Mykines and the artists

Introduction Samal Joensen-Mikines Ingálvur av Reyni Eyðun av Reyni Kári Svensson Zacahrias Heinesen Eyvindur Mohr Pól Skarðenni William Gislander P O Hansen John Olsen Lasse Sørensen Kurt Servé The amateurs The photographers Sources

Introduction
For more than hundred years photographers and for more than 80 years artists have found motifs on Mykines. All have had the fascination of the landscape, the light, the weather and the birds in common.
The first and probably also the most well known, who have found motifs on Mykines, is Samal-Joensen-Mikines, who already as a child began to draw and paint on Mykines, where he was born and grew up. Since then innumerable more or less well known artists have visited Mykines and found their motifs there. They have both been Faroese and foreigners from many different countries, who have been on Mikines for shorter and longer periods to capture the landscape, the weather, the public life and the wildlife.
The pictures have been spread far and wide and especially paintings of S J Mikines' are traded at considerable amounts. The pictures have been the object for publishing in books, on posters and in leaflets and this way spread the knowledge of Mykines widely.
Samal Joensen-Mikines
Samal Joensen-Mikines was born on Mykines in 1906 and died in 1979. Already as a child he showed gifts for drawing and painting. In 1924 the Swedish artist William Gislander was on Mykines to draw and paint and Mikines followed him everywhere. The most early works of Mikines are from the middle of the 1920'ies. He then painted in a fresh and naturalistic style with a precise representation of colour and motifs. He was asked by the author and artist William Heinesen to apply for the "Danske Kunstakademi", the Royal Danish Art Academy. He was admitted on the Painting School in 1928 and had Ejnar Mikkelsen and later on Aksel Jørgensen as teachers. He settled in Denmark but was almost every year on Mykines in the summer until 1971. On Mykines he draw and painted as he also made rough sketches which later on became paintings during the winter in Denmark. S J Mikines travelled many other places than Mykines and also these places were among his motifs. S J Mikines participated in countless exhibitions since his debut in Tórshavn in 1927, where all his paintings were sold and his paintings can be seen many different places. Apart from Listaskalin in Tórshavn, where a great permanent exhibition is, paintings can be seen in the Faroese Parliament as well in many banks and savings banks all over the Faroes. Paintings of Mikines can also be seen in "Statens Museum for Kunst" in Copenhagen.
Ingólvur av Reyni
Ingólvur av Reyni was born in 1920 and died in 2005. He was educated at A. Bizzie Høyers Drawing School in Copenhagen from 1938-42, and at the Paintingschool of the Royal Danish Art Academy in Copenhagen 1942 - 45 and had Kræsen Iversen and Aksel Jørgensen as teachers. The last year there he joined the school of graphics. He began painting in a naturalistic style and also painted with S J Mikines on Mykines. Later on he developed a more abstract style, where the motifs can be seen as abstractions of Faroese rocks and Faroese mountains, often in big formats.

Eyðun av Reyni
Eyðun av Reyni is born 1951 in Tórshavn. He is educated, among other places, at the Paintingschool of the Royal Danish Art Academy in Copenhagen from 1972-78 where he joined the classes of Wilhelm Freddie. He has been on several study tours and participated in countless exhibitions among other places on the Faroes, in Denmark, Norway, USA and on Iceland. He has also used the landscape of Mykines as motif.

Kári Svensson
Kári Svensson is born 1954 in Tórshavn and is self-taught. He has been on Mykines countless times and found inspiration there. His debut was at "Ólavsøkuframsýningin" in Tórshavn in 1975. He has participated in uncountable exhibitions on the Faroes as well as abroad. Among other countries he has exhibited in USA, France, Sweden, Singapore, Denmark and on Iceland. He has his own homepage, click here

Zacharias Heinesen
Zacharias Heinesen is born 1936 as son of the famous author and multi artist Wiliam Heinesen. Zacharias Heinesen is educated on Iceland from 1958-59 and in Copenhagen from 1959-62 and has been on Mykines many times and been inspired by the landscape and the village. Since his debut on the "Olavsøkuframsyningen" in 1951, he has participated in countless exhibitions on the Faroes and the other Nordic countries.
Eyvindur Mohr
Eyvindur Mohr is born in 1925 and educated at the "Academia di elle Arte" in Rome and well known for both his portraits and paintings of landscape from both the Faroes, Italy and Denmark as well as Mykines. His works can be seen countless of places and he has participated in exhibitions on the Faroes and abroad.

Pól Skarðenni
Pól Skardenni was born in 1963. He finds his motives in the Faroe nature and in the faroese villages. Among others also Mykines. Has his own homepage, click here

William Gislander
William Gislander was born in 1890 and died in 1937. A swedish painter he preferably found his motifs outdoor and often had birds as a part of the painting. He visited Mykines in 1924 and had great influence on the seed of gifts of S J Mikines.

P O Hansen
P O Hansen is Dane and born in1927. He first arrived at the Faroes in 1966 and the islands made a great impression on him. Since then he has been on the Faroes countless of times and also on Mykines some times, where he has been inspired by the form and colours of the mountains and the rocks. He mostly uses pastel colours but also draw. He has participated in exhibitions countless of places. He has published two books: "Mykines, længst mod vest" (Mykines far West) from 1993 and "Gensyn med Mykines" (Reunion with Mykines) from 2000.

John Olsen
John Olsen is Dane, born 1938 and educated both as overglaze painter, sculptor, lithographic artist and goldsmith. He has visited the Faroes several times since 1966 and has also been on Mykines several times, where he has been very fascinated of the form and colour of the rocks and of the birds which he capture in drawings and etchings.
Homepage about John Olsen, click here. Lasse Sørensen
Lasse Sørensen is Dane, educated as teacher and has been living on the Faroes for many years. He draw and paints motifs from the nature, the birds and the animals. He has published some books with his drawings, which often are inspired by the landscape around Sørvagur, the islands off Sørvagur Fjørður, Tindholm, Gásholm and Mykines. Some of his paintings can be seen in Vagar Floghavn.
Kurt Servé
Kurt Servé is Dane. He is educated in the pictorial arts, then as biologist and nature advisor. He is known for his drawings in pastel crayon with outdoor motifs from countless travels around the world. He has been some times on Mykines, where the nature, the birds and maybe mostly the gannets, has inspired him. The results has been shown on several exhibitions, mostly in Denmark. He is the author of more than the 40 books.
Kurt Servés' homepage
The amateurs
Countless are they, who have found motifs on Mykines and put them on canvas or paper with pencil or paint brush, for their own pleasure and as support to their memories. And some have now and then been able to sell off their artwork to tourists, who have passed by and seen the works. In many of the houses on Mykines one can see such works, which have been given the owners of the houses as thanks for accommodation and hospitality. And without any doubt are motifs from Mykines on many walls all around the globe.
The photographers
There are quite a lot of old pictures from Mykines and some of these can be seen on the page Old pictures from Mykines.
The oldest photos from Mykines have been taken in the late 1800-ies. It is known that a man with the name Johannes Klein, was on Mykines in 1898 and some of his photos are in the collections of the National Museum of Denmark. Another man with the name F. Sørensen took some photos on Mykines around year 1900.
During the building of the lighthouse some photographers took photos and there have since then been published photos with motifs of the Lighthouse and the Holm.
The Danish explorer Daniel Bruun visited the Faroes some times, last time in 1914. He was also on Mykines and took some photos, which can be seen in his book: "Rejseruter på Færøerne" (Travel routes on the Faroes) from 1919.
The Danish zoologist Alwin Pedersen visited Mykines in 1934 and took photos, of which some can be seen in his book: "Myggenæs" from 1935.
The German Erich Wustmann visited Mykines in 1938 and took several photos as well as a film. He used some of the photos as illustrations in two of his books: "Tollkühne Färinger" from 1939 and "Paradies der Vögel" from 1948.
During The Second World War, English soldiers took photos on Mykines and some of these can be seen in Niels Juul Arges books about The Second World on the Faroes, "Striðsárini 1940-45" 1 to 6,.
Kenneth Williamson, who was an English soldier on the Faroes during the war, wrote a book with the title: "The Atlantic Islands", published 1948 and in this there are some pictures from Mykines.
In 1958 the well known Swedish nature photographer Sixten Jonsson visited Mykines and captured both the public life of the village and the life of the birds. Many beautiful photos can be seen in the book: "Färöerna, fågler og fångster" from 1959. At least one of these photos has been an inspiration for other artist.
The Swedes Olov Isaksson and Sören Hallgren visited the Faroes in the middle of the 1970'ies and published the book "Färöbilder" in1976 with some motifs from Mykines. The opening of this book shows a very beautiful picture of the village of Mykines and the Holm.
The Swedes Hans Christiansen and Björn Sörensen visited Mykines in 1987 and published some of their photos in the book: "Mykines" from 1988.
The German Cornelius Nelo has visited Mykines some times and taken many beautiful photos of which some have been published in BBC's program periodical " BBC Wildelife Magazine" in April 2004.
Besides the above mentioned, many photographers, both professionals and amateurs have taken thousands of photos, some used as illustrations in books, others for leaflets and periodicals, some used for exhibitions, some for postcards and some published via the Internet. And probably most of the photos have ended up in photo albums with photos from, probably for the most people, an unforgettable visit to Mykines.

Sources:
Bárður Jákupsson: "Mikines", a biography with numerous pictures of works by S J Mikines, Emil Thomsen Tórshavn 1990.
William Heinesen: "Færøsk kunst", Emil Thomsen Tórshavn 1984.
Listasavn Føroya
I. Hestoy o.o: "Listin og Eyvindur Mohr", Sprund 1986
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