hotel, a competition was held for the design of a sculpture that would come to stand before the main entrance. Nína's work was chosen out of 400 entries. Her work was meant to symbolize human ambition and achievement and match the themes of progress and innovation inherent in the hotel's design. The Waldorf Astoria site explains that
The female figure, cast in nickel and bronze, rises majestically upward from her perch upon a globe, a perfect symbol for the Waldorf's ideal of excellence.
The first professional female sculptor in Iceland
Nina Sæmundsson was the first Icelandic woman to work professionally as a sculptor. She was born at a farm in the Fljótshlíð region in South Iceland in 1892. She grew up at the farm, but while she was a teen her family moved to Reykjavík. As a young woman she studied art in Copenhagen. She spent much of her professional career in the US, but later returned to Iceland where she died in 1965.
The grace and beauty of the human body was a major theme in Nína's work. Her work contains both classical and Art Deco themes. According to her biography, written by the art historian Hrafnhildur Schram, the statue was inspired by the spirit of America which captivated Nína upon her arrival in the New World.
One of Nína's sculptures is found in down town Reykjavík, Mother's love, a statue of a young woman holding a baby. The sculpture stands in a small park on the north-east corner of the pond Tjörnin. A second sculpture by Nína, The Mermaid is located in the Southern part of Tjörnin.
