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Piltur og stúlka

Piltur og stúlka

Ásmundur Sveinsson


  • Year : 1931-1933
  • Height : 145 cm
  • Width : 45 cm
  • Category : Skúlptúr
  • Sub-category : Málmskúlptúr

Location: Hallargarður Park. Lad and Lass was first made by Ásmundur in Paris, where he spent four months in 1931. He made the finished version later that year in Reykjavík. The sculpture depicts a passionate embrace between a young couple, and in formal terms it is very simple. The sculpture was enlarged, cast in concrete and installed in Hallargarður park in Reykjavík in 1955. In this work the artist abandons the stylised, geometrical simplification of his previous works, in favour of a certain realism: the lad and lass wear everyday clothes, and the anatomy and proportions are entirely in keeping with the academic tradition. The sculpture is massive, a single form, but enlivened by movement that imbues the entire piece, bringing it to life and lending it an ambiance of sincere feeling. While it is above all a lyrical work conveying feeling, it must be counted among the works which mark the beginning of Ásmundur’s Social Realist period in the 1930s. The straightforward title of the sculpture, Lad and Lass, undeniably recalls a 19th-century novel of the same title by Jón Thoroddsen, which is said to be the first novel written in Icelandic. Jón Thoroddsen’s writings were much read in Ásmundur’s boyhood home.

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